Listing Strategy for Items That Will Take a While to Sell

[avalonmediaworks]

What's the best strategy in listing items that will take a while to sell (unique item that the right buyer will pay well for) and not get eaten up by listing/reserve/re-listing fees? I only list a few items at a time, so not enough quantity to have a store, and items are in the $100 or less range. I was considering setting a higher opening bid,  and discount if it doesn't sell, but if that takes several rounds of listing cycles, couldn't the fees drastically reduce  the amount I'll finally clear in the end?

[Anonymous]

Since you have already accepted that it will most likely take a while to sell, then raise the price a bit above normal to compensate for the fees.

I would not do an auction.

Do Buy it Now, with no offer and immediate payment required. 

If you have the right buyer that really wants the item, they will pay immediately.

[stainlessenginecovers]

I agree with gkn29; 

Buy it Now only pricing with 'Immediate Payment Required'. Good for 30 days. Listing fee is miniscule. 

No Auctions.

No Reserves.

No waiting for the winning buyer to pay you (or not).

[nobody*s_perfect]

If you don't expect to get competitive bidding, then the auction format doesn't make sense.  And auction format with reserve almost never makes sense.  

As the others have advised: List it in fixed price format, which has the additional advantage of incurring only one insertion fee (or using up just one of your free insertions) each month. If you only list a few items at a time, you should be able to avoid insertion fees entirely.