# Selling on eBay: now or after holidays?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-on-ebay-now-or-after-holidays/335016>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 10, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-on-ebay-now-or-after-holidays/335016 "2005-12-10T05:45:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-on-ebay-now-or-after-holidays/335016/1 "2005-12-10T05:45:33Z")

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I have a couple of used $2000 bikes that I need to get rid of. Do you think I’m better off selling them in the next week or two, when people are in the spending mood and/or have recently received a year-end bonus? Or wait till January or february, when theyir bank accounts have had some time to recover from the holiday expenses?

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-on-ebay-now-or-after-holidays/335016/2 "2005-12-10T15:45:26Z")

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Now, if you can deliver before xmas. Otherwise, wait until spring, when everyone has riding fever.

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-on-ebay-now-or-after-holidays/335016/3 "2005-12-11T19:49:45Z")

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> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Now, if you can deliver before xmas.

Are you saying now, if people can use it as a Christmas gift? What if it’s a very specialized item, or an item that need some work, and therefore not suitable as a gift?

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**Author:** ![15\_noon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea5d25/32.png) [@15\_noon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/15_noon)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-on-ebay-now-or-after-holidays/335016/4 "2005-12-11T21:53:33Z")

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Now is the time. The next real good time is early spring.

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-on-ebay-now-or-after-holidays/335016/5 "2005-12-12T12:41:30Z")

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My thought is that IF the item is giftable, THEN you should try to sell it now when gift frenzy is at the annual peak.

If the item’s not giftable, then wait until post-xmas. For a bike, better to wait to Spring than just to mid Feb when retail fatigue starts to wear off. Where you live the biking season may be year-round, but your customer base is nationwide, and for many/most of them the biking season isn’t year round.

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**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-on-ebay-now-or-after-holidays/335016/6 "2005-12-12T15:56:47Z")

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Hmmmm, on the one hand, people often make fitness/activity resolutions on New Year’s. On the other hand, **LSLGuy** about biking season. I’d take a look at completed auctions of similar bikes and see how the bidding went.