Despite the rise of services like Letgo and superstores like Amazon, eBay is still the go to place to sell things online. Originally, eBay was exclusively an online auction house, but since the introduction of ‘Buy It Now’ pricing, eBay has also functioned as a traditional online marketplace. Auctions, however, are still a major part of the eBay economy and can often yield a higher sale price.
When it comes to the best time to post on eBay, it’s critical to make sure your auction ends when people are not busy working, eating dinner, or out on the town for the weekend. Generally speaking, you want your auction to end between 7pm and 9pm on a weekday. To support a good final hour in your listing, make sure to take good pictures to inspire confidence in your auction, choose a long auction duration to get the most exposure, start your auction with a really low price, include free shipping, don’t use a reserve. If you follow all those instructions, then all you have to do is wait for the power hour.
Listing an auction on eBay can be tricky. The two most common questions regarding eBay auctions are ‘When is the best time to start an eBay auction?’ and ‘What’s the best day to start an eBay auction?’ In this article, we will teach you the best time to post on eBay. We will also explain some things you can do to increase your chances of having a better auction experience.
Best Time To Post On eBay (Buy It Now)
When it comes to ‘Buy It Now’ listings, it’s always helpful to list your items during non-peak hours. Remember, there is a lot of competition on eBay, and many ports sort by lowest price and newest listing. So, if you price your items competitively, the best time to post is when it’s busy on eBay. If you are, however, trying to get the most money for your item, you should post it during non-peak hours so that a higher percentage of eBay users will see your listing.
With that being said, after a Buy It Now item expires, you can always renew it. Also, these listings typically don’t have accompanying bids, so when it comes to the best time to post Buy It Now items on eBay, it really doesn’t matter that much.
Best Time To Post On eBay (Auctions)
When posting an auction on eBay, there are many things to consider. The most important factor, however, is the power hour. The final hour of an auction is when emotions are the highest. It’s also the moment in which those that have been bidding on your item have the most time invested.
Don’t forget, people are competitive. In most cases, there will be multiple people bidding on your item. If that final hour happens when those people are asleep or busy at work, your item can end up selling for a lot less money.
There are countless factors at play when it comes to being successful on eBay. This is not an eBay selling guide, but I can give you a few tips that will drastically increase your chances of being successful when you post on eBay.
Pictures
Taking pictures of your product is important. If you don’t have a lot of feedback and have not sold a lot of items on eBay, it can seem suspicious to a buyer if you are using a stock image. This is why it’s so important to take at least 4 really clear, bright pictures of what you are selling.
If you have a lot of sales and 98% or higher feedback, you can get away with using a product’s stock photo. Chances are that if you are reading this article, you are new to eBay. So always remember to take actual photos of what you are selling.
Listing Duration
If you are doing an auction and are not in a hurry to get your money, then you are going to want to do the longest listing time possible. eBay’s maximum duration for an auction is 10 days. The longer your auction is running the more exposure it will get. The more exposure your auction gets, the more people get emotionally invested. When more people are emotionally invested for a longer period of time, the power hour is much more effective.
The only time you can get away with a short auction duration not hurting your final sale price is when you are selling an extremely in-demand item like the latest iPhone or graphics card.
Price
Start your auctions at a penny. I know it sounds crazy, but as long as you are not selling an ultra-obscure item, starting your item at a penny is not as risky as it sounds. Remember, about a third of the American population, that’s 66 million people, actively uses the eBay app.
So, if you post an item for 1 penny that is worth more than one penny, eBay market forces will drive up the price with bids until it reaches or often exceeds the item’s retail value.
Shipping
People like to feel like they are getting free shipping, even when they aren’t. So, a good idea is to start your item at what it will cost to ship it but mark the item as free shipping. This costs you no more, but makes your item look lower-cost to potential customers.
Reserve
Putting a reserve price on an auction takes all the fun out of bidding. Only put a reserve price on your listing if what you are selling is not commonly sold on eBay or its otherwise obscure and has a small target market. Like I said, eBay market forces will drive your auction price up.
The Final Hour Is The Most Important Part Of An eBay Auction
As long as you have taken all the advice listed above, then you are ready for the final hour of your auction.
The Power Hour
The power hour is the final hour of an eBay auction. I’ve seen auctions that were started at a penny only go up to 10 or 15 dollars until the power hour. Then, during the final hour, the auction price often ends up going higher than the item’s retail value because of the emotional investment from everyone fighting over your item with bids during the power hour.
The most important thing to remember is that regardless of how long you set your auction duration for, eBay will always make the auction end at the same time it was started. So, in order to take full advantage of the power hour, you must list your auction so that when the final hour comes, people are available to take part in your auction rather than being busy with work or having fun on the weekend.
Scheduled Listings Are Your Friend
If it sounds tricky to make sure your auction ends at the right time, that’s because it is. The good news is that eBay has a feature called ‘Scheduled Listings’ that completely solves this problem.
After reading these tips, you know that 10 days is the best duration to get the highest price for your auction. You also know that it’s best for an auction to end on weekdays at the end of the day when everyone is home. So, all you have to do is schedule a 10 day auction to start 10 days before a weekday evening in the time zone of your target market.
For example, this article was written on 3/18/2022. If I started a 10 day auction right now without scheduling it, it would end at 3:50PM on a monday. That would not be good because most people will still be busy at work during the power hour.
If I instead scheduled a 10 day auction to start tonight at 8PM, then it would end Monday evening when most people are home from work, have already eaten dinner, but are still awake and using their phones.
Different Products For Different Days
While it may seem like there are certain items that sell better on certain days, the reality is that it’s random. Humans are excellent at pattern recognition. In fact, we are so good at it that if we look at enough data for long enough, it will always reveal patterns, even if there are none.
It is true, however, that because many people get paid around the end of the month, more expensive items sell more often around those times. As you would expect, Sunday is the busiest day of the week on eBay because that’s when most people are off work for the day.
It may be a good idea to temporarily lower your prices during peak hours. That will make your items stand out a little more. Friday and Saturday often see the least number of sales, because during this time people are spending time with their friends and family.
When To Not Post On eBay
Make sure to avoid posting listings on eBay that will end on Friday and Saturday evenings. This is because many people are out and about at this time, so they more than likely won’t be paying attention to eBay.
Auctions that end after midnight or during the early morning hours are considered extremely high risk. This makes sense because less people are awake during those times. But remember, this all depends on the location of your target audience.
There Are Exceptions To Every Rule
There are so many factors to take into consideration when trying to find the best time to post on eBay. The item that you are selling may be more business oriented. In that case, it makes sense to list it so that it ends during business hours. Your item may be totally unrelated to business, so you would want them to end when people are at home. Your item could be obscure or highly valuable, or both, so not all of this advice may apply to your listing.
Conclusion
eBay is no longer the only internet marketplace. Services like Letgo and Facebook marketplace are starting to make serious inroads on eBay’s market share. With that being said. eBay is still the most popular place for online auctions.
If you are trying to find the best time to post on eBay, remember that unless you use a scheduled listing, your auction will end at the exact time it was started, but not necessarily on that day of the week. It’s best to make sure your auction ends in the evening on a weekday so that most people will be able to pay attention during the final hour. To get the most out of your auction, make sure to take good pictures of your product, choose the longest possible auction duration, use free shipping, and set a low starting price without a reserve. If you do those things and make sure your auction’s final hour doesn’t take place when everyone is busy, your auction will do well.
We hope this article helped you learn more about the best time to post on eBay. Thanks for reading!