How to avoid insertion fees?

[scratchy78]

I am selling off my record collection. I understand I get 250 free listings per month. I also understand that after 8 listings I start to get charged an insertion fee.

How can I keep track of how many free listings an item has received before I start getting charge?

Is there a counter somewhere that will let me know?

Another thing that confuses me is that my listing don't seem to be in any kind of chronological order. A new item might be ahead of an item that is about to expire in a few hours. This makes it difficult for me to keep track of where my items might be in the 'Active' listings ...

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Scratchy78

[stainlessenginecovers]

After the listings come up in 'Active Listings''; Click the Gray Box at the top where it says 'time left' and items will be in an order of either newest first or expiring first- click it again and it will reverse. Can do the same with any gray area at the top of the list.

Regarding your comment about 8 items, that makes no sense. 

You get 250 free a month.

The following month, you get 250 again. 

Anything listed during that time OVER the 250 free, is charged.

The FREE amount is shown in the Seller Hub under the box labeled PROMOTIONAL ITEMS.

[shipscript]

@scratchy78 

I see that all of your listings are auctions with a seven-day duration. That means each will incur 4 insertions in a month if they relist without a sale. But if you auto-relist up to 8 times for free, then that one listing can persist for two months on a single insertion fee.

Unified Lister - 2023 - Auction pricing options

However, if your auctions sell quickly, you will have to pay closer attention to how many unique listings are posted in each month. As suggested by @stainlessenginecovers  you can see your remaining free insertions (Promotional offers) here:

https://www.ebay.com/sh/ovw

[wastingtime101]

---

@scratchy78 wrote:

How can I keep track of how many free listings an item has received before I start getting charge?

---

When the feature to automatically list up to 8 times is exhausted, the listing won't be relisted a 9th time. You will need to take manual action if you want to list it again after the initial 8x.

[scratchy78]

Thank you so much for this ... it has helped a lot! 

I have one more question. When an item has had its 8 free listings, and thus does not get re-listed unless I manually do it., it gets put in the 'unsold' category.  If I were to re-post it  a month later, would it then count as a 'New Listing'  and thus avoid the insertion fee, or would I have to pay the insertion fee  even though a month, or perhaps two months had gone by since it became 'unsold'? I ask this because many of the items I am selling have a fairly low value. I would rather sell an LP for 1.99 than give it to a thrift store. And this is not simply a financial decision, but more of a record collector's desire that the record in question may well be the one someone is looking for. I have found that some items I have listed have suddenly sold after 6 or 7 insertions ... some for relatively high prices. In other words, a potential buyer can well be a casual browser.

[scratchy78]

Thanks stainlesssteelenginecovers. That helps. Regarding the 8 items, I was referring to the fact that an item gets resisted 8 times ... sorry for the confusion.

[scratchy78]

Thanks - I get it now ..

[shipscript]

---

@scratchy78 wrote:

Thank you so much for this ... it has helped a lot! 

I have one more question. When an item has had its 8 free listings, and thus does not get re-listed unless I manually do it., it gets put in the 'unsold' category.  If I were to re-post it  a month later, would it then count as a 'New Listing'  and thus avoid the insertion fee, or would I have to pay the insertion fee  even though a month, or perhaps two months had gone by since it became 'unsold'?

@scratchy78 

After moving to unsolds, the item can be relisted within 90 days as a new item, but will count as one of your insertions. I don't know if you can again choose to auto-relist for 8-renewals when using a manual relist from unsolds. If the option appears on the listing form, then it probably is available. This is something I have not tested, so don't have a firm answer.

[wastingtime101]

---

@shipscript wrote:

---

I don't know if you can again choose to auto-relist for 8-renewals when using a manual relist from unsolds.

---

You can if you "sell similar" - I don't know what the answer is if you "relist"

[christam4148]

Curious, EBay has recently started to charge me an Insertion fee, even though I have approx. another 230 free listings. I took a picture of my status, it is easily found. And it states how many free listings I have without insertion fees needing to be paid, confused, I have Buy it Now only for all my listings. Can anybody shed some light on that for me? Plus the charge for the listing fee actually does not show up once I  complete listing and click list it. It just states list for FREE, I click and it is live. Should that not show the insertion fee charge at that point?