Starting and Ending Days, Times, Auction Length and much more

Does it really make a difference what time you start an auction?  Or end it?  And does the day an auction starts or ends make any difference?  What about the length of the auction?

Conventional wisdom might say a resounding "No!" to these questions.  But that "wisdom" would be wrong.  All of the above do make a difference and, in many cases, a substantial one.  If you're not paying attention to these factors you are most likely not getting the best price for your items.  Consider what even a modest 5 or 10% increase in the final selling price of your auctions would do for your bottom line.  So how do these factors play a part in the success of your auction and what others are important?


This is a long guide.  Even if you are an experienced seller this may contain some new information.  If you're relatively new to selling on eBay this could be invaluable to your selling success.  So get a cup of coffee (or tea), relax and read.  Then test my findings against your own.  I would appreciate knowing about your experience.

For a number of years I worked for a larger volume (feedback over 5,000) Trading Assistant.  Watching thousands of auctions I began noticing significant patterns in the final selling price as well as the total number of bids, watchers and page views.  Some seller's auctions were wildly successful while others, selling the same or similar items, barely paid their eBay fees.  I saw how important it could be to look for commonalities in the most successful ones.  When I began my eBay sales I decided to experiment and keep my own detailed statistics.  I also began modifying my selling according to my analysis of those statistics.  Following is a synopsis of the most significant figures.

Volume changes from day-to-day:

Again, it's conventional wisdom that most auctions end on Sunday evening (and begin on Sundays).  There's good logic to suppose that that might be true as most people are home getting ready for the coming week, recharging themselves from the weekend's activities, catching up on email, surfing the Internet and spending some time just relaxing.  Therefore one would expect evidence of that in the percentage change of auctions from one day to the next.  This is illustrated in the graph below which represents raw numbers that have not been adjusted for eBay's special offerings or seasonal changes when there can be broad swings.
Obviously the most significant drop is Sunday.  Were it not for all the additional auctions being placed, as others are ending, this drop would be much greater.  These new auctions are most often 7 days in duration.  Note the increased auctions on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  The Tuesday increase is predominantly 5-day auctions which end the following Sunday.  The Thursday and Friday increases are due to 10-day auctions which, of course, end on Sunday and Monday.

Length of auctions and ending day:

My initial experiments yielded results of only viable combinations.  All the other ones I tested gave such abysmal results that I stopped further testing.  In 10-day auctions versus 7-day auctions there is a major difference.  Starting 10-day auctions on Thursday versus starting on Friday gave mixed results but the important differences are in number of bids received per item and the final selling price.  The differences between the starting day on 7-day auctions were not as statistically significant.

Average Total Bids per Successful Auction

10-day Auctions: Thu-Sun 100%
10-day Auctions: Fri-Mon 83%
7-day Auctions: Sun-Sun 50%
7-day Auctions: Mon-Mon 45%

Average Total Number of Watchers per Auction

10-day Auctions: Thu-Sun 100%
10-day Auctions: Fri-Mon 113%
7-day Auctions: Sun-Sun 32%
7-day Auctions: Mon-Mon 49%

Average Total Number of Page Views per Auction

10-day Auctions: Thu-Sun 100%
10-day Auctions: Fri-Mon 125%
7-day Auctions: Sun-Sun 43%
7-day Auctions: Mon-Mon 74%

Average Total Dollars Realized per Successful Auction

10-day Auctions: Thu-Sun 100%
10-day Auctions: Fri-Mon 45%
7-day Auctions: Sun-Sun 33%
7-day Auctions: Mon-Mon 34%

Graphed these differences are even more dramatic:
What I can't explain is why there is such a significant difference in the 10-day F-M total watchers and page views but they are not reflected in the total bids and, even more so, not in the total dollars bid.

From the statistics I have kept I now list almost all of my auctions are now for 10 days beginning on Thursdays.

Changes through the week:

The most important times in an auction are when it's newly listed and the final hours (or minutes) of the final day.  These two periods do more to determine the final outcome than any of the middle.  So why can't you compress an auction into the beginning and end and eliminate the middle days?  The following graphs illustrate the value of two weekends in an auction.  Only the 10-day auction length gives a seller that opportunity.

