EBay for Dummies (43 page)

No matter how many days you choose to run your auction, it ends at exactly the same time of day as it starts. A 7-day auction that starts on Thursday at 9:03:02 a.m. ends the following Thursday at 9:03:02 a.m.

Although I know the gang at eBay is a pretty laid back group, they do run on military time. That means they use a 24-hour clock set to Pacific Time. So 3:30 in the afternoon is 15:30, and one minute after midnight is 00:01. Questions about time conversions? Check out
www.timezoneconverter.com
or look at the table on my Web site in the Tools area, which has a printable conversion chart of eBay times (
www.coolebaytools.com
). (And so you don’t have to keep flipping back to this page, I also include these handy-dandy links on the Cheat Sheet at the front of this book.)

With auctions running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you should know when the most bidders are around to take a gander at your wares. Here are some times to think about:

Saturday/Sunday:
Always run an auction over a weekend. People log on and off eBay all day.

Don’t start or end your auction on a Saturday or Sunday —
unless
your completed auction research indicates that you should. Certain types of bidders love sitting at their computers waiting for auctions to end on the weekends, but many bidders are busy having lives, and their schedules are unpredictable. Although a few eager bidders may log on and place a maximum bid on your auction, you can bet that they won’t be sitting at a computer making a last-minute flurry of competitive bids if they have something better to do on a Saturday or Sunday.

Holiday weekends:
If a holiday weekend is coming up around the time you’re setting up your auction, run your auction through the weekend and end it a day after the “holiday” Monday. This gives prospective bidders a chance to catch up with the items they perused over the weekend and to plan their bidding strategies.

Don’t end an auction on the last day of a three-day holiday. People in the mood to shop are generally at department stores collecting bargains. If eBay members aren’t shopping, they’re out enjoying an extra day off.

Time of day:
The best times of day to start and end your auction are during eBay’s peak hours of operation, which are 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time, right after work on the West Coast. Perform your completed auction research, however, to be sure that this strategy applies to your item. Your timing depends on the item you’re listing and whether 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time is the middle of the night where you live.

Unless you’re an insomniac or a vampire and want to sell to werewolves, don’t let your auctions close in the middle of the night. Not enough bidders are around to cause any last-minute bidding that would bump up the price.

Your secret safety net — reserve price

Here’s a little secret: The reason sellers list big-ticket items like Ferraris, grand pianos, and high-tech computer equipment with a starting bid of $1.00 is because they’re protected from losing money with a
reserve price.
The reserve price is the lowest price that must be met before the item can be sold. It’s not required by eBay but can protect you. eBay charges an additional fee for this feature that varies, depending on how high your reserve is.

For example, say you list a first edition book of John Steinbeck’s
The Grapes of Wrath.
You set the starting price at $1.00, and you set a reserve price at $80.00. That means that people can start bidding at $1.00, and if at the end of the auction the bidding hasn’t reached the $80.00 reserve, you don’t have to sell the book.

As with everything in life, using a reserve price for your auctions has an upside and a downside. Many choosy bidders and bargain hunters blast past reserve-price auctions because they see a reserve price as a sign that proclaims “No bargains here!” Many bidders figure they can get a better deal on the same item with an auction that proudly declares
NR
(for
no reserve
) in its description. As an enticement to those bidders, you see lots of NR listings in auction titles.

If you need to set a reserve on your item, help the bidder out. Many bidders shy away from an auction that has a reserve, but if they’re really interested, they will read the item description. To dispel their fears that the item is way too expensive or out of their price range, add a line in your description that states the amount of your reserve price. “I have put a reserve of $75.00 on this item to protect my investment; the highest bid over $75.00 will win the item.” A phrase such as this takes away the vagueness of the reserve auction and allows you to place a reserve with a low opening bid. (You want to reel ’em in, remember?)

On lower-priced items, I suggest that you set a higher starting price and set no reserve. Otherwise, if you’re not sure about the market, set a low minimum bid but set a high reserve to protect yourself.

If bids don’t reach a set reserve price, some sellers e-mail the highest bidder and offer the item at what the seller thinks is a fair price. Sending a Second Chance offer through the eBay system makes much more sense. Two caveats if you try to circumvent eBay fees and contact the bidders:

eBay can suspend the seller
and
the buyer if the side deal is reported to Trust & Safety. This activity is strictly prohibited.

eBay won’t protect buyers or sellers if a side deal goes bad.

I want to be alone: the private auction

In a private auction, bidders’ user IDs are kept under wraps. Sellers typically use this option to protect the identities of bidders during auctions for high-priced big-ticket items (say, that restored World War II fighter). Wealthy eBay users may not want the world to know that they have the resources to buy expensive items. Private auctions are also held for items from the Adult/Erotica category. (Gee, there’s a shocker.)

The famous sign that was pictured in almost every Disneyland promotion (for the first 40 or so years of Disneyland’s existence) was put up for sale on eBay in 2000. Legend has it that the sign was purchased by actor John Stamos for a high bid of $30,700. Unfortunately for John, the Disney auction did not use the private auction feature. After news of the winner’s name hit the tabloids, the entire world knew John’s eBay user ID! He had to change his ID in a hurry to end the throngs of lovey-dovey e-mail headed to his computer!

In private auctions, the seller’s e-mail address is accessible to bidders in case questions arise. Bidders’ e-mail addresses remain unseen.