eBay-Basics-Course

Seller's Blunder Number Five -Bad Timing

Consider the time of year. Don't try to sell ski items in the summer or swimsuits in the winter if you want to get top dollar. While eBay auctions do reach a global market, and seasons and temperatures of course differ throughout the world, the majority of your sales will be within the US and Canada. We sell about 90% of our items to the United States and Canada. So try to list items according to the North American seasons and holidays.

Think about time of day. Try not to end your auction in the middle of the night or at another time when fewer bidders will be at their computers, because the most competitive bidding usually occurs in the last few minutes of an auction. Keep in mind that eBay is west coast time and remember that time difference! Recently, I listed several strands of lovely coral beads over several weeks. I always had two customers bidding against each other for them. I timed one auction so that it ended at 10:30 PM Pacific time. Renate, one of the customers, lived in New York. She emailed me to say that she had stayed up until 1:30 am Eastern time to bid on the item and she was NOT happy! I was lucky she wanted the beads enough to lose sleep for them, but you can't count on that. Make bidding convenient for your buyers!

Avoid Seller Competition if possible. Do your research and find out how many similar items are up for bid before you list an item that turns up for auction frequently. I had a Steiff Jack Nicklaus bear that was quite common. A man in Japan was selling them every week. I waited until there was a week that he didn't put one up for auction and ended up getting $25 more for it than I would have otherwise.

Article By Lynn Dralle-The Queen Of Auctions (eBay I/D: thequeenofauctions )