• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Free Listings (Insertion Fees) on ebay 12/20/2001

This is a VERY crappy time to list on eBay, as viewership counts
are WAY down. I recommend you only list stuff that you'd happily
sell at any price, stuff with a reserve, or else stuff with
an initial bid price that is acceptable to you as the final
price.

Personally, I'd take this opportunity to list a bunch of stuff
at set-sale prices (i.e. initial bid price = BuyItNow price). If
it sells, great. If it dosen't, so what?

Kwad
 


<< This is a VERY crappy time to list on eBay, as viewership counts
are WAY down. >>



Do you mean overall or just for the holiday times?
I just told a ton of stuff on eBay a week ago and fetched very good prices, up to par with things I've sold the last couple years. I agree that it might be a bad time to list as many people are traveling and just finished shopping and all. The only redeeming thing is that you will have stuff listed for Wed and Thurs, when people might have some extra Xmas cash to burn.

Oh well, either way this is pretty hot. Might have to clean out the closets tonight. 🙂
 
Kwad is right. The week before/after Christmas is the absolute worst time to list on eBay. They have offered this deal every year on the exact same day. The date of the promo is no coincidence as even with a 10 day extended auction your auction will end before the year-end. Don't forget, the free insertion fees promo only applies to the basic insertion fee, you still pay for the extras such as reserves,features,gallery ,etc...
 
Hey THANKS, for the info Ziptar, got some "stuff" sitting around that I'd like to get rid of, and if it sells, GREAT.

If not , OH WELL , no loss to me!
 
Great time to list, actually, for buy-now expensive items. You can set the price high without fear of high listing fees. The big slump comes in January when everyone gets their credit card bill.
 


<< Kwad is right. The week before/after Christmas is the absolute worst time to list on eBay. They have offered this deal every year on the exact same day. The date of the promo is no coincidence as even with a 10 day extended auction your auction will end before the year-end. Don't forget, the free insertion fees promo only applies to the basic insertion fee, you still pay for the extras such as reserves,features,gallery ,etc... >>



umm..the week after xmas is the worst time to list, but the week before xmas is not..It's the best time to list..
 
Very good info info your post, Kwad Guy, but...

>>>Personally, I'd take this opportunity to list a bunch of stuff
at set-sale prices (i.e. initial bid price = BuyItNow price)<<<

Listing items where the initial price [minimum bid] = the Buy It Now price is the best way to have your listing ignored...most auctions listed this way end without a sale taking place - people just don't like to be told they have to bid a certain amount to participate in your auction, when they can bid a dollar or whatever they want on someone else's auction.

Anyway, I always list my stuff on Fridays to get the most interest (I also always do 5-day auctions), so this free listing Thursday thing kinda sucks...means my auctions would end on Christmas Day, which is absolutely *the* worst day of the year as far as EBAY goes. As others mentioned, this past week was EXCELLENT for EBAY sales, since people were doing last-minute Christmas shopping. After today though, activity will plummet quickly, until it picks up again after the New Year.
 

Justincase: I don't necessarily agree with you about the best time to list.......and I'll explain why. First, listing on a Friday is the worst time of the week to list an item. Here are a few reasons why....Many people shop on eBay at work. Also, I'm sure most people would agree that Friday is one of the biggest days of the week for people to take off work. Also, the first few days of your auction are the weekend. Most people are out doing "stuff" on the weekends and not sitting behind a computer. Many, many people are out having fun, going to dinner, movies, shows, family, parties on the weekends (Fri, Sat), which means less traffic to internet sites. I think Sunday night is the best night to start your listings because people are settling back in for the work-week. Also, you catch the M-F 9-5 work crowd and the weekday nights when people are more likely to be home, than on a weekend.

I think it's safe to say that you can ask 10 different people and they will give you 10 different reasons when you should list, but that's my .02....

Also, the Buy It Now price can be used very effectively, but it depends on what your goal on eBay is. I prefer to move products in and out so I set my Buy It Now price slightly below the market price (as formulated from the Completed Items link) and educate my bidders that using Buy It Now is smarter and will save them money. I tell them that if they go through the bidding process they might out-price the item, or get caught up in a bidding war. Sure, this might lose a few dollars for me, but when you start the auction at $1 and let it go at no reserve auction, you aren't guaranteed to achieve a certain price either. Again, get the product in and get it out to maximize my revolving money....

Anyways, those are some of my thoughts. If anybody needs eBay help, PM me.....
 
>>>Justincase: I don't necessarily agree with you about the best time to list.......and I'll explain why. First, listing on a Friday is the worst time of the week to list an item. Here are a few reasons why....Many people shop on eBay at work. Also, I'm sure most people would agree that Friday is one of the biggest days of the week for people to take off work. Also, the first few days of your auction are the weekend.<<<

When I list my auctions on Friday evenings, one of my goals is to get the weekend crowd AND the weekday crowd. I always have a Buy It Now price on my auctions, and you would be surprised how many of them end on Friday night or Saturday, and end with Buy It Now (70-80% of my auctions end at my desired price). Lately, I get a fair number of auctions ending on the slowest day of the week as well, Sunday.

