I have a question for eBay sellers and buyers regarding the number of days it takes to get to the sale date. I generally only look for trading cards on eBay. More and more I am seeing new listings with bidding over 6 days, or even 8 days. I find this both annoying and unnecessary, but I am just a buyer and want to get to the sale as soon as I see something I want. I don't think longer bidding periods help a seller and maybe even hurts when buyers are impatient and go elsewhere.

Absent the proverbial whales, where two stupid buyers lock horns and keep besting each other, the serious bidders all come in at the end. Early bidding is just people raising the price 2 bucks at a time until it hits a few bucks. Best offers from serious bidders are generally made in the last minute, if not the last 10 seconds. I think sellers won't get a better high price if the auction is for 3 days or 8 days. Interested buyers always know when a new listing appears. But they might get a lower price if that buyer just puts it on watch and forgets, or worse, buys a BIN or faster auction. You also lose the impulse buyer, because the longer the wait, the more you realize you don't need it.

Any thoughts from eBay sellers or buyers? I would make all my auctions 3 days, no more. Of course I don't sell at all, so maybe someone likes a 6 - 8 day run up. I would be interested in any positive or negative data on the matter because I personally am tired of waiting to see if I'm spending my money.

Raven

Some of the sellers I use are card dealers who have multiple lots on sale and prefer the longer sales availability to enable them to maintain an efficient post sales service to their customers.

regards

John

Generally I first list all my cards as buy it now . If they don't sell after 6 months I lower the price and move them to auction so I feel anyone who wanted to buy immediately has had their chance .

Also unless things have changed recently ( I have not tried in a while ) in the UK auctions of less than 5 days used to attract a listing fee .

More days does mean more views and more watchers.

Hard to quantify if it means more in ending prices, too many unknowns.

You can list for 3, 5, 7, or 10 days. 3 day sales incur a fee, the rest do not.

I find it is more important when an auction ends. I find Sunday evenings to be the best, though many will have their own opinions.

I list for 5 on Tuesdays, to end on Sunday
I list for 10 on Thursdays, to end the on a Sunday.
1 list for 7 days on Sundays, again to end on Sunday.

3 day is only worth the premium if you have a HOT new item that might be the first to auction. I've never felt much need to pay extra to list for 3 days.

Ed

If you have something that's hot at the moment, you would want to put it up for auction. You might get two people who really want it and bid it beyond what you thought about asking for it and then get that third one who comes out of nowhere to win it at the end. A seven day auction lets collectors think about it and there's also more of a reason to watch it if someone puts in an early bid. You won't get an idea of how high it is until someone else bids - someone testing to see if the first bidder went just a few bucks over the starting bid.

But yeah, for a buyer, BINs are better. It's great to just grab something you want especially you see it as underpriced. It seems like I always catch an auction for something interesting with 6 days still to go. Sometimes, I keep an eye on one but often I let it go.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
You also lose the impulse buyer, because the longer the wait, the more you realize you don't need it.

I'm quite the opposite. If something is only available for bidding for three days only, I think twice about it.

Also, most companies pay their employees every other week or twice a month. A longer sale date allows people the time to allocate the money close to pay day if they need to have a bidding war or bid a large sum, even if it is at the last minute. That is also the reason you have a three-day period before you have to pay for it.

Three day auctions keep the auction at the top of the search without dipping too much, I see no difference in views between 3 or 7 or 10 day. Also watchers aren't necessarily buyers and these days are mostly bots. Watchers don't really mean anything. This isn't 2001 anymore. But ebay is a far cry from what it used to be.