When to sell on eBay

Selling products on eBay is fairly straightforward, but now that you’ve taken the plunge and your basics are in order, you want to market effectively to ensure your business – whether on the side or on a full-time basis – takes off. You also want to move items as quickly as possible to ensure your online cash register repeatedly sings that ‘ka-ching sound! It just so happens that the ‘when’ part of selling plays a vital role in the selling process. Furthermore, there are two ‘whens’ to consider: when during the year and when on a given day.

The Annual ‘When’

Depending on what products you sell, one should consider certain times of the year to boost sales. The forerunner on the annual timeline will be the pre-Christmas rush, which starts around October. Although consumers buying gifts will shop until the very last minute on Christmas Eve, sales should consistently peak during these end-of-year months. However, it is worth noting everything surrounding an important holiday such as Christmas generates consumer activity, whether you are selling chocolates, decorations or food items, etc. Know which holidays are coming up, and list items at least a month beforehand. The bigger money spinners are Thanksgiving (USA), Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s & Father’s Day, and Halloween.

Be aware of seasonal items. You can demand more for a product at the correct time of year to get your cash register bulging. For example, if you are selling swimwear, pre-summer sales will be your best listing time rather than mid-winter. Furthermore, the beginning of school terms and over-school holiday periods are also great times for listing most types of products.

However, equipped with designated periods and dates that can be taken further if you do your research. Find out what people want at certain times of the year and keep abreast of the tools available on the eBay platform, such as the hot items list and seller news.

The Daily ‘When’

To be successful all year round, one can’t rely solely on seasonal highs and lows, or even holidays, for that matter. You want to be effective daily as well. So, to make every day a successful sales day follow this advice:

Independent marketing companies and researchers agree that the seven-day auction is most effective, especially if you can manage your auctions to finish on Sunday between 8 PM and 10 PM. This two-hour period is the peak buying time, followed by Saturday and Friday. Furthermore, opting out of the ten-day auction period (thus avoiding the extra charge) keeps your auction live long enough to attract decent traffic. If you can’t quite manage to always close auctions at the optimum times mentioned, then try to at least aim to have your listings close between 8 PM and 11 PM, as this appears to be the general peak period daily. Also, be aware that the overall big traffic days are Sundays and Mondays, so ensure your auction is listed over both for maximum viewing.

Ensure you have a decent eBay shop design, which converts your visitors much easier than a standard eBay template.

Logically it then follows that your cash register will not make that sound you love so much if your auctions end at 4 AM on a Tuesday. So, be aware and plan strategically. While this doesn’t take a lot of effort to get right, formulating good listing habits will boost your sales, keeping you smiling all year round.