Online Sellers: Best Times to Start / End Online Auction Listings IN 2021
Posted by Big Brand Wholesale.com on 16th Feb 2021
If you have been researching the best times to start / end your online listings, I'm sure you have come across endless advice, such as "Every eBay Listing MUST start & end on a SUNDAY!!!" or "Only list on Saturdays!!"; it seems like the more you look the more conflicting advice you come across...
This "Sundays Only!" data came about back in 2005…and back then it actually WAS true. However, keep in mind that back then mainstream internet was still new. 2005 is the year Youtube was created and the year our company (BigBrandWholesale) started and I can absolutely assure you that times have greatly changed, and because of this, you have to change too. With cell phone giving us direct connection to the internet 24/7 we no longer have to wait until Sunday to shop online… because we can do it in the bathroom at work (LOL!).
The other issue with this advice is that the people giving the "advice" don't actually have any DATA. They are just giving you their opinion, without actually looking at analytics... so it's basically no different than asking the gas station cashier what kind of car he thinks you should buy next. The reason this wrong advice surfaces is because the advice-giver has listed 5,000 items Sunday-through-Sunday and one item Tuesday-through-Tuesday, so they obviously sold more on Sundays because of the quantity they listed. We see this happen all the time; people tell us "Size XL doesn't sell", yet they only have 1 XL item listed. If you only have 1 listed, it's going to be a slower sell than if you have 100 or 1,000 Extra Larges on your site.
With that in mind, here’s my personal most popular listing days, in order from best-to-worst, as of 2021 (this data comes direct from 24 months of our companies Google Analytics):
- MONDAY! Yes seriously! Who would have ever thought?!
- Thursday
- Wednesday
- Tuesday
- Friday
- Sunday
- Saturday
As you can see, Sunday is actually our second WORST. The only day that is slower than Saturday is SUNDAY!
Busiest Hours, FOR VIEWS, in order BASED ON EASTERN STANDARD TIME:
12pm - 1pm
2pm - 3pm
3AM - 4AM
1AM - 2AM
3pm - 4pm
9AM - 10AM
Busiest Hours, FOR PURCHASES, in order:
Someone viewing your listing is obviously imperative, but someone buying it is just as important.
12pm-1pm
4pm-5pm
5pm-6pm
11pm - 12AM
12AM - 1AM
1AM - 2AM
As you can see, the old school “make sure your listing ends at noon!” is no longer effective. Based on the information above, the early morning hours are almost as popular as the mid-day hours. One thing we can absolutely say is that mid-morning time frames suck. If I had to give you any advice, I would say avoid listing / ending between 3am - 12pm as well as between 6pm - 11pm.
IN CLOSING:
If you are having problems selling items and you keep paying to reup the same listing that stars and ends on the same day, consider changing the day and time. If you've been running the listing from Sunday-through-Sunday for 4 weeks; STOP IT ALREADY! Try something new! Swap out the photo and flip the listing to Monday - Monday with an end time of 11:59pm (EST) and see what happens!
Love this article? Next Read:
Why are Manufacturer (Interior Name Brand) Tags on Clothing Sometimes Cut in Half?
Where to Next? Popular Topics: