The time at which an auction ends considerably influences the price that can be achieved, because most bids are placed in the final minutes. Anyone selling should therefore let the auction end when as many interested parties as possible are online.
Analyses of the visits to a relevant writing instrument portal for February 2004 show that usage is markedly higher from Monday to Friday and regularly falls away at weekends. Within the day the main concentration lies between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. An auction ending on a working day within this period therefore reaches the greatest number of potential buyers. It is notable that this audience differs from the average internet user, whose main period of use lies between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.; depending on the product offered, a different time may therefore be sensible.
Friday morning between 10 a.m. and 12 noon is to be avoided, because maintenance work on the platform may take place within this window. Usage behaviour is moreover not static but shifts with the season and with external influences, so that such analyses provide only points of reference after the event.