Repricing frequency, vacation patterns, and the 80/20 of who actually wins.
From January 1 to March 31, we tracked 1,400 active eBay stores across 14 categories. We logged every price change, every listing edit, every stock-out, and every vacation mode toggle. Here's what we learned.
The 80/20 of repricing
12%
Stores repricing daily
31%
Stores repricing weekly
57%
Stores never repricing
The 12% who reprice daily captured 64% of buy box hours across the categories we tracked. Repricing frequency is the single highest-correlated variable with marketplace share.
The vacation pattern
78% of stores took at least one vacation mode period over 90 days. The average vacation lasted 6 days. Stores that competitor-tracked their rivals timed their promotions to start the day after a major rival went on vacation — capturing an avg. 18% volume bump that week.
Surprising findings
- Sunday is the highest-velocity sales day (not Friday as commonly believed)
- Listings with prices ending in .97 outsold .99 by 3.2%
- Stores that reply to messages within 2 hours have 31% higher repeat-buyer rate
- Free returns increased conversion by 22% but only +4% net margin (returns ate the rest)
