I've been selling my trains off on a certain auction site. I was wondering does the length of the auction really matter between 3 days and 7 days. I usually put mine for about 5 days and there just seems to be a lag time until the end of the auction. So are the results about the same on a short auction
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Well I know several people, including me, who make a habit of keeping a list of items they want, and the searching the auction sites and amazon and etc., once a week, checking all those items. A three day auction has only a 3/7 chance - not even 50-50 of being seen by me, just blind luck depending the day of the week people are checking (I check early every Saturday morning, but who knows when other people choose too?). A 5 day posting will be seen by 5/7 of folks, better, but . . .
The more who see it, the more who might bid on it.
Most people check once a week, so 7 days. Unless you have a ton of items to list every day, Sunday night appears to be the best as most people are home then.
At least 7 days and don't have it end at 3 in the morning. I prefer to have it end from 5-7 pm to allow the snipers to drive up the price.
I get the best results with 10 day auctions (where offered), timed to end around 8PM California time on Sunday.
Mitch
Thank you for all your replies. I may extend my auctions to seven days.
Bob
I agree with most of the comments - I have not tried a ten day auction. Lately - I am seeing no bids until right before the auction closes. I prefer the 7 pm to 9 pm CST closing times. I list auction style and fixed price. I almost always include "make an offer" and will often end up selling at the offer - sometimes negotiated. For me - anything on "auction", an acceptable offer is higher than listed; anything on "buy it now", well those almost anything goes. For the most part I am pricing according to prices sold at (a lot time watching other items) and just trying to break even or better from what I bought the item for (all used, and mostly 30% to 50% under new pricing for the modern stuff).
I am not seeing a hike in sold prices on eBay, but the auction house prices have skyrocketed. IMO there has been a shift from resellers to collectors or "investors". In the last couple of months I can find eBay items cheaper than the final auction prices. Of course there are some items coming out of a collection that are uncommon - so anything goes with these. Stout's auction was going this morning - I was bidding on a number of items - well I am waiting for auction final prices to settle down. Just scratching my head on some of these final prices - too rich for me. Jeff
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
