Below is a quote from an answer and question on one of the lighthouses listed lately on Ebay.

It sickens me to see responses like this. Obviously the buyer was upset and said nothing wrong. Us east coast people tend to think every thing revolves around our time zone and it was a legitimate question that deserved a proper answer.

Of course the proper answer would be: I appreciate you bringing this to my attention. I will try my best to end my bids at times that suite both the east coast and the west.

Daniel,

I'll agree that the tenor of the response is a bit harsh.

Saying that I don't disagree with the response in that if the seller does not restrict delivery only to the US and includes selling to other parts of the world it's going to be difficult to set the time to accomadate everybody.

I'll be candid- I never considered setting my closing time on an auction to accommadate any specific place. I've always set them up to start immediately and thus they would end at the same time usually 7 days hence.

I agree with the seller in that he/she should be able to set up the auctions as they please and anybody who wants to bid has to do so accordingly. I don't use them but there are methods to make sure that you can always conter any bid below your highest amount.

The simplest method is to bid the highest you are willing to pay and sit back and wait for the end of the auction- if it goes above that price it wasn't meant to be that time. This is the method I usually use- and I usually stick to it.

Dennis

When I sell an item, I don't think about the ending time either. On the buying side, I do the same as Dennis, I put my highest bid in that I am willing to pay for (with shipping in mind). Also one nice feature of Ebay is that you can bid a high amount and if no one bids it up that high you get the item for a lower price. I have bid on several items and lost but bid again when the item comes up again and get a lower price.

One would think that the best time for an auction to end would be when most bidders might be awake and home. Auctions that end on saturdays and sundays, late afternoon or early evening hours, might make for a bidding war at the very end of the auction. I would think that would lead to people spending more what an item is worth rather than trying for the ultimate bargain. That all depends on what the actual value of an item is.

I agree that no one should be rude on eBay. That doesn't make for good business in the future if people remember you for a negative remark.

Bob

9pm - 10pm EST is usually my magic number.

Sean

I've sold a lot of things on eBay (in the past). I never EVER took the ending time of the auction into account - I just put the item in to start immediately whenever I got it listed. That's the norm.

While I do think that the response was a bit harsh, I also think the request was COMPLETELY out of line and clueless. It was a totally unnecessary and ego-centric complaint.

There are SO many ways for people to bid which don't involve actually being on line at the time of the end of the auction, including the way eric (and probably Dennis) do it.

I had one bidder who basically wanted everything of one type of item that I had for sale, and she put in really high bids on those items. So a second lady who also wanted the same items was always outbid. That was too bad, and I felt sorry for #2, but if the winner was willing to put up that amount of money to be sure she got the item, then she got it. BTW she lived in California and the #2 lady lived in the midwest.

You'll almost always get a higher price for an item ending at 9-10PM Eastern, as Sean said.

Also, Friday and Saturday nights are not good, people are out and about at dinner and the movies, etc. I find Wednesday & Thursday night endings get alot of last minute bidding.