posted on August 6, 2002 07:34:43 AM
I'm a programmer and I am currently selling software on eBay. About a month ago I asked the question here if anyone knew of the best time for auctions to close. I had varying opinions, so I decided to start on a web site that would tell me the answer.
It's a simple 3 page web site at this point, but it tells me hits per day, hits per hour, and I'm working on making it show how the visitors found the site (Search keywords, View Sellers other Auctions, Going, Going, Gone, etc.)
My eBay software sales came to an abrupt slowdown about a week ago, and it got me thinking. I'm thinking about implementing some kind of gauge that reports how much traffic eBay is getting, and possibly the % that has bids. This is no easy task, but it seems like vital information. I'm just wondering if anyone out there has even seen this service offered by anyone else? I don't want to invent it if it's readily available already.
If you want to check out what I've done, go to any of my auctions, (username prodomaintools) and click on the 'BidLogic' graphic at the bottom.
I'd love to have suggestions on how to make the site a valuable tool.
posted on August 6, 2002 08:10:02 AM
eBay has the metrics but won't dilvulge them. One of the most important figures is the over-all sell through rate which they do not dilvulge.
posted on August 6, 2002 09:17:39 AM
Something similar is already being done. They charge $5 a month. Samples are shown in the Auctionbytes (?) newsletter.
I did a study on best days to end, and went and listed on the days I found the best days, and my results actually dropped. Went back to my regular end days.
posted on August 6, 2002 09:55:44 AM
I think there are too many determining factors to make this a tool to completely rely on.
ebay is a lot like a RL retail business. Weather, family situations, moods, unpredictable expenses like a broken appliance or a car that needs repair, the economy, etc. determine how people will shop from day to day.
Also how many new buyers are coming online and how many are leaving?
Most sellers will do really well and then have a slump and sometimes it is difficult to determine why it is happening.
posted on August 6, 2002 03:40:21 PM
It is hard to gauge which days are the best since all of your auctions, active and completed were 3 day auctions so you cannot compare the hits for a week.
posted on August 6, 2002 03:42:09 PM
i put it on one of my auctions and its off. i went and viewed the auction. said my hit was at 5pm. this was at 11 am.
posted on August 6, 2002 07:27:08 PM
I am in the same business full time and I sell sports memorabilia on ebay. I thas been a little slow. ANyhow, I am looking for software to interact with ebay. I'd like to know all the auctions that sold, the total fees charged to me and a place fo rme to put in how much my cost was. There is a lot of software out there but I dont like any of them. DO you have something like this? THanks
Joe Coppola
posted on August 6, 2002 07:27:15 PM
I am in the same business full time and I sell sports memorabilia on ebay. I thas been a little slow. ANyhow, I am looking for software to interact with ebay. I'd like to know all the auctions that sold, the total fees charged to me and a place fo rme to put in how much my cost was. There is a lot of software out there but I dont like any of them. DO you have something like this? THanks
Joe Coppola
posted on August 6, 2002 08:40:31 PM
Using my web site I found that nearly 80% of my traffic occurred during the first 24 hours and the last 24 hours. Knowing this I made all my auctions 3 day auctions and my sales nearly doubled. My goal is to get 50% of my auction hits come from "View Sellers Other Auctions". This should help my sales as well.
posted on August 6, 2002 08:43:12 PM
The reason the time is off is because I have been using GMT. I guess I should put it on eBay time (PST), but selling software, about 50% of my customers are outside of the US. I've delayed making the change because it will throw all my current auctions off... I think I will do it now.
posted on August 7, 2002 03:32:58 AM
I have seen a graph of ebay hits quite awhile ago on the net.cannot remember where will look for it..could be gone now or as someone else said a pay service now
one variable that can throw this way off is ebay outages & problems
for an eye-opener go to ebay,site map,discussion,on left click on tech board whew
good luck great idea
