HammerTap, an eBay research company that helps sellers discover what products to sell and how to make more sales more often, has recently been investigating what specific days of the week are best for ending an eBay auction listing. This type of eBay research can help sellers obtain the maximum selling price and also sell more items.

According to Sean Eyring, an eBay certified consultant, many eBay sellers mistakenly believe that Sunday is the best day of the week to end your eBay listing. This myth came from an announcement eBay made some time ago that the site’s highest traffic day is Sunday.  Eyring says that the highest traffic day on eBay doesn’t mean that everyone is making a purchase on that day.

HammerTap research shows that the best ending day actually depends on two things; your selling strategy and the product you are selling. According to Eyring , all selling strategies are founded upon one of two options: high-volume, low-profit or low-volume, high-profit.

You use a high-volume, low-profit selling strategy when you have a very large inventory of the same product, and you’re more concerned with selling all of your products at a lower price to avoid left-over inventory.  According to HammerTap's data, if you sell on eBay using a high-volume, low-profit strategy, listings that end on a Tuesday increase sales from the average success rate of 75 percent to 87 percent.  In this scenario, HammerTap used DVD players as the high-volume, low-profit item.

Sellers commonly use the other selling strategy option, low-volume, high-profit, when they have a smaller inventory of the same product, or a large inventory of several different products. This strategy maximizes the item sale price. Using data for Garmin GPS Systems, HammerTap research showed listings that ended on Saturday increased the sales price by $35. This is straight profit in your pocket.

Of course, the actual product you’re selling plays a big part in choosing the best day to end the listing. For example, HammerTap research showed that selecting Monday as the end day for Coleman Double-Burner Stoves increased the chances of selling by six percent, while selecting Wednesday increased the final sales price by seven dollars. For Hoover Vacuum cleaners, an end day of Thursday increased the selling success rate by nearly seven percent while Friday increased the selling price by 12 dollars.

Eyring says HammerTap data constantly shows that ending a listing on Sunday does not increase sales or profits.  It is your own selling strategy and product that determines the best day to end a listing.

In his report, Eyring said, "When it comes to the best ending day, there is no general rule of thumb, and not just because it depends upon your selling strategy and your product. In case you haven’t noticed, eBay is a very fluctuating market. What works one month may not work the next."

EBay Offers Seller Promotions to Save on Fees

As we head into the busy spring and summer selling period, eBay is offering sellers several promotions to help them list more items and save on listing fees. 

Through June 15, eBay’s offering a five cent fixed-price insertion fee promotion for many seasonal items including golf clubs, cameras, cell phones and many more items when you use product details (pre-filled item information).  The regular fee for fixed-price listings of one dollar and above is 35 cents.  

Also, until June 8, sellers can also list fixed-price and auction-style items in select parts and accessories categories for 35 cents.  Regular fees for these listings run from 55 cents to four dollars. You’ll find the eBay Motors promotion details here.

Another New Online Marketplace Launches

Spring is also a busy time for launching new fixed-price and auction Web sites.  Based in Charlotte, NC, Chekkout.com is a new marketplace that lets sellers easily added banner links to their Web sites or blogs to show items being listed on Chekkout.com. The site currently offers a $100 automatic account credit for new registrants. 

New registrants can use the $100 credit to pay site fees when they sell. Chekkout.com's end-of-auction fees range from 7 to 8.75 percent, depending on the selling price.  Sellers can also subscribe to several levels of Web shops, starting at $4.99 per month. Chekkout.com, which currently has less than 100 items listed on the site, outlines its seller fees here.

Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG.