Which is better?

I'm having a debate with myself while it's slow in my store.. Is it better to start an auction off with a low price and charge or shipping, or higher price and free shipping?

The past few days I've listed stuff with free shipping, but setting my starting price higher thinking I'd get good results, not so much..

I know it's all about what you're putting up there, but I see similar items sell daily and mine get glossed over..

I'm having a debate with myself while it's slow in my store.. Is it better to start an auction off with a low price and charge or shipping, or higher price and free shipping?

The past few days I've listed stuff with free shipping, but setting my starting price higher thinking I'd get good results, not so much..

I know it's all about what you're putting up there, but I see similar items sell daily and mine get glossed over..

Who's winning the debate?

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Back in the day when eBay charged a different fee for different levels of starting prices we placed I had a friend to always started EVERYTHING at $.99.  He just had to save that extra $.50 to $1.00 he would have to have paid to start an item at a higher rate. One time I bought something from him for $.99 that was worth $15 to me and I would have gone that high had anyone else bid on it, but no one did and I got it for $1.00 (I gave him the extra penny for delivering it to me at the flea market the next time he came.)

This was all OK since we were friends but he learned a bit of a lesson.  He had another set that he hadn't adverstised and I bought it from him for $5.00...again we were both happy.

Anyway, I start an item at the price I want it to bring (for the most part). If I paid $5 and I have seen them sell for $50 I might start it at $35 or $40, but sometimes I'll start it at what the last one on eBay sold for. Has worked pretty well for me.

Also, I have had things NOT SELL (say at $45) and I will relist it at $55 and it will sell. Sometimes (maybe more often than not) it's just a matter of who is online.

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As to free shipping, I usually only do that when it's something light (like a patch) sent first class, and even then I might build that $.46 into the asking price !

Glossed over?  Sometimes it's something you'll never know... why they took person "B" instead of you.

The great thing about debating yourself is you always win!

I think I may change my listing philosophy. I like listing for what the last one sold for. May give that a try!

I'm having a debate with myself while it's slow in my store.. Is it better to start an auction off with a low price and charge or shipping, or higher price and free shipping?

I never offer free shipping in my listings. Many people see the listed price without checking the shipping charges. This can make it seems like your item is going for less than others.

I never offer free shipping in my listings. Many people see the listed price without checking the shipping charges. This can make it seems like your item is going for less than others.

Good Point!

I rarely do free shipping. If it's a light item I'll still stick a couple bucks on there to cover my costs. As far as start low or start high, I don't know what it best but I just can not list an item for $.99 I will usually list it at the least amount of money I am comfortable with selling it at. Mostly don't list anything at less then 10 bucks. If it's only going to sell for $4 or $5 bucks I either won't sell it on Ebay or I will make it part of a larger lot. Just not worth the time to list, pack and ship.               

IMHO your almost always better off offering free shipping and roll the cost into the product price. First off when you offer free shipping you rank higher in the search rankings and if people don't see your product it's not gonna sell. So if someone searches by best match your most likely gonna pop up first. If someoen searches cost low to high it doesn't matter if shpping is rolled into cost or not if you got the lowest cost product your still gonna come out on top.

One other thing to consider, if someone offers flat rate shipping and I can see from the search function the price I may buy,however if it's calculated and I have to go into the listing put in my zipcode, etc I'moften to lazy and will look at other listings.

As someoen else commented ebay now charges final value fees for shipping so there's really no benefit ot rolling costs into shipping. one other thing I would bring up is that free shipping automaticlaly gets you 5 stars for dsr scores as well buyer cant leave anything lower.

The only benefit to charging for shipping is it kind of deters refunds if you set it up so the buyer gets refunded product cost but not shipping cost but that's really the only advantage to not offering free shipping and rolling product cost into cost.

I do flat rate shipping, and still have quite a few free shipping options. What I've noticed is that when I relist an item, ebay wants me to drop the price, and that puts me under my shipping cost, nevermind product cost. I have Hot Wheels cars up for $4.49, which is basically $4 for shipping and packaging and .49 for the car (free shipping).. eBay wants me to drop the price to "get more views".. which would cause me to lose money.

I have Hot Wheels cars up for $4.49, which is basically $4 for shipping and packaging and .49 for the car

Huh, $4? I ship items up to 13 ounces USPS 1st class just about anywhere in the country for about $1.65 and the shipping box costs 20 cents.

Where do you get boxes for .20??? That would be a HUGE help!

Just do a search on eBay for: "250 White Corrugated Shipping Mailer".
You can buy less than 250 at a time (or more) but the lower the quantity the higher the per box price. For example you can get 250 for under .20 each but the same boxes at 100 count is more like .33 per box. You can also get 500 at a time and drop the per box price down around .16 each. These prices include the shipping too. Of course these prices can vary depending on the size box you need, but I figure a matchbox doesn't need a very big box.

Oh and another money saving tip regarding packing materials. There are of course certain delicate things that demand bubble wrap or air pillows, but for most other items I run all scrap paper and junk mail through my shredder and use the shredded paper for packing material. Nothing beats free.

I didn't think to check ebay for boxes.. I just placed an order with uline, which isn't bad pricing, but they charge shipping which puts the cost of each box around $.80 ea. for a 12x8x6 adjustable height

I didn't think to check ebay for boxes.. I just placed an order with uline, which isn't bad pricing, but they charge shipping which puts the cost of each box around $.80 ea. for a 12x8x6 adjustable height

Check this one out; they have a variety of sizes and quanties to choose from and the shipping is free.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2053587.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0&_nkw=250+White+Corrugated+Shipping+Mailer&_sacat=0&_from=R40

for a 12x8x6 adjustable height

Why such a big box for a matchbox car?