Webuser Forums: Thursday 3rd May - Half Price Auction Listing Day

Okay, okay, don't shoot the messenger. Just passing on the 'exciting' news! (Sarcasm).

Details for Thursday are here: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/sell/200705halfprice/

Half price Auction listing day - for why, eBay? Apparently, according to their newsletter, it is because nothing beats the excitement of an auction. I find excitement does not quite sum up the word when a 50 quid item gets one 99p bid over 10 days and has 7 watchers and no one else bids until 20 seconds before when someone else snatches it for £1.04.

According to the newsletter they are going to be targetting Auction listings and sensible Post and Packing prices over May and June in promotions, so this may just be the runt of the promotional litter.

Tips: What is the half price day good for then? Best bet is for high value items, those you need to start with a higher price so you don't get scuppered. At least you don't pay full whack for listing.

Saying that, we have just had the best month of the year as April closes and this was during a dearth of cheap days. We used lots of Auction and Buy Nows that bought people into our eBay shop, and despite this, it hasn't been too bad for fees if you keep careful eye on them!

If you list something with a low start and you find few bids or interest remember you can only end a listing with bids as long as it has more than 12 hours to go (otherwise you will have to sell). Try to target finishing times, so don't just list willy nilly. The time of day you list will be the time of day that the listing finishes - when will people be looking most? With a choice of 1,3,5,7 and 10 days listings, what day will they finish? We tend to find on Thursdays cheap days that 3 and 10 are good as they finish on Sundays, but for some reason Monday's are good too - so maybe a scattering of 5 days of you have a few items to get rid of.

Obviously the other point of the newsletter is targetting postage 'sharks'. We tend to be quite reasonable, but avoid charging JUST the postage costs - remember packing and handling costs, and pack and weigh something and check the price on the Royal Mail site before you set the cost. We also introduced Postage Included on some stuff as well, (eBay might call it Free, but no one is that daft), and these go down very well. Budget on the price for costs, and you do tend to get some buyers - don't forget to set an Overseas cost as well if you are shipping overseas as you can't send it round the world for free! Some buyers seem to like the 'one price' approach. Just remember that a higher price with all inclusive costs will incurr a slightly higher Final Value Fee.

Expect a cheap listing day for listings for Free Postage soon.............

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I loved my grandmother very much.......and she fetched a good price on eBay.