Results of my eBay experiment...

that started with this thread:  http://friendsinbusiness.com/board1/index.cgi?read=100168

I couldn't list 15 items as suggested, because I couldn't get it down to 8 minutes each and I simply ran out of time, but I did cut back considerably and still manage to write good ads. There's always tomorrow to whittle my time down and down some more.

What I did do, however, was put up two listings at $0.99 as suggested, with no Buy It Now. I was "trusting the system" to get me full value. They were piddly items, but I had six, and I been watching them for the past month and saw they were all selling, and the typical price was $3 to $4. They are typically listed on Buy It Now for $5.95.

Mine both sold for $0.99.

The only question was someone asking if I would give her a Buy It Now price because she wanted both but could not wait for the end of the auction.

Then I listed two Halloween costumes. I tried, but I couldn't bring myself to list them with an opening bid of $0.99 with no Buy It Now, because I knew deep down they would sell for $0.99 each. So I started them at $1.99 each (which was pretty close), and I gave a Buy It Now price of $10.00 (shame on me).

They sold on Buy It Now for $10.00 each.

My driftwood didn't sell for $0.99 any better than it sold two other times when the starting bid was much higher. At the same time, though, someone else's driftwood lots sold at their $2.99, $3.99, and $4.99 starting bids.

I'm not going to venture a guess on why that didn't sell -- maybe my lot was too big, maybe people didn't believe FedEx was cheaper for shipping, maybe somebody didn't like my website -- there are bzillions of possibilities.

Admittedly my "test" was tiny -- much too small to really prove anything -- but I learned what works for me:

I think it's lovely to have enough confidence to buy $500 worth of merchandise and list it for $19.95 and "trust the system" to get you full value, but I can't afford to be that trusting.

I'm going back to my comfort zone, which is listing items I buy at a starting bid that will cover all my costs if the items sells plus a tiny profit, with a Buy It Now price slightly higher than I actually hope to get.

It's probably not the right approach, but it's the only approach I can afford. I'm satisfied to dabble in Ebay for "prison wages" (see this thread: http://friendsinbusiness.com/board1/index.cgi?read=100502), but I can't afford to pay people to buy my stuff.

I'm not saying my way is the best way -- obviously it isn't -- but then, I'm not trying to make a living on eBay (thank God).

Please don't think I'm ungrateful for all your advice. I appreciate it very much, but eBay nearly makes me crazy the way I've been doing it (which has worked reasonably well considering the few penny-ante items I list), and I know it will make me stark raving insane if I start listing everything with an opening bid of $0.99 and hoping for the best.

Luv,