How to Save Money when Listing an eBay Auction
When you start to post several ebay auctions a day, your fees begin to mount. However, there are some things you can do to save some of your money from FeEbay.
The best thing you can do is to start your auction for .99 cents or less with no reserve. The reasoning behind this is that not only does it only cost .20 cents to list each auction below $1.00, but also the lower the price is the more tempting it is to buyers. Ebay sellers everywhere seem to agree that you make more money starting your bids low.
However, this way of saving money should be further looked into.
Let’s imagine that you create 10 Ebay auctions a day, and you start them at .99 cents.
The Ebay fee structure works so that items starting .99 cents or below cost only .20 cents to post.
Thus your 10 auctions a day cost $2.00 a day to post, and $60.00 a month. You can see how Ebay fees add up.
Now, if you start your auction for $1.00, instead of .99, as many people do, this would cost you an extra .20 cents an auction. That is an extra $60.00 a month you are just throwing away. That idea kind of makes me sick in the stomach. It is no wonder how Ebay makes so much money.
Here is a breakdown of how each extra cent will save you money.
.01-.99 = .20 to list –>
1.00 – 9.99 = .40 to list –> .01 extra is a waste of .20
10.00 – 24.99 = .60 to list –> .01 extra is a waste of .20
25.00 – 49.99 = 1.20 to list –> .01 extra is a waste of .60
50.00 – 199.99 = 2.40 to list –> .01 extra is a waste of 1.20
200.00 – 499.99 = 3.60 to list –> .01 extra is a waste of 1.20
500.00+ = 4.80 to list –> .01 extra is a waste of 1.20
The thing that blows my mind, and that I hope you’ll become aware of, is that even though it is a difference of .01, people are still posting things for $50.00. If you started 10 auctions a day for a month at this price you would be literally throwing away $360.00 a month. Imagine?!…
This is not just a mistake made by beginners either, Powersellers are doing this too! It hurts me to look at them. But you need to learn from their mistakes!
Look at this Auction house (I’ll call it Auction VH to keep their name private) for example:
This was just a random sample that I found, but it illustrates my point so well. Auction VH is starting all of their bids at $10, $20, $25, $50, $100, $200… increments. And at this moment Auction VH has 1082 auctions running.
Here is the breakdown :
10 auctions starting at $10.00 –> loss of $2.00
148 auctions starting at $25.00 –> loss of $88.80
215 auctions starting at $50.00 –> loss of $177.60
67 auctions starting at $200 –> loss of $80.40
26 auctions starting at $500 –> loss of 31.20
Total auctions starting at a bad price = 466 (43% of total auctions)
Total amount of money thrown away in 10 days = $380.00
That is right, this auction house is throwing away $380.00 just to have their auctions start at a round number. Sure, as a brick and mortar auction house, they are making tons of money, 20% commission for up to $70,000, but the amount of money they throw away could pay for the person that posts their auctions. I would fire them! We are talking about a ‘mere’ 466 10 day auctions.
These people are throwing away more money in 10 days than most Ebay sellers make in a month.
I hope that I made it painfully obvious how this one little tip can help you save heaps of money when listing all of your Ebay auctions.
Something to think about I would say…

Hi Nicolas, very interesting stuff on eBay on the blog, it is a particular interest of myself. Think this coaching course is excellent, I have learned so much from John and the other students.
regards
Robert
I agree with every point you have made in your post Nicolas. It makes excellent reading and plenty to think about in trying to keep costs down. I had an ebay shop but cancelled when FeeBay increased the costs by over double in running the shop As cash was tight I could not justify it so I went back to individual listings so while there is a little more work involved I am actually making more profit. Really good post, keep it up. Enjoy the course, I think it is the best money spent in the last 4 years of trying to make a go of being an online marketer
Best Wishes
Keith
Hello Keith,
Really appreciate the encouraging comments. I am glad you enjoyed the contents of my blog and found them of value.
I too am starting to really feel that this course was the best money invested in terms of learning properly how to be a succesfull marketer, and to make a diference in my life, and for those around me. Keep up the faith and keep the inspiration going, which is the best fuel, along with some good proven strategies and techniques taught by John that we are slowly and strategically implementing. We are one lucky bunch! Best wishes to you and I shall look forward to know you better as well as working with you down the track. All the best mate! Nick