What are the advantages of choosing a 3 day vs. 5 day vs. 7 day listing if they're all free. Why not choose 3 day so you can have your money faster, and item shipped sooner as the search results are by "item ending times" anyways?

maybe a longer auction will generate more bids and higher price?

You expose your product to more people if it's listed longer.

will it? (that's basically my question.)


But to people really check bids ending in a week, don't most people just check the first, maybe second page of a search?

Well, are you selling something that there are pages and pages of, or is something one of a kind?

E-bay For Dummies
Read it. Its all in there.

Depends on the item, if it's a common item then it makes sense to go with the three day. If you're selling something that isn't listed often or if there aren't too many people looking for that item it makes sense to go with the 7 or ten day listing.

The point is to make $, not spend it for 21.99 + more.

I'm really just selling random items in my house that are NIB or NWT, but I don't really need/want, etc.

Plug the item you're selling into ebay search and click the completed items box, this will give you an idea of how popular the items are, how many people are buying them and how much they're going for.

By that logic I hope you didn't go to college - you could have been working all that time, plus college is darned expensive!

I know. One item I can't find on ebay at all.


Incorrect. I'm not looking to open an ebay store or make big bucks. I'm looking to cover the cost of selling on ebay, make a couple bucks for some extra cash, but not "make a killing" with my random new household items that I don't have space for.
With college you're looking to pay quite a bit of money, and make quite a bit back. You have to think about the expense vs. the profit margine (not sure the $$ terms, but that's the basic thought process.)

It depends how hot you item is. For some items, 1-day auctions are best, as the turnover is so large, that no one will search beyond the next 12 hours anyway. For items that have a specific niche, it's better to extend the auction as long as you can.

Many things depend... ebay offers different options, like buy-it-now, etc. You have to research the market for whatever you want to sell (unless it's a one $15 thing, and the research isn't worth your nerves).

One thing you may want to consider is, starting your auction as a 3-day, and if you get no bids, you can extend it to 5 to 7 to 10(~$0.10) days, without paying extra fees.

I said read it. Not buy it.