Do eBay Auction Times Matter?
It used to be that when you posted an auction on eBay, people would start bidding right away and then the bid would slowly go up as the competition increased between different people.
This was always eBay's strategy since they take a cut from the total profits you earn on the site and so they have a vested interest in seeing the price go higher and higher.
The trouble was, that some people figured out that if they waited until the last second, they could swoop in, bid a lower price than they ordinarily would have had to and win the auction because no one else could get their counter offer in before the end of the auction time.
In fact, automated services were created to do exactly this and a term was born around the practice: auction sniping.
All this leads to the question, do eBay auctions times matter? The answer to the question posed above is a definite "maybe.
" There are a great number of factors that determine whether or not your item will be sniped, thereby at least in part, negating the value of eBay auction times.
The first one is of course what it is you are selling and what your opening bid is.
Set your opening bid too high and no one will bid and no one will attempt to snipe either.
If you set your bid at a good, but not amazing price (say a Netbook which normally retails for $400 and you are offering it, brand new, in the box with full warranty for $325), you are unlikely to get sniped and even if you do, it's not like you will lose a tremendous amount of money.
However, the most likely pricing to get a snipe and the one most likely to cause you to lose money is the $1 opening bid.
The catch is, this is also the bid that will likely make you the most money.
Let's say you're selling a piece of ancient Roman glass and you are starting the bidding at $1.
I've seen such auctions in the past.
Obviously the item is not worth just $1 (assuming it's genuine of course), however this price builds interest in the product.
And once you have at least two people who really want it and are not the most disciplined of bidders, you will find that your price could far exceed the actual value of the product you are selling (a fairly ordinary looking small Roman glass bottle is typically worth around $50-$150 depending on condition by the way -- we're not talking about something worth millions of dollars, which is a different situation).
The catch is, if your bidders are all disciplined people who know their limits, you could end up with a price stuck stubbornly below what you want and have the auction time ticking down.
One way to avoid this problem (though it can create difficulties of its' own) is to use a short auction.
If you use a one day auction rather than a week long auction, you are likely to get more real time interest and avoid the snipers (snipers depend on those who are interested forgetting in the meantime that they wanted the product).
The catch is that you are also limited in your potential pool of bidders since a smaller number of people will notice the auction.
For that reason, if you want to use one day auctions, it's a good idea to do them on a Saturday or Sunday since more people will have time to surf the web and look for products for sale on those days.
In fact, when speaking of eBay auction times and if they matter, it's also a good idea in general to have auctions ending on one of those days since more people will be online and looking during the weekend.
This was always eBay's strategy since they take a cut from the total profits you earn on the site and so they have a vested interest in seeing the price go higher and higher.
The trouble was, that some people figured out that if they waited until the last second, they could swoop in, bid a lower price than they ordinarily would have had to and win the auction because no one else could get their counter offer in before the end of the auction time.
In fact, automated services were created to do exactly this and a term was born around the practice: auction sniping.
All this leads to the question, do eBay auctions times matter? The answer to the question posed above is a definite "maybe.
" There are a great number of factors that determine whether or not your item will be sniped, thereby at least in part, negating the value of eBay auction times.
The first one is of course what it is you are selling and what your opening bid is.
Set your opening bid too high and no one will bid and no one will attempt to snipe either.
If you set your bid at a good, but not amazing price (say a Netbook which normally retails for $400 and you are offering it, brand new, in the box with full warranty for $325), you are unlikely to get sniped and even if you do, it's not like you will lose a tremendous amount of money.
However, the most likely pricing to get a snipe and the one most likely to cause you to lose money is the $1 opening bid.
The catch is, this is also the bid that will likely make you the most money.
Let's say you're selling a piece of ancient Roman glass and you are starting the bidding at $1.
I've seen such auctions in the past.
Obviously the item is not worth just $1 (assuming it's genuine of course), however this price builds interest in the product.
And once you have at least two people who really want it and are not the most disciplined of bidders, you will find that your price could far exceed the actual value of the product you are selling (a fairly ordinary looking small Roman glass bottle is typically worth around $50-$150 depending on condition by the way -- we're not talking about something worth millions of dollars, which is a different situation).
The catch is, if your bidders are all disciplined people who know their limits, you could end up with a price stuck stubbornly below what you want and have the auction time ticking down.
One way to avoid this problem (though it can create difficulties of its' own) is to use a short auction.
If you use a one day auction rather than a week long auction, you are likely to get more real time interest and avoid the snipers (snipers depend on those who are interested forgetting in the meantime that they wanted the product).
The catch is that you are also limited in your potential pool of bidders since a smaller number of people will notice the auction.
For that reason, if you want to use one day auctions, it's a good idea to do them on a Saturday or Sunday since more people will have time to surf the web and look for products for sale on those days.
In fact, when speaking of eBay auction times and if they matter, it's also a good idea in general to have auctions ending on one of those days since more people will be online and looking during the weekend.
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