I was online looking at Chinese plates today, and most of them were trying to sell for $1 or $5 each - with no bids. Then I came across someone who tried to sell a set of 10 of them for a starting price of $2500!! I burst out laughing. He had some Q&A on the page of people who had written in with questions, and most of them were along the lines of "you bozo, didn't you bother to check the site to see what things were selling for before posting your own?" He said "Duh no I just thought they were worth that much."

If you are going to use ebay, always do your research first! Otherwise you waste your time and money.

You really need to know a lot about what you're selling. If you know there will be great demand for an item, setting it at a low price can get people into bidding wars and increase your final price. If you know the value but it is an item that will only be of interest to a few people, then don't list it for less than the lowest price you're willing to sell it for.
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Online Auction Hints

i'm a seller and a buyer at ebay myself, what i learn from it is, if the item is at high demand, set an extremely low price and an extremely high shipping cost... that way, you get 3 benefits, you will avoid some listing and final charge from ebay, you're more likely to sell items at a higher price than it's supposed cos someone just don't mind about the shipping, and you can reserve a desire price to make you can meet break even even if there is only 1 bid

I will have to respectfully disagree with the previous post ....

Setting your auction price low and jacking the shipping up is actually against eBay's policy on fee avoidance and can get you into trouble. Yes there are people getting away with it all the time but it doesn't mean it's right.

Another point is your customers WILL notice and contrary to the post customers do not like it, in fact they will RUN to your competitors who don't gouge them with high shipping fees.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying you can't build in a buffer with your shipping and handling, just don't over price it, take a look at the competition and see what they are charging and make sure you can ship it for that amount so as not to loose any money.

As far as pricing goes, stick with starting your bid price at the lowest amount you are willing to part with it, that was you win anyway it goes. except if it doesn't sell. If you feel you must use a reserve put your reserve price in your description which is something far too few sellers take advantage of.

There is nothing wrong with indicating what your reserve is in your auction.

Hope that helps . . . Scott

Yeah, jacking up shipping is definetly not the way to do it. Sure, you might do some business - mostly with the folks who 'bid before they look and read'. Don't expect many repeat customers though <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />