What to do with auctions during vacation time?

[troups]

What do all of you do when going on vacation and your items are still in auction mode?  Do you end the auctions?

[stainlessenginecovers]

If you are not going to be available to ship the items out, after payment, within your stated handling time, then you need to either 

a.) adjust handling time

b.) state that (edit) in the description (can't hurt)

c.) end listing

But, if you are not going to be able to check ebay at least once a day for questions etc. then just do c.) above. 

[golfingaddict]

The best thing to do is to end them if they are going to end while you are on vacation.

You can then restart them a few days before you plan to get back.  (if you are certain that you will be back in time)

eBay has such strict rules about sellers shipping on time it is just not worth it to risk something ending and you can't ship on time.

Other options

(change them to fixed price and use Time Away to set them to "hide")

Raise the prices to ridiculous, no one will buy prices and then reset them when you get back. (not great, but it is an option)

Change the handling time out to 30 days if they have no bids and then return the handling time to normal when you can ship.

Above all, enjoy your time away.

[nobody*s_perfect]

How long is the vacation?  Buyers who win auctions have already waited for the auction to end, they might not be happy to wait even longer for you to get home from vacation before you ship.  So the prudent thing to do would be to just not have any auctions that end while you're away.  Maybe even not even have auctions that end within the last few days before you go, since those buyers might pay late after you've left.

But if you do have auctions that end during your vacation, you should revise your handling time to reflect your actual anticipated shipping date so you aren't penalized by eBay for late shipping.

[umccars]

Just don't schedule auctions when you now you're going on vacation.

[fern*wood]

You just listed the auctions...was the upcoming vacation not known when you listed these?

[pjcdn2005]

They may have been automatically relisted. At least some of them show in the op's recent completed listings.

[onefootflipper1]

End the auctions.  Relist them as fixed price. Add $100 to the price of all your items until you get back home, that way they don't sell.  I prefer to do that instead of using time away or extending handling.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@onefootflipper1 wrote:

End the auctions.  Relist them as fixed price. Add $100 to the price of all your items until you get back home, that way they don't sell.  I prefer to do that instead of using time away or extending handling.

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Why bother adjusting the price and format?  How is that better than just ending them and then relisting after vacation?  Time away doesn't apply to auction-format listings.

[hartungcards]

Sounds like a case of poor planning to me.

[onefootflipper1]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

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@onefootflipper1 wrote:

End the auctions.  Relist them as fixed price. Add $100 to the price of all your items until you get back home, that way they don't sell.  I prefer to do that instead of using time away or extending handling.

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Why bother adjusting the price and format?  How is that better than just ending them and then relisting after vacation?  Time away doesn't apply to auction-format listings.

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Oh, that is just because I prefer all my items to exist somewhere in the system, that way they don't get forgotten about by me.