A positive change, for once:

[InvisibleTouch]

Despite how much there is to gripe about on eBay, every now and again they do something that's actually helpful for sellers. Their flat 35-cent BIN listing fees from a while back was a big positive change, and saved me quite a bit on my insertion fees (though of course they raised the final value fees, so it probably evens out). I've since been pretty reluctant to list stuff auction-style, because the insertion fees are almost always a lot higher than the BIN insertion fees. Now they've come up with giving 5 free auction listings per month. Here's the text:

"Starting June 16, 2009, you’ll get 5 free Insertion Fees every 30 days for Auction-style listings. Here’s how it works: Regardless of your start price, your first 5 Auction-style listings will have NO Insertion Fees when you list with eBay’s Sell Your Item form or Simple listing form. The Final Value Fee for these 5 listings with $0.00 Insertion Fees will be 8.75% of the sales price or $20, whichever is lower. Any additional items sold during the same 30-day period will have the same Insertion Fees and Final Value Fees as they do today."


So, I will wait till mid-June to put up some auction items I've been saving.

[democraticinsurgent]

1. yeah, but you have to use their forms

As usual they offer you something that sounds good, but in order to take advantage you have to disrupt your normal listing process. I never use the sell-your-item form, and i doubt most regular/advanced listers do because you have to start from scratch.

not that it's a bad thing. just never as good as it looks. ;-)

[InvisibleTouch]

2. I usually write up my listings in Word initially...

...and then cut and paste into the sales form. That way I can quickly duplicate any parts that are always the same, or any html formatting. Then I save those files for future reference so I have a ready-made template.

I used TurboLister for a while, and then somehow the program got corrupted and I never tried the new version thereafter. I keep meaning to get back to it and give it another shot, but right now it's faster for me to do it the way I always have.

[democraticinsurgent]

3. Auctiva is great

As another DU'er posted on a recent thread. It's free, easier to use than Turbolister, offers free photo hosting (multiple photos per listing), you can schedule auction timing, etc.

I was a big Turbolister fan until last year when it started crashing my computers and not working. I have no idea if they fixed it, but have moved on.

Which is why the free listings using eBay forms are irrelevant to me.

[InvisibleTouch]

4. Hmm - I'll check it out, thanks!

Even if I end up using an Auctiva-like system, I don't mind writing up 5 listings a month to get the free insertion. Most of my stuff is BIN these days anyway, but I do have a few items squirreled away that really need to go auction-style.