Friends, I thought long and hard about what to put on ebay.  Here is how I determine the price and some of my own strategies because you can really go backwards and not know it on ebay.
  1.  first I check for similar items, how they are listed, how many bids they receive, what they started at etc.  If items don’t receive any bids week after week, I don’t list them.  This is particularly true for (in my niche) doll clothing.  Nothing sells.
2.  based on research, I price my item at the same starting price as pieces that have sold.  If I can’t find a similar item …
for example a book.  I start it at .99.  I figure if I threw it out or donated it, I would not get the money for it anyway.  The first picture is free so the listing fee is .10 then they take their percentage which is about .10.  So I’m getting .79 for each book sold at .99.  I assure you,
most of my auctions sell for well over .99 but this is just an example.
3.  I always charge a $1.95 handling charge which is permitted.  This takes into account the box and wrap or large padded envelope.  Sometimes I charge more if I know I will have to take things to the post office or have it wrapped special.  4.  People pay their own shipping charges which I never run through PayPal or they will also charge you a handling fee.  Please note that I am NOT a professional ebayer.  I don’t have a storefront or a big account, I’m just downsizing my personal things.  Some of those things happen to be valuable.  For example, last week I sold a bag of lace that had been part of my stash for the past 10 or so years.  I know I will never use that stuff so up on ebay it went.  I got $15.00 for it and the person was very happy.
A lot of people criticize ebay these days for
their seller fees but, really, where else are you going to get $15.00 for a bag of lace you don’t want??    Julie in Island Lake muellerj on ebay  lol