MAXIMIZE SALES BY ALLIGNING YOUR START & END TIME WITH PEAK EBAY SEARCH TIME

One of the areas I had not had a lot of time to research until now (and be sure of my findings), was whether or not there really IS an absolutely best time (or spread of times) when it makes sense to concentrate you sales activity.

Before I begin though, I need to remind you that, if you have a store, keeping auctions running daily keeps customers finding and visiting your store – so you always need a mix of both store entries and auctions running to maximize traffic to your sales.

Just as everyday life in America (and on earth) has a predictable pattern of waking and sleeping, outdoor activity and “cocooning,”  Ebay has times during each 24 hour period that are busier.  Peak activity on eBay runs in both daily and weekly cycles, following a very predictable pattern (linked to living life) around the web.  In general, eBay traffic follows two simple patterns:

          1.  Shopper’s peak activity on eBay is between 8:00 PM eastern time and 10:00 PM pacific time (a spread of 8 hours, through 4 time zones).  So, it follows that, to maximize bidding activity for your sales they should be launched between those hours so they will close during those hours 3, 5, 7 or 10 days later (a huge window!)  This provides the widest audience of eBay shoppers possible in the US.  If you sell worldwide, the audience increases according to synchronization of hours in other areas of the world (or with every visit of a foreign “night owl” or two). 

          2.  On a daily focus, peak operation time for eBay is on Sunday evening.  If you must choose one day a week to launch your listings, Sunday evening, between 8:00 PM eastern time and 10:00 PM pacific time is the time to do it.  Listing 5-10 auctions every Sunday evening is a convenient way to time your auctions well, without having to think about it too much. 

Using these simple rules, will help you corral the largest possible shopping audience and maximize the bids you get on an ongoing basis.  List 7-day or 10-day auctions whenever possible (long ad exposure). UIf you can only handle auctions one day a week...end on Sunday evenings. 

Choosing smart windows will make a significant difference,  especially when compared to auctions ending on weekday early morning, when even people who were watching your listing closely are likely to still be in dreamland and not at the PC.

Hope this helps you maximize sales.   If you have time drop by my auctions (pepper120851) or my store "The Write Place Ladies Clothing" for some of the biggest bargains on the web today and where YOU name the price you pay -- EVERYDAY!

Pepper