Use of Auction vs. fixed price

[cur-4377]

Ok I'm a tad bit confused.  I get some free listings to use. When I use the auction style of sale it simply ends in 7 days without me doing anything and I am not charged unless the item sells.    Now people are telling me I would do better to use the buy it now sale.   I could use some guidance on how to use my free listings with the "buy it now" function to avoid getting charged.  Do they restart automatically? and after how long?  how do I work with this type of selling?

[kensgiftshop]

You get 250 free listings a month and as long as you stay under that and don't use any upgrades, you're not charged anything if they don't sell.

Most of your auctions are only getting 1 bid.

List as a fixed price so buyers don't have to wait a week to buy the item.

Fixed price items are good until canceled and they relist the same day every month.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@cur-4377 wrote: ... people are telling me I would do better to use the buy it now sale. ...

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If your items listed as auctions are getting no bids, or just one bid, then you would indeed be better-off listing them in fixed price format.  As noted in the other post, fixed price listings use up only one of your free insertions each month, as they roll over automatically until they are sold (or until you choose to end the listing).  Each fixed price listing rolls over on the same date as it began; for instance, a fixed price listing that you start today will roll over on April 5, May 5, June 5, etc.

[cur-4377]

Ok I get the roll over, but how long is the listing up there ?  A week?  the whole month ?  Thanks for your imput.

[gator08041971 · Accepted solution]

A month.  And it restarts on the same day you started it.  Its like having an endless listing, but it will occupy 1 slot each month, out of your 250 listings that you get for each month.

I have currently 21 of them.  And they use 21 of my available 250 slots.  And I'm selling several hundred items out of my available 1000 per month that I can list.  I have multiple variation and quantity listings.

I'm not a big seller, but I sell almost a couple items a day right now.

[kensgiftshop]

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@cur-4377 wrote:

Ok I get the roll over, but how long is the listing up there ?  A week?  the whole month ?  Thanks for your imput.

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Fixed price listings stay up until they sell or you end the listings.

[cur-4377]

OK you explained it so my feeble brain can understand... thank you thank you thank you! 

I appreciate your time and effort.