eBay Watchers = Bids Bid Bids! Q.

Normally when I sell on eBay I just do a Buy It Now listing, for a change I thought I would do a normal auction.

Is the amount of watchers ever an indication of the actual bid amounts you will get?

Should I be expecting a flurry of bidding activity on Sunday morning? 8)

Yep. Early bidders and watchers are good signs.

Most will just be tyre kickers, but I would be seriously considering opening a Swiss bank account right now, possibly a couple of classic cars, play girl bunnies?.

Anyone who really WANTS the item will only bid in the last 10 seconds…..

Depends – I’ve had stuff where a bid has gone on early… there’s 10 or so watchers.. . auction finish time comes around… wait for the last seconds flurry… nothing. The original bidder wins it cheap as..
So don’t get too excited!

I never watch an auction where I’m planning to bid

I watch items when I want to know what sort of price they sell for, normally because I’ve got the same/ similar I want to sell.

IMO, no of watchers has chuff all to do with the number of people planning to bid.

I watch stuff so that I get an email reminding me to place a bid when it’s nearer the end!

IMO, no of watchers has chuff all to do with the number of people planning to bid.

*cancels deposit on yacht*

Should I be expecting a flurry of bidding activity on Sunday morning?

Nope – if its MTB gear all the watchers will be out riding!!

I never watch an auction where I’m planning to bid

Why? Its not like you can affect things by watching an auction.

Erm, worst time of year to be selling in my experience – if bike stuff.

Everyone’s already blown their wad on Xmas stuff. Great time to buy a s/h bike though!

But 52 watchers is exceptional, so things are looking good for you.

Top class bit of undercover marketing. I can imagine hundreds of STW lurkers scanning eBay listings as I type. Is your real name Brant? 🙂

I recon you will get £18.50.

Let us know how you get on. And you will now need to offer a prize for the closest guess.

When I was selling my four month old three times ridden mint condition £1000 road bike I was filling my pants with man fat at the thought of 148 people watching it. I was expecting it to shoot past my expected £600 sale price and it went for £480 less £48 sale fee.

I put some new £200 inline hockey skates on ebay and again 102 watchers and the highest bid was £42, about £70 short of reserve.

The country is in shit state and the only people buying aren’t wanting to pay what things are worth.

Top class bit of undercover marketing. I can imagine hundreds of STW lurkers scanning eBay listings as I type. Is your real name Brant?

Nah, if I was Brant then I would have linked the image to the auction.

Oh and 55 watchers now.

the only people buying aren’t wanting to pay what things are worth.

Ebay is an Exceptional tool in determining the value of second hand stuff.

Something is worth only what someone else will pay for it on the open market. You may not agree to the sale but it doesn’t make it worth any more.

Should I be expecting a flurry of bidding activity on Sunday morning?

Err no.

You should have timed it to end Sunday evening for the best price. Sunday morning is when the scavengers and bargain hunters prowl the BIN prices for stuff that people are just clearing out…… 😈

To counter the negative – I put some six year old Revelation forks up for sale a few weeks ago – I expected £70-£80 for them and they went for just over £160.

You should have timed it to end Sunday evening for the best price.

Everyone always says this, but is there actual statistical proof? Obviously it’s better to end on Sunday night, than 10am on a Monday morning, but I reckon most of the weekend is fair game.

i watch loads of stuff purely to see how much they go for before i put the exact same item up for sale.

also i gave up on ‘buy it now’ years ago, low staRting bid, no reserve always gets more interest IMO

Jamie, it depends. Bike stuff will certainly sell better Sunday eve. But stuff there’s a lot of may well get a higher price mid-week. My iPhone 3g didn’t reach the prices that they were selling for on weekdays becasue there was LOADS of them ending on Sunday evening.
To be honest, a good price is more dependant on the quality of your advert and pictures than anything else IMO. Try to sell a bike with 20 words and a phone pic, for example, and you’ll get diddly squat for it.
That said, I want a bit OTT with this one recently, but I got a very good price for it:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280780255133

I always end my listings during work time and avoid lunch time too.
In this day and age most people especially the 40 something’s that mountain bike and buy stuff regularly and have a job with a PC on their desk. These are the people A/ with money and B/ the target buyers.
I once sold a 456 frame for more than the new price.

