-That I can do 100 auctions in one day with no listing software.
-That I really should get some listing software.
-That the last 5 auctions I listed were nowhere near as fun as the first 5 and basically said: Nice item, buy it.
-That the incentive of free listing moved me to work even harder than the $1 boxes of books at the church sales do.
-That though I still think my pics are better than his, my roommate does an ok job, and in a pinch I can get him to do pics while I do the rest.
-That my poor 46 year old body wasn't meant to sit in a chair for 12 hours.
-That listing in two categories for 10 days is very cool when it only costs 20 cents.
-That all in all, it was a blast. This was my first where I had enough inventory to actually push myself, and with all the aches and pains, I had a great time.
posted on June 29, 2001 06:28:11 AM
Right on sadie!
Plus we saw that word of mouth can spread like wildfire! Viral marketing! The eBay free listing day wasn't well publicized except on these boards and yet somehow people found out and listed like crazy! Did they really get 2 million new listings yesterday??? The Internet is something else!
posted on June 29, 2001 06:41:18 AM
I don't know where the # of listings was at the end of Wednesday, but per someone in the DNF over on Ebay - they're up to 7.5 million.. so I"m thinking about 2 million is about right.. give a take a few hundred thousands.
What did I learn?
1) Need to have everything in a Mister Lister file in advance - just have to edit, resave and upload to launch - I'm going to start going through my trading cards and putting ALL of them into Mister Lister files so they'll be ready to launch next time.
2) Handmade stuff can sell if you are up there for the right buyers to come along - and one of them will be my first made-to-order sale. *rubhandstogether*
3) It is possible to get bored of listing... I was very gung ho Wednesday night as I prepared my Mister Lister files.. Thursday night I was fighting to keep my eyes open and my fingers moving.. slowed WAY down and had many more things I COULD have listed had I wanted to.
posted on June 29, 2001 06:57:05 AM
Sadie
why not try mr.lister it's free you can set up templates and its sure a lot easier than listing directly off ebays site.
I use it evan if I have one or teo items to list.
posted on June 29, 2001 06:58:15 AM
I learned how far I've come since this time last year when I had no digital camera and had to take my film to be developed every time! I would have been dead in the water. As it was, this was my 4th free listing and the minute I found the notice in my email yesterday at 6AM, I was full speed ahead.
The only real glitch was ebay's photo service going down around 10PM. Also, Channelfusion was really slow, but it did work.
I don't feel like listing anything else for a week!
posted on June 29, 2001 07:05:27 AM
I learned not to delete anything that I havent gotten rid of (out of the house) from my listing software, because I listed 40 auctions yesterday at the touch of a button! Reslited lots of stuff that I had not yet deleted from my files. Also learned, next time I will have as many as I can get saved up. My software listed with absolutely NO problems!! Also learned that next time all listings will have two categories, and they will all be for 10 days. (I learned about the double categories too late)
posted on June 29, 2001 07:22:42 AM
I learned (because my sister from Australia is visiting for 3 days):
That you can miss the free listing day completely & still have a wonderful time!
That another local antique mall has folded. Same old problem, all the dealers holding their best stuff back for internet sales, so quality declined in the mall to the point there were no buyers.
That the dates for the next 2 major used booksales around here are coming up.
That at 49, the old bum hurts just as much driving around sight-seeing for 6 hours as it does sitting in the eBay gunner's chair at my desk for 6 hours.
{}
Congrats to everyone who managed to get new items up & running, and may you prosper!
posted on June 29, 2001 07:27:43 AM
A couple of followup comments.
1) With Mister Lister I have every batch I've listed in the past saved to my hard drive - I can pull up the file, edit it for items that have sold on half.com or change the quantity/price/duration. Then resave the file under a new name, and launch a new batch. VERY handy.
Once a certain batch is in the system (for example - Johto Stickers), I just keep using the same file over and over again until they are all gone. BIG time saver.
2) I'm going to be putting all of my trading cards in ML files over the next couple of months so I'm prepared for the next FLD whether it comes at the end of the 3rd quarter or end of the year. By doing just one batch a week, I'll be ready to rock and roll when its announced.
