And let's imagine you've used short durations to get your auctions near the top of the results, can you make your auction stand out from the crowd?
Well, yes you can, but unfortunately it means you have to give eBay some more of your hard earned money.
What we're talking about here are eBay's listing upgrades.
Sometimes this can pay off. This is especially true for high priced items.
Gallery
This is probably the most basic of features. It shows your photo on the search results page as well as inside on the item’s description page. This is usually always worth having, unless your item is of very low value.
Current Cost
eBay.co.uk 15p
eBay.com 35c
Subtitle
Subtitle enables you to convey pertinent information that you couldn’t squeeze into the auction title. Useful for technical items where the auction title isn't long enough to hold the key features of the item. Also useful for selling phrases, and offers, such as free shipping.
Current Cost
eBay.co.uk 35p
eBay.com 50c
Bold
Helps your auction to stand out on search results pages, although costly for low value items.
Current Cost
eBay.co.uk 75p
eBay.com $1
Border
This places your auction within a coloured box on search results pages. It can be effective, but again is of questionable value on low price items.
Current Cost
eBay.co.uk N/A
eBay.com $3
Highlight
Puts your auction within an eye-catching coloured band on search results pages. Useful for high priced items.
Current Cost
eBay.co.uk £2.50
eBay.com $5
Featured Plus!
This shows your item at the top of the page in the Featured Items section of search results. It will also appear in the Featured Items section to those eBayers who browse by category. This can pay for itself with an item that’s worth more than about £55 ($100) and getting a decent number of bids.
Current Cost
eBay.co.uk £9.95
eBay.com $19.95
Gallery Featured
This shows your item first when someone chooses to view items using the ‘Picture Gallery’ view. In my experience not many people use this view, but the feature might be useful for some kinds of items.
Current Cost
eBay.co.uk £15.95
eBay.com $19.95
Home Page Featured
Although the ultimate in listing upgrades, the value of Home Page Featured can be questionable. This shows your auction title in a special display on eBay's home page, however, eBay doesn't guarantee that purchasing the upgrade will result in this happening! What you're buying is an eBay "best endeavours" to give you Home Page exposure.
If you feel you could pull a lot of buyers into your auction through the first four or five words of your title, by all means try it. You also get Featured Plus! feature as part of this upgrade. Note the disparity in this upgrade cost if you use UK eBay.
Current Cost
eBay.co.uk £49.95
eBay.com $39.95
Finally, as with many elements of eBay trading, no results can be guaranteed. You must test and test and test. Try different upgrades and keep records of the results you achieve.
You might just find the ideal combination for your auctions.