FREE LISTING DAY 12 & 13th Feb

Kaz2904

Right, I had another go a couple of hours ago and have now managed to list 2 items as free listings. Thanks for all the help. Not sure why it wouldn't do it in the early hours of this morning though?

Pickle_99_uk

Managed to list 28 items...fingers crossed for bids. xx

soolin

Just bumping this to remind people.

I decided to list some items yesterday, I haven't bothered much on the last FLDs as I was trying to build up my business instead. However, not much interest out there for stuff. Only half the things I listed yesterday have watchers and looking through some popular categories there are very few bids on the table yet.

annie-c

I usually find with FLDs that the market is flooded with new stuff (eg unwanted xmas gifts) and trashy stuff (low value secondhand stuff that people would like a bit more than 99p for). Those listings are hit and miss for me and I take advantage of FLDs but if things don't sell I relist later when it is quiet and get my second listing fees refunded on the items that do sell.

However, I always do well selling off higher value and more unusual items. They don't all sell in one go, but most things do go within a few tries, if I keep listing on FLDs.

Eg rare books that I bought for myself years ago and have done with now, I can usually get back what I paid for them because FLD or not, there are always buyers for rare items. Also when I am selling off vintage or luxury china or glass, the high quality brands and more unusual pieces are always in demand. There is no 'profit' in it for me in cash terms but I tend to use ebay as a kind of lending library for both books (and wine glasses!) and FLDs help to keep my 'rental' costs down because of the no-risk listing of stuff that would usually incur high listing fees.

porto_bello

I've relisted all my unsold items from previous FLDs and wasn't charged a penny. I've also got one or two new ones to add, in slower time.

I've found it's not worth holding your breath, anxiously waiting and hoping for watchers and bidders. Some items have been snapped up on the first listing. Some have sold after a few attempts. Others have been gone unsold and relisted 6 or 8 times and then been fought over in a bidding war - selling for 5 or 6 times their starting price!

The best you can do is present your listings and items as attractively as possible and let the market decide. If you don't get a buyer this time, just quickly relist on the next FLD, since you have already invested the time and effort in the original listing.

I've found very few items fail to sell on ebay - some just take longer than others.

Mayday

Listed a few items yesterday lunchtime and had bids within half-an-hour!

Ages since that's happened.

annie-c

Good advice Porto Bello

I thought I would add on here a tip that I think I got from another MSE'er but it was buried in a random thread somewhere.

Over the last few weeks I have been preparing for the FLD weekend by adding scheduled listings to my selling account. If you set up a listing as usual, but set a scheduled start for several weeks in advance, then it shows as being chargeable at the usual listing price plus 6p scheduling fee, but you are not actually charged until the listing goes live. If a free listing week doesn't show up for a while you can just keep adjusting the scheduled start times by opening the scheduled listings page in your account, selecting all the items at once and setting a new start date for them all in a few clicks.

Once the FLD arrives then you just go into each listing (one at a time) and edit it to begin the listing immediately. It shows up then as 0.00 to pay.

It does involve a bit of faffery and takes longer overall than listing in one go but as turbo lister isn't eligible for FLDs then it is the best method I can see to add your listings bit by bit as time allows, rather than needing to find a big chunk of time at a day or so's notice. I find it useful because I can list things as I think of them, or as I declutter 1 cupboard at a time. If I am not ready with photos etc I can even just add a title and basic description so that I don't overlook the item, and then add photos later.

soolin

Feeling better now as I have a bid on something I listed this morning.

I'm not used to this slow bidding, my business stock tends to attract bids very early on and I rarely get much unsold, it was a shock to see private listings don't seem to attract the same attention. My private /household stuff is obviously even mote Tatty than I thought :eek:

porto_bello

soolin wrote: »

Feeling better now as I have a bid on something I listed this morning.

I'm not used to this slow bidding, my business stock tends to attract bids very early on and I rarely get much unsold, it was a shock to see private listings don't seem to attract the same attention. My private /household stuff is obviously even mote Tatty than I thought :eek:

Rather than the number of watchers and bidders, it's the final selling price that really counts. It only takes two ebayers in a world of millions to like what they see and send each auction price skywards ... I've found this often happens in the last 5-10 seconds of a listing! :j

Kaz2904

Well I've 16 items listed. One has 9 watchers and I bet nobody's bidding onit as it has a 99p start price and they think it's too good to be true! I have a bid on one of DD's dresses though so that's ok!

Out of interest, DD went out with DH to get a takeaway last night and I was just coaxing DS into DD's outgrown dress when they came back in. DH went mad at me saying I couldn't put pics of a child on there (I was going to chop his head off, just wanted to fill out the shape a little!). Am I really naive (sp?) or was DH overreacting a smidge?