3) I never got an email notifying me of the Free Listing Day - I was lucky to be in the DNF when it was announced. That gave me Wednesday night to do some prep work and upload files before Mister Lister got bogged down.
4) Check any auctions you relisted for Billpoint logos - there is a bug in the system right now inserting those logos - if you don't want them, you have to manually revise the auction.
5) Time saver if you don't use IPIX for pictures. Skip the pictures for the original listings just to get them up and running - you can insert pictures in the next day or two (especially if you splurged for 10 day auctions) after the fact, and the time savings would be tremendous and possibly allow you a few more listings.
6) Picture hosting other than Ebay is nice since IPIX went down, I know a few people were having trouble launching.
I think advance preparation work (whether its taking pictures, or writing up listings or whatever) can be a huge bonus leading into a free listing day.
One other option is if you use something like Mister Lister, you can pull the things that don't sell and add them to a FLD only file - put the stuff in the garage, and you've got the file accumulating though the year - just don't forget where you put the box. 8)
posted on June 29, 2001 07:36:39 AM
I wish I had heard about it sooner, so I guess I learned to check the E-Bay boards in the evening and early AM when I log on
I also learned not to trust AW launch times since some of mine are now ending much later than I thought (please come bid on my stuff all you buyers in Japan!)
Also learned
- how amazingly efficient it is to have something like ML or even AW to take advantage of this
- that taking pics in advance is the best way to go - took over 600 last week-end, worth ever minute!
- that e-Bay will do this again, so let's be prepared!
- that the best info is from AW boards and not e-Bay ones - thanks all for the info on 10-day listing and double categories, I wouldn't have known if it wasn't for you
Good luck all - let's hope we all do really well next Thursday and Sunday!
posted on June 29, 2001 08:01:31 AM
Realized at 10:00 p.m. if I was going to get more auctions launched ~ the quickest way was the add the pics later and quit wasting time trying to get them to upload ~ when they were not ~ no matter what I did........so I am spending today adding pics ~ but hey ~ it was free!
posted on June 29, 2001 08:40:46 AM
Wish someone would explain how Mr. Lister works and if there is a charge for it. I have read about it a couple of times and it sounds complicated. but I did manage to list, one by one, an extra 60 auctions. Good Luck everyone!
posted on June 29, 2001 08:53:06 AM
re: Mister Lister
Its a free program to DL and use provided by Ebay. I have found it a very straightforward way of preparing and launching auctions.
You have item collections where you fill in all of the various fields, and can have up to.. i think 100 items in each collection.
You save your file, upload it to Mister Lister/Ebay. They send you an email when its ready to confirm. The file will sit in your holding queue for up to two weeks until you are ready to launch it. You simple click on the link provided in the confirmation email, sign in, and launch your auctions!
posted on June 29, 2001 08:59:22 AM
I think I learned that things ain't all the great on eBay. If they have to give free listings, what would you think? That they did it out of the 'goodness of their hearts?' Have you seen the number of listings getting no bids?
posted on June 29, 2001 09:22:48 AM
I learned that I can still go to my "day job" yet get 120 listings done (yeah, the day job work sorta suffered).
I learned that I could have listed more if my images in AW hadn't been zapped by the 90-day kill photo deal.
I learned that with AW I was able to list five times the number of listings on the last freebie day.
I learned that the only advantage of being an Ebay Power Seller is the email they sent letting you know it was free listing day (opened the email at 5:00 a.m. and was off to the races!)
I learned that I need to have a lot more pictures ready to go for the next free listing day (is that in December or is there another dead Ebay period where they pump things up with a freebie day?)
I learned that if I stay on the puter past 10:00 p.m. dooing listings that it is NOT conducive to a happy marriage.
I learned that I can type like the wind (and blow every other word).