One of the things I *don't* want is for my 5-day auctions to END either on Sunday, Thursday, or Monday...Sunday and Thursday are the 2 slowest days of the week for any business, and Monday and even half of Tuesday is still quite slow, in my observation. I want my auctions to end on a fairly busy night - and the only schedule that encompasses all of my desires is to start Friday and end Wednesday. Once in a while I start something on Monday, end Friday, but that is rare. The routine works very, very well for me, and I don't want to monkey around with something that works.


>>>I think it's safe to say that you can ask 10 different people and they will give you 10 different reasons when you should list, but that's my .02.<<<

Agreed...everyone's experience will be different. If something else works best for you, or anyone else, then that's what you should continue to do.


>>>Also, the Buy It Now price can be used very effectively, but it depends on what your goal on eBay is. I prefer to move products in and out so I set my Buy It Now price slightly below the market price (as formulated from the Completed Items link)<<<

I look at the highest price of the last 3-5 days or so, set my Buy It Now price at or just below that price...and then offer free shipping for buyers that use that option. I also want to turn over a lot of product, and I do, using the above methods and others.
 
This is a great deal even if it is not the best day to sell. If your stuff doesn't sell you have only lost the time it took to list. Great post. I will be listing 14 items THANKS.
 
Skich I don't understand. What if someone bids on your items at $1 dollar and that's it. Will you sell it for $1?

EG
 
It is interesting how everyone has a different model of the best time to list. I always do 7 day auctions, and usually start them around 11 or 12 in the morning on Saturday or Sunday. That way most people can be home at the end of the auction if they are interested. Also they run over the weekend. Work week auctions are fine, but a lot of people actually don't have computer access at work, or are too busy working. I usually set a buy it now price that is a little higher than the average closed price, in essence, saying "you can have this item quicker, but you will have to bid a small premium." A lot of my auctions end with buy it now. It would be interesting to do an empirical study of all these variables to see what really works. Any unemployed statisticians out there??? 😉
 
Just my 2 cents ... The week after Christmas is a great time to BUY on ebay.
Traffic on the site is certainly reduced (the after Christmas lull .. ) so you can find some excellent bargains w/o as much competition.

I will be "relisting" all of my stuff that didn't sell last week .... why not relist for FREE?
Even if it doesn't sell .. I'm out nothing.

Happy Holidays All !😉
 

In my opinion, I do not think of Sundays as being slow at all for eBay sales. When deciding the best time to list your item you have to really think about a day/time when people have the time to be on the computer. Sunday nights, in my opinion, is the perfect example of this. Almost every department store or mall in this country closes at or around 6pm CDT on Sunday. People usually don't go out to social events Sunday night. There aren't as many sporting events (professional, or even a kids soccer game) that happen on Sunday night either. Basically, there usually isn't much of anything going on, on Sunday night. So this leads me to believe, what do people do on Sunday nights? I believe that many people turn to the TV, and the internet which leads directly to my point.

Thursday night is the biggest night for TV, so people are at home. If people are at home, there is a good chance there is a computer on, or will be turned on. Therefore, Thursday night seems ideal for me as well to list if you truly want to catch the weekend people and the workday people. The internet has driven TV ratings into the toliet, so a major chunk of those once Thursday TV viewers are now internet surfers.......I live by these rules and have done well from them as well.



 
got suspended for 30 days by ebay said i got a complain. and didn't give me a chance to defense myself. and I don't even know what complain i got, from who, etc.

guess i am going to get some of there 1000+ rating user suspended when i get my acct back.

nice f*cking system they have.
 
while we weren't looking they took away the "free relisting if your item doesnt sell the first time"

i noticed this about two weeks ago, or is it just my account?!
 
>>>So this leads me to believe, what do people do on Sunday nights? I believe that many people turn to the TV, and the internet which leads directly to my point.<<<

From my observations of this forum, the Fat wallet forum, the Delphi forums, Hotline sites, and all of the other places I visit on a daily basis...Sunday afternoon and evening are pretty much dead. My experience has been that I get very few bids on Ebay during that time; though I never have auctions scheduled to end on Sunday.


>>>Thursday night is the biggest night for TV, so people are at home.<<<

Around here, Thursday is also the day that a lot of department stores, banks, post offices and other business have extended hours (dunno if that has anything to do with the fact that business IS so slow on Thursdays). I didn't know it was the biggest night for TV; I'll have to look into that.


>>>If people are at home, there is a good chance there is a computer on, or will be turned on. Therefore, Thursday night seems ideal for me as well to list if you truly want to catch the weekend people and the workday people. The internet has driven TV ratings into the toliet, so a major chunk of those once Thursday TV viewers are now internet surfers.<<<

Again, my observations of online activities and business are that it's slow on Thursdays at all of the places I frequent...and that pattern has been in place for years.


>>>I live by these rules and have done well from them as well.<<<

Cool.
 
I am new to ebay ..

how much they charge u listing fee and do u have to pay a certain percentage of commission to ebay if u sell the item ?

I know half.com list free and charge u 10 or 15% (not sure which one) if u sell an item..
 
There is a difference between listing fees and final value fees... Final values will still be assessed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top