Good luck.

Everyone always says this, but is there actual statistical proof? Obviously it’s better to end on Sunday night, than 10am on a Monday morning, but I reckon most of the weekend is fair game.

Dunno, but I recently got a fairly highly sought after item, normal 2nd hand value around £400ish quid, for £70 as the only bidder (despite lots of watchers apparently) last thing on a Saturday night. I’d not have got it had I not left gixen doing my bidding for me as I was out in town. Had it ended Sunday I’d have been fine.

Number of watchers isn’t really a guide to how much it’ll go for, but it is reassuring that people interested (and at least you haven’t mistakenly put you bike bits in the pottery and ceramics section of eBay).

Crazy as it sounds I’ve often see the low watcher count stuff go for more as you get two people who definitely want it and try to out bid each other.

I tend to watch stuff I wouldn’t mind if they go for bargain prices, but unwatch when price gets too crazy (as per usual on ebay…).

Good luck, keep your nerve until the last few seconds, it’ll look like its going for pennies before the sniping starts at T minus 7 seconds!

In this day and age most people especially the 40 something’s that mountain bike and buy stuff regularly and have a job with a PC on their desk

but they may be:
a) busy
b) have limited internet access at work

You’re missing a trick there…

In this day and age most people especially the 40 something’s that mountain bike and buy stuff regularly and have a job with a PC on their desk

but they may be:
a) busy
b) have limited internet access at work

You’re missing a trick there…
[/quote]

+1. I can’t access ebay at work & don’t bother with anything finishing during the day.

A friend got a carbon spesh road bike for a song that someone had listed to finish at the same time as England played Germany in the world cup.

Oh the suspense!

I always finish my Ebay sales on a Monday evening after east enders.

Oh the suspense!

Yep – especially for the two people waiting for answers to their questions!! 😀

Yep – especially for the two people waiting for answers to their questions!!

/rant

I got asked 2 questions > I answered both questions > askers send back quick reply saying cheers for answering > case closed? Oh no, eBay thinks they are unanswered questions, and I cannot delete them or do anything.

Stupid eBay.

I must be doing allreet too…

I must be doing allreet too…

play girl bunnies

Wouldn’t they be men?

Jamie – I can offer you assurances that shopping websites are busier in the evening ebay included. I can’t offer you exact proof, but I am 100% certain of the fact.

Jamie – I can offer you assurances that shopping websites are busier in the evening ebay included. I can’t offer you exact proof, but I am 100% certain of the fact.

Could the site being busier, risk the chance of ones listing being overlooked though?

Update, as I am sure people are fascinated…and for the record, I will be happy with anything over £70:

Jamie – I can offer you assurances that shopping websites are busier in the evening ebay included.

isn’t that because America gets on-line 5 -9 hours behind us ? doesn’t mean that you’re going to get an increase in UK buyer numbers.

in other news., keep the updates coming jamie, i’m a subscriber to this one.

Do you think you could answer the unanswered question? I can’t bid until I’m better informed.

Do you think you could answer the unanswered question? I can’t bid until I’m better informed.

Look up, Dave.

I haven’t sent the question yet, I just want answers

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I think there are a lot of other variables as to whther you get a good price. Forget the obvious quality of the ad pictures etc. A lot comes down to how many people there are looking to buy one of whatever you’ve got to sell.

Really specialized stuff with a limited market either needs to go on for what you’ll take for it as if there is only going to be one person looking for it if you are lucky then a 99p start is all it will go for.

For everyday bike stuff the 99p start is always a great way to get interest, but is it the right kind? Its hard to say as I’ve sold stuff for much less than it should’ve gone for and vice versa.

Biggest surprise I’ve had was the ancient set of 18 year old Suntour Greaseport Pro Pedals with ti axles that I thought no one would want went for £48 and sold to a guy in Australia.

And then there is the things you are embarrassed about because uyou never thought they’d sell for that much even though you’d described them with all the warts scrapes damage described someone went and bid double what you thought they’d go for.