Using 10-day auctions starting on Thursday evening as our point of reference my statistics have shown me that 12% of the total bids occur in the first 24 hours while 28% of the watchers with 15% of the page views and dollars bid in the same period.  The final 24 hours of the auction paint a very different picture with a gain of only 2%.

  Of the total number of people who put an item into their My eBay to watch 52% do so over the first three days of the auction.  This emphasizes the importance of the first days of the auction and indicates how compressing the auction into a 7-day period might reduce the total watchers and the total number of bids received.  Note that this 52% occurs over a weekend; a weekend that is not available in a 7-day (or less) auction.

  It may be to obvious to state but the more people viewing an auction the better the chances for bids and a higher final price.  Although page views show the most uniformity through the auction period this graph still illustrates the importance of those additional weekend days at the beginning.  That first weekend contributes 32% of the total.

  Auctions that receive a bid at the beginning do better than those that languish without bids until the bitter end.  I think the psychology is that an item with at least one bid is perceived as having more value.  Although 45% of the bids come on the final day the first weekend contributes 24% giving a total of 64% in just four days.  Note that 7-day auctions result in 50% fewer bids.

  As instructive is what occurs with the actual amount of dollars bid; perhaps this is the most important graph.  While 44% of the total dollars bid come on the last day a significant per cent occur during the course of the first weekend: 29% of the total.  Note that 7-day auctions result in a loss of 57% or more of the final selling price.

From this it should be self-evident that 10-day auctions result in more watchers, more page views and more bids which add to higher dollars realized and more money in your pocket. 

A note on fees:  The additional cost of a 10-day listing is 40 cents.  I'm one of many sellers who are very angry with eBay for their grossly increased Final Value fees and I resent every penny I have to pay, but the 40 more cents for the 10-day auction is money well spent.

Starting Time:

All of us would like for our auctions to end when everyone is on eBay.  It only it could work that way.  Because we have to deal with time zones when it's 11PM on the East coast of the US it's only 8PM on the West coast.  Those times are significant because most people have finished dinner and not yet gone to bed but they are, at best, a compromise.  As people go inside earlier in the winter the ending time can be shifted to 10PM EST.  In the summer consider how Daylight Saving Time may affect your auctions.  You would be best served by starting your auction at 8PM PST (eBay Official Time ).

Exceptions:

• Local pickup - If you are only offering your item locally it would be best to end the auction when most people in your area are on the computer.
• Regional interest - Same as above. If you're selling to a European audience you don't want your ending time to be the same as auctions for North Americans.
• Business item - Selling to the business community is trickier. Try to determine if it is something that would be searched for on a work computer or after work.
• Time sensitive item - A time sensitive item may not have an opportunity window for a 10-day auction. For example, in the case of event tickets a 1-day or 3-day auction may be necessary.
• Lifestyle targeting - For example, if your product is targeted to shift workers ending your auction in the middle of the evening might not be the best timing.
• Seasonal item - Timing on seasonal items should be obvious; it's much easier to sell snow skis in the winter than in the middle of August.

These are just a few examples.  You can probably think of more and if you send your ideas to me I'll add them to my next revision.

Timing is not everything:

But research is!  It takes a lot of time when you're just trying to get items listed but researching other seller's successful auction will pay great dividends.  We've all seen the auction with a poor title, inaccurate description and fuzzy pictures in the wrong category and wondered how it ever sold.  Don't make the same mistakes.  Whose auctions sold for the most money with the most bids?  When you have that information then:

• Use the entire space for the title
• All keywords necessary in title, not complete sentence
• Subtitle?
• Two categories?
• Bold?
• Starting price?
• Reserve?
• Highlight?
• Listing designer?

Don't use an extra expense feature unless you know that it will increase the auction's final value.  When you know what others have used for success you can emulate them.  Why reinvent the wheel?

Look for more guides from me in the future on creating the actual listing.  This is a long guide.  If you made it to the end, thanks for reading, and I hope it was beneficial.

Please take a couple of seconds to click the YES link at the end of this page if you find this guide interesting, useful, or informative.  It makes all my effort feel worthwhile.  NOTE: You must be signed into your eBay account with your user ID or your vote will not be counted.  But, if you don't find this guide helpful please send me suggestions on how to make it better.  I plan on making periodic updates to the guide so your suggestions will be helpful to me.  Thanks for reading.