When to List car on eBay (Jubilee/Le Mans interuptions)

[Truckosaurus]

Now then.

After getting a grand total of zero enquiries from my PH advert, I'm going to bite the bullet and list my BMW on eBay with No Reserve and a £1 starting price. I might then, at least, have an anecdote when it goes for £500 in forged notes.

My quandary is when to arrange the auction end date seeing as we've got a bonus bank holiday weekend and I'm off to Le Mans for a week.

Option 1 List it to end on Tuesday 4th June
Pros

• Gives people with 4 days off work plenty of time to drunkenly browse eBay.
• Allows 6 days for buyer to come and collect

Cons

• People might be out enjoying themselves instead of looking on eBay
• I'm not going to be at home over the weekend for viewings

Option 2 List it to end on Sunday 10th June
Pros

• Listing covers 2 weekends

Cons

• Only gives 1 day to collect car before I'm at LM for a week

Option 3 List it to end on Sunday 17th June
Pros

• I shall be at Le Mans instead of worrying about lack of bids

Cons

• No Viewings possible

Option 3 List it to end on Sunday 24th June
Pros

• I'll be around for viewings and collections

Cons

• A month away

This is all working on the assumption that Sunday (or equivalent on Bank Holidays) is the best time to end a listing as that's when people are browsing.

Anyone wish to suggest which is the least worst? Do people really come around to view eBay cars or do they just bid?

[FisiP1]

You can list as a classified ad on ebay too, just a suggestion.

[funkyrobot]

Hello Truck. What car is it?

If you could just post the make and model here without any links to the ad, or extra information, you should be ok (I hope) to answer this question.

[Truckosaurus]

I thought about an eBay classified ad but I'm sure it wouldn't give an advantage over the PH advert.

The car is an '02 E46 BMW 330i estate.

[lost in espace]

That is a very good way of getting shot of it, I wouldn't worry too much and just stick it on. Just make sure it doesn't end on Tuesday at 4am.

I have a similar dilemma my lodgers V5 Golf is sitting outside and he is insisting (he is in SA and I said I would ebay it for him) that I start the auction at £1250. It didn't get a sniff. Its relisted at a grand, but I have told him the best way of getting an auction started is at 99p.

[djt100]

For what it's worth I've never had a sniff from PH adverts either, I've always found the Auto-trader best, but you have to price realistically, So look at what the cars same as your are going for in 40 mile radius, forget low miles etc just means you will get a call quicker but people will not pay masses more.

For E.g., I will always view low to high and then pick the lowest price one to see first, and go from there up never the other way round so if you list high then most people will not even see the advert

Just to Add if you do go ahead with ebay then get the ad to finish 7-8 on a Sunday, its the most viewed time statistically,

[TROOPER88]

What's it worth? £1500-1700

[hurstg01]

Option 2, but with a note clearly visible in the listing advising of the times you are not around.

Try to list it when you think most people will be at home too, say 7pm at night - it might protract their collection time pre-Le Mans but you may get more people bidding / viewing the listing who are bored on a Sunday night as the tele is cr@p

[Mr-B]

I always used to get my auctions to finish on a Sunday evening (that being the perceived wisdom) but recently I tried a Wednesday evening and got the best results I have ever had - bear in mind this was for ordinary stuff and not a car mind. As everyman and his dog are auctioning stuff to end on a Sunday you may also have more competition. Wednesday night is also crap for TV, there are no soaps for the mouth breathing masses to get mesmerised by.

I did auction a car years ago and started it at about 1/3 of the best price I could have hoped for (didn't have the bottle to start at 99p), ended up going for about 70% of the best I could have hoped for which I was happy with.

[funkyrobot]

Mr-B said:

I always used to get my auctions to finish on a Sunday evening (that being the perceived wisdom) but recently I tried a Wednesday evening and got the best results I have ever had - bear in mind this was for ordinary stuff and not a car mind. As everyman and his dog are auctioning stuff to end on a Sunday you may also have more competition. Wednesday night is also crap for TV, there are no soaps for the mouth breathing masses to get mesmerised by.

I did auction a car years ago and started it at about 1/3 of the best price I could have hoped for (didn't have the bottle to start at 99p), ended up going for about 70% of the best I could have hoped for which I was happy with.

I've always ended my auctions on Thursday evenings. I always seem to do ok and if people have paid stuff can be in the post on Saturday morning.