I have been on eBay since 1998 and have worked out a lot of problems encountered in the early days...some of which might or might not apply to you. The best time to list is Sunday thru Thursday for maximum exposure between the hours of 8 pm and 9pm Eastern Standard time. This gives bidders time to get home from work on both coasts and put in last minute bids before auctions end and it covers the weekend traffic. Fridays are the worse day to list since most prople are out and about and not on eBay. I have had auctions end on Fridays, but they did worse than other weekdays in bids and money wise. Bidders like 5 day auctions, but 7 days are better for sellers. 3 day and 10 day auctions cost too much and have no advantage over the perferred 7 day auctions except to not give enough time for the largest number of bidders to find you (3 Day) and stretch the auctions out so long that bidders lose interest or find a better deal in oncoming new llistings (10 day). I always ship by priority mail with delivery confirmation in the US and global priority with certificate of mailing for internationals. This has cut out the \"I didn\'t receive it\" or the \"you didn\'t mail it\" since it can be tracked and provides proof that it was mailed. I have had to email copies of the certificate of mailing several times to prove it was mailed. Most people are honest on ebay, both buyers and sellers, but it only takes one bad apple to damage your feedback. I make insurance optional at buyers discretion by have a disclaimer in the listings that I am not responsible for damaged or lost items that are not insured. Pricewise, TAB is right. you can start at one cent or you can start with the lowest price you will accept. A bidding war depends on too many factors to take chances with a great item that might be won by a 1 cent bid. Reserves cost more, but if the item is high-end, it it worth using particularly if a bidding war is on. Otherwise, it is not worth the extra expense. Try your best to correctly identify the item before it goes into a listing. It could be very scarce and a smart buyer can pick it up for less than if you know what you are ebaying. Never accept offers made by private email on a listing you have up on ebay. Not only do they frown on that and you could be banned from eBay, but there are trolls out there who do this and report you to ebay. Just for your protection, accept bids only through the listings. Package your item well by wrapping mini in paper towels, toliet tissure, then layer in bubblewrap or similiar material, then use with lots of padding in the box (shedded newspaper works the best since breakage occurs with syrofoam peanuts)). Have post office mark box fragile. This seems important to the buyer when the item is received. Email the winning bidder immediately with an acknowledgement that he won the auction, payment options or send invoice. Package and mail item as quickly as you can after payment is received , perferablly the same day. Again, this helps in your feedback. Hope some of this helps. Good luck.
