Expert: Marvinator - 7/11/2005

Question
I have been selling on Ebay on and off for about a year now.  I was just wondering if you could tell me if any certain thing sells better at a certain time of a year than another?  I have been dealing in books and videos, mainly, but dabble in other stuff also.  I just have not really diciphered yet what sells best when (and why!).  
I was hoping perhaps you could give me some insight to this.  I am no longer able to work so could use any extra money I could make on here.
Thanks for any help (or direction) you might give me.


Answer
I wish it were that easy.  You have no idea how many times people come to me and ask what day is best to end an auction, or when do people by books, or clothes or toys most?  I really have no set answer - but at the same time, this is a good thing.  You really don't want to depend on someone else's timetable for setting up auctions.  This is your money, and you have to make it work for you.    

There really is no set time by product, but I can offer some known insights to the type of person you may wish to target.  As a seller, you must be aware of the type of person you want to target with your product.  Young Parents?  Middle aged businessmen?  Teenagers?  Some products even cross lines and blur the statistics.  But  knowing your target audience can help you select a time to do business.  

For instance, if you were wanting to target mothers of school age children, it might be best to offer an auction which ended weekdays in the later morning.  (Mothers surfing while the kids are at school.) But the same could be said of night time around 9 or 10 pm.  (Parents surfing after the kids are inbed.)

What you have to do as a seller is not hope for some printed schedule.  In fact, going by someone else's successes may mean nothing to you.  What I would do were I you, is to set up identical auctions and end them at different times.  (Weekdays at noon, Fridays around 8, Sundays daytime and even Sundays early evening...etc. etc.)

Do this with several different items of similar type.  When you do; as you make sales, you will begin to see a pattern emerge. You may find that all your best sales are on Thursdays...maybe on Sundays when everyone is relaxing at the end of the weekend, before returning to work on Monday.  Maybe even Monday morning when people just can't seem to get into the work schedule. Whatever it is, THIS then targets YOUR audience, YOUR Customer Base.

I hope this helps you to get started.  
Feel free to return with any other questions you may have.