How long to list for?

There is a lot of debate on how long you should have your listings set for.  A lot depends on what type of listings you are doing.  Auctions are different than buy it now, and you can't list for more than 10 days on auction.  So does it really matter what time frame you select?  That really is something only you can answer.  However, I can share my experiences and what I have tried.  I know what works for me, and maybe it will work for you as well.

When I did auctions (I still do on occasion) I always did 7 day auctions.  I used to run one every single night.  I did ok, but it was while I was learning how to sell consistently so I wasn't listing high end items.  Auctions allowed me to make some cash on the lower end stuff while learning.  What I did find out was that Saturday night was the best night for ending auctions for what I was selling.  That was followed by Tuesday and Thursday.  I had sales the other nights, but not with any volume.  Now if I run auctions, I have them for 7 days, ending on Saturday night around 9pm EST.

As I migrated to a store, I initially set my listings for good 'til cancelled.  I got sales most days, but I still had dead days.  I ran like this for about 9 months.  Then I read that you should do 30 day listings.  Using good 'til cancelled just relisted the item and you fell further down the search results withe very relist.  Doing 30 day listings renewed those listings every 30 days.  The benefit of that is it appears as a new listing every 30 days.  The down side is if you had any watchers, they were no longer notified that you had relisted the item.  I found that by doing the 30 day listings, I was reviewing my listings every 30 days.  I could adjust them, or redo them.  I was constantly reminded to look at them.  I found my sales were more consistent and stuff that had been sitting for 9 months started to move.

If you use 30 day listings, don't use relist when the item ends.  Use sell similar.  Ebay will assign the item a new item ID and treat it as a new listing.  This ensures you always have a new listing instead of a relist.  The goal is to have something ending and being relisted every single day.  Now with Cassini, the rumor is that it knows when an item is the same item even if you use sell similar.  What I do is massage the title in an attempt to trick Cassini into thinking it is a new item since it no longer has the same title.  You can do the same thing with your photos.  Just click the add/edit button and change the contrast/brightness by 1.  Save, and now Cassini thinks they are new images so it must be a new listing.

As I said in the beginning of my post, this is what has worked for me.  I have spent 3 years playing with different ways of listing and so far this is the method that gets me my consistent sales.  I can't tell you this is the end all be all for listings as I don't sell in a ton of categories.  Other categories may have different results from different methods.  But as far as I can tell with the categories I do sell in, this works.

Don't be afraid to try different methods.  Experiment and find what works best for you.  And don't take what others say as gospel for listing either.  They may not be selling what you are selling.  As the saying goes, if you keep doing what you have been doing you will continue to get the results you have been getting.