posted on May 29, 2002 12:47:02 PM
Long story short I list 100's of rare vhs movies every month. All range in price from $5 - $50. I used to do 10 day auctions, but say no decrease in my bid amounts when I lowered them to 7 day, plus I save a little. Now I am contemplating switching to 3 or 5 day auctions. I know I won't save any money, but I will time.
I have found about 95% of all the bidding is done in the last 12 hours anyways, so why waste the other 6 days????
While the bids may not be happening early on... it doesn't mean that people are not necessarily looking at your auction. My advice is to put some counters on your auctions. Watch them over a weeks time. If people are actively viewing your auctions every day.... then the longer auctions make sense (more exposure). However, if people are only looking at your auction on the last day.... then the 3 day auction could help speed things up for you. Hope that helps!
posted on May 29, 2002 12:52:05 PM
well, as you said you dont save any money
on the 7 days, but you have to keep in mind that some buyers dont go to search every single day, by having the auction up few extra days compare to 3 or 5 you have a chance that more buyers will see it, even if they all bid at the last minute.
if you have large customer base or your VHS are in such high deman that you know that bids will come in, then make it 3 or 5 days.
I search eBay about 4 hours per day and in past 4 years I havent bought one single video on eBay so I wont be much help to you whether you have 10 or 7 or 5 or 3 day auction...
I sell clothes, all 7 days,
shoes and expensive lingerie with reserve at 10 days so there is enough time to meet reserve.
posted on May 29, 2002 01:04:26 PM
I find that I get page views every day, so i'd be reluctant to go to 3 or 5 day auctions unless my item was in such demand that I had no worries about low bids.
I use primarily 7 day auctions with a buy-it-now. Lets the impatient folks take it immediately, but otherwise everyone has a chance to search on their fave day of the week and find my item.
posted on May 29, 2002 02:05:45 PM
I don't consider more looks important, I just want more bids, and the time when most people bid is "New Today," 1st page rotation on "Current" and "Ending Today." On the 7 & 10 day I don't believe your auction gets extra 1st page rotations on "current."
With SEARCH, the chances of getting extra bidders may be only an extra 2% or less, and getting those bidders on the extended days would mean on the high end only 1% extra chance. That also means longer turnover, negating any gain. Also, the .10¢ on 10 days would be $10 per 100 listings, very hard to recoup for most items at 1% extra sale. If you have 68% sell through or better, it would make more sense to skip the 10 day auctions altogether and just do relists for the same money or less.
posted on May 29, 2002 06:10:42 PM
I kinda base my length of auction on what I think the final price is gonna be.
If I'm selling an item that I can do a closed auction search on and see that others are selling for $20-$30 on a regular basis, I'll put it up for three days. I don't figure the extra time is gonna make any $$ and I want to sell it. Also, if there are several like items, a three day will throw mine in and get it sold before the other 5-7 day auctions are even close.
If I have a big $$ item and/or something that's unique, I'll use a five or seven day auction to try to get more looks.
I've really never seen any advantage to a ten day auction at all. I've always worried that the item may get bid up as high as it's gonna go in the first day or two and then the high bidder will be bored by the time the other eight days pass.
[ edited by neatstuffusa on May 29, 2002 06:12 PM ]
posted on May 29, 2002 07:51:33 PM
the way I see it you have two groups of buyers
1. check ebay every couple of days searching for certain items 3 day auction works fine here they are in the minority I believe.
2. the second group the majority in my opion check in occasinaly
the way I see it the longer your item is on the site the more of bidder two you have access to
as to last minute bidding with sniping software and the ablity to watch items on ebay you dont know at what point the bidder found your item .
personally I run a search If there is something I like I will usally decide the most I will pay, place a bid with esnipe and forget it
spock here......
Live long and Prosper
posted on May 29, 2002 08:48:48 PM
Because of what you are selling, I am guessing that there is a very high amount of VHS tapes listed. You may do better with those on a 3 day auction because most bidders will not page past 4-5 pages to find what they are looking for. If you were selling something that there are not many of, then a 7 day auction would be warranted. The thing to do is to experiment with it and see what happens.
so I wont be much help to you whether you have 10 or 7 or 5 or 3 day auction...