I learned that with our antique furniture listings running at $3.30 each, I saved several hundred dollars!!!!
posted on June 29, 2001 09:28:24 AM
I've learned that even if I don't think it would do well on eBay that it just might. I already have bids on things that I didn't think would sell at all.
posted on June 29, 2001 09:32:15 AM
I learned that when you have a storefront, the sell your item form DEFAULTS to the STORE listing, not the auction listing. I had typed and typed and realized it when I saw the 30 day option.
I did catch them all though, and they all were listed as auctions.
I learned that I CAN manually list without problem. )
posted on June 29, 2001 10:45:26 AM
FLD is a perfect time for me to check out
price point results when I start an auction
above my usual 24.99 price. This enables me to get a better feel for the demand for certain items I sell without having to pay
the extra $0.55 when I list at a price above
24.99.
Like others, I also created some template auctions that I'll populate with JPG's and more detailed descriptions over the next couple of days. It was getting late, so I figured I would add a few shell auctions and fill in the details later.
The last items I listed said essentially the same as yours: Nice item, Buy it!
Was fighting to stay awake to get those last few listed before the clock ran out and I had to pay those listing fees!
Gotta get busy and get more auctions ready to launch at a moments notice.
I figure if the items I listed last night get lost in the 2 million plus that were launched last night, I'm still not out any money - except for pain pills to control the carpal tunnel syndrome from all that typing.
Best of luck to all!
It will be interesting to see how this all turns out in the next week or so.
posted on June 29, 2001 11:19:49 AM
"Realized at 10:00 p.m. if I was going to get more auctions launched ~ the quickest way was the add the pics later and quit wasting time trying to get them to upload ~ when they were not ~ no matter what I did........so I am spending today adding pics ~ but hey ~ it was free!"
Re adding pix later, if you will upload them to your ISP...
PUT the pix URL (that you will later use) in the auction description. It will show as an X until you upload the photo but you will NOT have to revise or add to your auction description later.
You can say in the description "Photo will be uploaded tomorrow" if you like.
ALSO if you want the pix icon to appear in the search list, put some generic photo in that URL box (maybe a photo of a nicely wrapped package etc).
posted on June 29, 2001 11:28:28 AM
Thanks katiyana Now is there any way to keep those uploaded auctions more then 2 weeks, as I list many of the same things for months at a time? I have even thought of taking all of my inventory and reorganizing it, and as I do, write the description and save it in word or drafts and then just use the copy and paste method, when I want to list. It saves minutes for each listing and those minutes sure do add up.
posted on June 29, 2001 11:40:48 AM
I learned that being only lightly prepaired, and getting up 1 hr before I had to for work (0330 instead of 0430), prepping some auctions, doing my RT job, FLYING home (48 min drive in 33), and busting my fingers on keys until the midnight deadline, I could list 40 auctions from scratch (well, almost scratch; I only had to upload images). The best part was I am on a modem, and IY NEVER CRASHED!!! Now, if the bidders show, I will be happy! :0;0
Rick
In the begining, God created the heavens and the earth.
posted on June 29, 2001 12:13:56 PM
firkidmom - what I would do is NOT upload the file to Mister Lister/Ebay until I was ready to launch. Or I'd load them over the week to launch them all on Sunday.
Now, the nice thing is you still have a copy on your hard drive. If you don't use the Relist function, when those auctions close, you can edit the original file, reupload it, and relaunch it.
Here's another option. You could start one Item Collection and call it "inventory". Instead of launching that collection, use it to copy/paste into another collection those item(s) you want to list. Save the new collection and launch those auctions.
Repeat as often as necessary, add to the Inventory file as needed, or delete lines that you're sold out of...
- if i don't read aw every day, i could not know about a fld until it's too late!
- that having a bunch of things shot in advance (sheer luck) is A Very Good Thing
- that on a fld, you should not worry about ending times, except for your best stuff
- that if the listing is free, i'm *much* more inclined to take a chance and list things i'm uncertain about, and that it's fun
- that there are *other* sites that *already* offer free listings, and i should really give them a shot. soon
- that having more listings end on the same day than i have ever had = writing more eoas than i've ever written, and shipping more stuff at the same time than i've ever shipped. duh.
