What is the best time of day/day of week to have an auction expire (I want it to be viewed by as many people as possibile). Also, how long should I let the auction run for? Thanks!
I usually start mine on Saturday or Sunday night, and run them for 7 days. I figure that way I’ll get people who are home and bored on the weekend, and browsing the site. It used to seem to make a difference, but I don’t know anymore.
Another tip is that the search engine is pretty crappy and does not seem to register partial matches; if you list your item as “Big box of 1.44mb disks”, somebody searching for “1.44 mb” (with a space in between) or “disk” (non-plural) will not get to see your item; for this reason I always try to introduce a bit of redundancy in my item titles.
So, for a mobile phone you’d probably want to include “cellphone” and “phone” and so on.
Great thanks! Is there any specific time at night that I should post the auction?
duderdude2? There’s more than one of you guys? Is he the dudestdude? 
My friend runs a business where all his auctions end on Saturday night so I’m inclined to believe this would be a good night to do it. They all end around midnight (+/- an hour). I would have thought Sunday evening around 9-10 would be a good time to do it. You know, like now. Everyone’s home and ready for the next week…but not THAT ready. They still want to goof off.
Many thanks Enderw24!
I too like my auctions to end on the weekends, though I’ve found Saturday afternoon to be the best time, possibly because many people go out in the evening, but Saturday afternoon television sucks.
I’ve had pretty good success on eBay for the last 4 years or so; if possible, I try to have my auctions end on Sunday afternoons or evenings. I use a lot of 10-day auctions, starting on Thursdays; I figure the longer it’s out there, the greater chance of the item being “found.” It costs another ten cents, but I figure it’s worth it to me to get two weekends worth of exposure.
I’ve noticed that there’s a minor viewing spike on Mondays, as well: I figure that there’s a lot of folks who look at eBay from work, where they may have access to a faster computer than at home.
Putting thought into the title is important; don’t waste space with “rare” or “wow!” or articles like “a,” “an” or “the.” Try to figure out what words people will be using in their search–you can learn a lot by searching to see how other sellers have described similar items (this can give you an idea on what price to start your item at, as well). Don’t forget to check the “completed” auctions when you search!
My last tip: be very clear about your shipping/payment preferences in your description; I’ve managed to cut down the number of USPS green domestic money orders (which are not accepted by my bank here in Canada) down to nearly zero: you can check my template by searching under “storeswallah.”
No specific time because the USA isn’t on any specific time line. If someone wants your item, they can find the time to get it.
I like to stagger my items, a three day & five day auction. I don’t use the seven or ten day auctions very much because they take too long & people usually only bid on my items the day before or day of close. So why have longer auctions? If you have a really really rare item maybe ten day auction would get you more buyers.