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Message:: [QUOTE="claycad, post: 1164495, member: 17987"]here's a good read to decide how long to list your auctions for: HOW LONG SHOULD I AUCTION MY ITEM ?  1, 3, 5, 7 AND 10 DAY AUCTIONS EXPLAINED  There are several options for the length of time to run an auction  on eBay.  Choosing which to use is not intuitive.  This guide is  designed to explore each option and suggest possible situations in which  you might use each.  The goal here is helping you to make the right  choice for each sale.   1 DAY AUCTION  Most people view their searches by “auctions ending first” largely  to be able to buy the item they desire sooner, rather than later.  In cases where the customer is in a hurry to get his or her item – 1  day auctions are ideal.  From a seller’s perspective, the short time  availability of the item limits its overall exposure (and getting the  possible best price).  So, the 1 day auction option is only good for  those items that are in extremely high demand -- with low to no supply  otherwise available!  An excellent example is the Wii Game Box (and some  related merchandise) only spotily available during this past holiday  season.   This year (and last), the news and the company let it be known that  Wii game systems were in very short supply.  In case you missed the  news, the message was also clear by the lines forming outside of every  national chain at 6 a.m. the day a delivery of the systems was expected  to arrive.  In many cases, desperate “Santas” had to revert to paying  “market value” ($500.00 or more on the web) rather than $249.00  suggested retail price.  This translated to BIG profits for those lucky  enough to buy and sell some units on eBay - so one day was enough to  fetch big dollars for the seller.  Another example were the Apple iPhones on the release day, or  shortly thereafter.  In anticipation of scarcity drummed up by the  media, there were lines at stores over night in some cities.  Hundreds  wanted to be the first to have these magic gadgets.  The anticipated  shortages resulted in a high demand on the internet too as with the Wii  Game Console.  So, if you were lucky enough to get an iPhone (or more  than one) in the first few days after the frenzy began, you could take  advantage of the “shortage” by selling them on eBay for twice the retail  price or more usinf only 1 day auctions.   In most cases, putting such items on eBay during the holiday sales  season netted huge profits over the original investment BUT it had to  happen during the frenzy and BEFORE Santa was to deliver the goods.   Under those circumstances, a 1 Day Auction, is necessary and became  essential, the closer to Christmas it actually got.  Even in 1 day of  exposure these items were sold to the highest bidder (with many folks  bidding).  So limited exposure time was no real issue.  If your item is  in high demand, and supply is low (or non existent), especially during a  holiday season, you should get it out there and sold while the demand  is still hot.  1 day auctions are the perfect way to do that.   Do note that this situation is also a perfect case for adding a  slightly inflated “Buy It Now” option to the auction.  There are often  those who will pay even more to avoid the bidding war and waiting any  amount of time at all for auction end.  3 DAY AUCTION  Using a 3 day auction is very like using a 1 day auction, and serves  a similar purpose.  In this case, you are hoping for buyers with  slightly more “staying power” in the shorter auction period, while also  gathering a bit of additional market exposure for your hard to find or  unique item.  If you have several items that are in high demand, you can  put one in a 7 day format and another in the 3 day format.  This  assures that you are making it available to bidders with less patience  for auction style buying in the shorter auction.  A good indicator of  the type of item that would be a good candidate for a 3 day auction is  an item that, after only having been listed one or two days in a 7 day  auction, is now bid up to or beyond it’s expected profit level (a high  demand item).  Having an additional item also available in a shorter  auction rides the same popularity and scarcity wave as the original item  in the 7 day auction.   5 DAY AUCTION  Five day auctions are best used to bridge auction time on your  shorter term auctions to take in a long weekend or a holiday weekend.   For instance, if you normally use the 1 or 3 day format and there is a  holiday weekend coming, you may want to bridge the weekend from Thursday  through Monday with a 5 day auction.  The additional exposure over the  length of the holiday weekend is great because people love to shop  online during their leisure periods.  7 DAY AUCTION  eBay’s big vendors and many Power Sellers use seven day auctions  routinely.  The 7 day format always covers at least one weekend, and  provides optimum exposure for their merchandise.  The popularity of 7  day auctions is usually ascribed to the fact that they always cover a  weekend and the term (7 days) is long enough to pull in a wide range of  potential customers. Yet, the duration is also short enough to hold the  interest of the largest number of potential customers.   10 DAY AUCTION  For an additional $0.20 for each extended auction, you can keep your  item(s) listed for auction for 10 rather than 7 days (3 more days than  the standard 7 day auction).  A 10 day auction practically guarantees  that you will get the widest range of bidders available on eBay.   However, you may loose a few who are impatient or forget to bid on the  auction during the longer waiting period.  The 10 day auction length is  best suited for those items that are unique or expensive.  In those  cases, you would sensibly like to realize the best possible return at  auctions end.  That will only come from maximum exposure.  Items in this  category are also the best suitable for the use of reserves, should you  choose to do so.[/QUOTE]

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