- that sadie is perfectly right about writing the 1st 5 and the last 5
- that my butt can and will become numb
kittyx3
edited to add one more: yes, i too found out to not worry about uploading the photos!
[ edited by kittykittykitty on Jun 29, 2001 01:21 PM ]
posted on June 29, 2001 01:35:34 PM
-Planning is everything.
-That I love my digicam.
-That my scanner is fast as lightening on lower res, which is fine for many smaller items.
- My own prefabbed auction templates helped a lot.
-checking out mr lister
- don't sweat the tweak too much. (I built a table for one auction - which is lovely and row/colspanned to my delight - which will be used again)
- free listing is great for experimenting with REDUNDANT CATAGORIES (please read ebay!)
-that I can start to list - manually - at 11:54 and get that puppy loaded at 11:58.
-wish my counter would tell me who's hitting from which catagory.
-and last but not least...10 cents...10 days..$300 + starting bid...can NOT get over that!
posted on June 29, 2001 01:46:59 PM
-Even though I keep all my mister lister files, I need to remember to delete those auctions that sold.
-I need to revamp my pic files - not organized enough.
-That AW is great and if it weren't for my daily readings, I would not have known about the free day (I don't read the ebay boards) AND I wouldn't have known about the advice on the 10 days auctions (I took it) and known about being able to list in two categories. So thank you everyone.
- My mind goes to mush long before my fingers do.
- I better pack as bids are placed or else I will be overwhelmed (I hope) with the work that will come after they are over.
- I luv to save money and 10 cents and 20 cents a listing is marvelous!!
posted on June 29, 2001 02:44:15 PM
What my FAMILY learned during FLD:
1. Don't ask "what's for dinner" unless you want a pithy description about your parentage or have biologically impossible positions suggested to you.
2. Don't expect to have ice in your drinks..it's all in Mom's ice pack for her head & hand.
3. Don't pay any attention to any screams heard coming from the computer room. DO inform the neighbors & local emergency authorities that it's FLD & this behavior should be considered normal.
4. Don't sit down at the computer "just to check your emails" while Mom makes a rush to the bathroom. Anyone found disturbing the ebay listing screen or software CAN be in danger of losing vital body parts & seriously affect their ability to procreate in the future.
5. Don't be found pilfering the soft drinks located in the cooler next to the computer. Likewise for the junk food on the tv tray or any cigarettes in an arm's length radius.
6. Don't, if your mother is found face down on the keyboard clutching the mouse, run into the room screaming, "WAKE UP, THERE'S ONLY 3 FREE LISTING HOURS LEFT!". Suddenly awakening an older person with news like this can have fatal results. (You should only try this if you have a nitro patch on hand).
7. Don't expect Mom to have use of her mouse hand for atleast 3 days after FLD.
8. Don't expect to find any junk food left in the house after FLD is over.
9. Don't, the next morning, mention that you've seen cadavers with more life in them than Mom.
10. Don't ask, "Hey, who used up all the Depends"?
11. Don't ask, "So did you sell anything for all that trouble?". Divorces have started over less.
12. Don't wander into the computer room and ask "So, how's it going?" unless you ENJOY verbal abuse.
13. Don't leave anything you really like laying around in plain site of Mom & the scanner. DO lock the door to your room if you don't want everything to potentially end up on ebay. If something DOES go missing, avoid saying, "But it was right here before FLD".
posted on June 29, 2001 02:55:29 PM
I learned that a lot of people will go through a lot of trouble for a day to save $50. Good to know that I am not alone.
Actually, I never view free listing day as a money saver but as a challenge of my system. Each go around - I want to see if I can improve on last time. Find I can now list over 1200 items (900+ of them are unique) in about an eight hour stretch. Remember the first time it took me almost 10 hours to do 100.
Also, I find that FLD is like being back in college. A small rush as one is trying to finish a major task and satisfaction when the last group is launched.
Did they really get 2 million new listings yesterday??? The Internet is something else! 
)