Theoretical Internet Question

[ellenkushner]

So if someone were to be, say, theoretically, launching a big auction to benefit a beloved person, do you agree that Mondays are always best? Even if it's the Monday after Thanksgiving, when everyone's crawling back from a long weekend of family/travel/cooking?

Would Tuesday or Wednesday be just as good, in that case?

Theoretically?

Comments

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

I would think Tuesday would be best, or early Monday afternoon. I generally feel like Monday mornings get lost in the shuffle anyhow, even after a normal weekend. However, something like this will get steady signal boosts across social media from friends and interested parties, so I don't think it will matter in the long run. If it's time sensitive at all, get the word out sooner rather than later.

[time-shark.livejournal.com]

I lean toward Tuesdays, but am not sure how much difference it really makes...

[tara-li.livejournal.com]

The E-Bay people have done a lot of looking at this. Honestly, it's not so much the start time, as the end time that's the critical factor.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

BEST. ICON. EVAR!

[tara-li.livejournal.com]

Feel free to steal and re-distribute! Or snag the original NASA photo, and make your own version poster size!

First Time I've ever gotten a "BEST. ICON. EVAR!" rating! Really cool! I like your icon, though - nice fade through.

Hum... Maybe I should do an animated version that has a rocket flying into the sky, landing on the moon, and then shows the step - I'll have to think about this!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I knew there was Researched Wisdom out there, and hoped someone would tell me what it was. Do you know what the optimum end time is considered to be?

[tara-li.livejournal.com]

I don't have access to any scholarly studies, but various sites suggest that Sunday evenings are probably the best time for an auction to end. Length seems to matter a bit as well - 3 days is not enough exposure time, 5-7 days seems good, and 10 days starts to go downhill again due to a loss of urgency - people see the auction, see they have a lot of time before it comes due, so they figure they'll come back to it when it's closer, and forget about it.

Some linkage found:

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y205/m02/abu0137/s03 - 6 years of survey data. Good comments at the end of the article, as well.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y204/m02/abu0113/s04 - 5 years - more good comments, as well.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/calendar - Cute little "weathercast" style calendar to help decide.

http://news.iwantcollectibles.com/ebay-auction-time-days.shtml - Arguments that it really doesn't matter when, but other factors to consider.

http://www.amnavigator.com/blog/2011/02/08/best-time-and-date-to-end-ebay-auctions/ - More recent analysis, and links to some data from E-Bay itself.

However, of course, all of this comes from E-Bay data - good, but somewhat limited in nature.

[(Anonymous)]

Someone who taught a learn-your-way-around-eBay course told me that Sunday evening was the best end time. I can't remember why...perhaps because appointments and obligations would be out of the way, and people might be more likely to be relaxing and fooling around on their computers.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I'd heard that some people have access to internet only at work - but then, I suppose those aren't the ones who'd be bidding high on an auction, anyway....?

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

When buying on eBay, I notice that the least competitive bidding is in midweek; holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, when people are engaged in offline activity (but not necessarily New Year's, which is not a family-oriented holiday; however, bidding after Christmas and through January is sluggish because everyone's spent all their disposable income and in shock afterward; and most or all of the month of August, when many people are on vacation.

Midweek is defined in airline terms: Tuesday through Thursday. Mondays can go either way. Weekend-ending items go for more than an identical weekday item. It's kinda weird.

High bidding is unpredictable, and a lot of it (to my eye) depends on associative factors rather than the item offered. Is it on trend, or related to something on trend? Is it pitched at a market with a lot of disposable income despite the downturn? Is it genuinely in limited supply and rare, or only called as such by someone who has not observed that eight other sellers at any given moment have the same item up?

[britmandelo.livejournal.com]

Theoretically, Monday afternoon or Tuesday - folks will have woken up, trudged back to work, and started poking about on the internet again by then, I would think.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I think I'd go for Tuesday, because it's less rushed. People have time to read in detail, rather than skim and move on.

[redbird]

Mondays generally may get lost in the shuffle, though you'd also have the "let's see what everyone has posted after the quiet weekend," but a number of online retailers are pushing the Monday after Thanksgiving as "shop online for holiday bargains" day, as a followup to the in-the-flesh "Black Friday" thing.

My first thought was that will have people looking to shop online, but on second thought they might all be looking to specific places: online benefit auctions can offer all sorts of cool things, but I don't go there looking to save money, I go there looking either to find the unusual (someone willing to knit socks for a stranger, for example) or to spend my money where it will do more good than usual.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Yes - were thinking of launching Black Friday for that reason - but have been persuaded it would be less effective.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Avoid days in which people are busy in the Real World. You want a day (a) that isn't going to be lost in the queue of catch-up-after-long-weekend (so, Monday not so good for this case, IMO); (b) when people are frittering away a little time on the Web.

[julieandrews.livejournal.com]

Theoretically lots of people are shopping online on 'Cyber-Monday'. So.. cash in? :)

[annnimeee.livejournal.com]

There were two listings, same seller, same price, that I bid on this week. One was listed on Monday, the second one on Tuesday. Monday there was a major bidding war and I lost. Tuesday I was the only one who bid. So I don't know if Tuesday is a great time for a seller, while I do think it's great for a buyer.

Google came up with these articles that have affirmed Sunday/Monday nights as the best time:

http://reviews.ebay.com/THE-BEST-TIME-TO-SELL-AN-ITEM?ugid=10000000007690960

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/05/15/my-ebay-method-thirteen-steps-to-more-profitable-auctions/

http://cribnotes.blogspot.com/2006/02/how-to-sell-on-ebay.html

http://reviews.ebay.com/When-is-the-best-closing-time-to-sell-an-item-on-eBay?ugid=10000000003488124