[Milsurplus] Re: Best time to end eBay auctions ? More questions

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

John,

My wife and I (mostly my wife) have sold nearly 11,000 items on eBay, mostly 
since 2003.  My take on 3 versus 7 versus 10 day auctions is that most 
potential buyers expect the default 7.  I've missed bidding on a couple of items in 
the past because I assumed 7 and wanted to check on something before bidding.  
Only to find it had closed.  On the other hand, if no one has found and bid on 
it in 7, I never considered the additional 3 to be worth paying for.  But I 
don't have any firm statistics on that.  Just a feeling that I don't like 
either 3 or 10 day auctions.

On the ending day, I would agree with several others that, given the weekly 
cycle of the average American and European, Sunday is the best end day.  If you 
aren't running many items then late afternoon or early evening is probabably 
the best ending time, although even with just domestic US and Canadian buyers 
local time for potential bidders spans 7 or 8 time zones.  In our case, we end 
most at Noon on Sunday, which is actually a carry-over from the bad old days 
when Susie and I both had day jobs.  But also is between typical getting up 
and going to bed times from Eastern Europe to Hawaii, which covers about 93% of 
our usual customers.

I think what Dave meant by fixed "Buy It Now" price was just that.  Not 
actually an auction.  You click the button, you bought it.  Or bought every how 
many you wanted.  This is the method I use mostly for repair parts.  For example, 
a BC-611 uses eight of the little #2-56 black oxide finished binding head 
machine screws.  I list 16 of them at a time, which is enough for two radios or 
16 people who each dropped one on the floor and lost it.  But to answer your 
question about a BIN on a regular auction, I usually set it to what I think the 
going price is.  In other words, what I'd offer it for here or what I'd say if 
someone called up and wanted to buy one.  And I never set the opening bid to 
less than what I'm willing to settle for without too much grumbling.  On 
average that means about a 2:1 ratio.  People selling things that almost always 
have a lot of bidders will benefit from a lower opening bid.  But the potential 
buyer pool for military radios, even world-wide, really isn't that large.

On whether or not you should even offer a BIN, if you have several of an item 
and have (or think you have) a good feel for what most potential buyers would 
think a fair or slightly higher than fair price is, yes, definitely.  If you 
only have one, and especially if it's relatively scarce or if you don't really 
have a clue as to what the market might bear, then probably not.  Exception 
to the "definitely" rule is the case where you have a box full and just saw one 
sell for 'way over what you think they ought to be worth and with more than 
just two nuts bidding against each other.  Launch an ad as soon as you can get 
a photo!  And no BIN.  After the smoke clears and you've sold some to all of 
the nuts, you can sell the rest over time.

In a message dated 4/12/2007 8:48:27 PM Central Standard Time, jfor at quik.com 
writes: 
> >I've done quite a bit of Ebay; it's
> >the only way I can pay for my collecting :).
> >IMHO, end your auctions Sunday night 9 PM eastern,
> >+ or - an hour or so. [snip]
> 
> I had planned on going with ten day auctions as it gives more exposure
> time. Is there any downside to this? The groups seem to suggest a
> weekend evening is the best time to end a sale.
> 
> >[snip]
> >That being said, of late I've often gone with
> >a fixed, "But It Now" price.
> 
> How do you think a BIN price should be set? A multiple of the opening
> bid? And where do you think the opening bid should be set? What about a
> higher opening bid vs. a reserve? Sometimes it's hard to gage what an
> item is worth Do you think a BIN should even be offered? I've never been
> on the seller side of the fence.
> 
> Thanks,
> -John
> 
> 

Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
<http://www.wa5cab.com> (Web Store)
MVPA 9480
<wa5cab at cs.com> (Primary email)
<wa5cab at houston.rr.com> (Backup email)
   
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