1. Add FAQs at the bottom of each listing to save time answering repetitious questions

2. Have all your auctions end at the same time of the day and week so you can process all your orders in one batch, then less trips to the post office

3. Use a 'template' for your listings so all you do is change the item description and image. You can easily create this yourself in Word and save as a Word template and use over and over again. Refer to the Word help files or do a Google search to learn how to do this

4. Make sure your description is very detailed so you receive less questions. Every email response is COSTING YOU MONEY AND YOUR PRECIOUS TIME!

5. Make sure your terms and very clear - save time arguing with buyers

6. Bundle sell your goods if you can, rather than many small auctions. This also increases your average customer spend rate!

7. Only accept PayPal with instant payment! I say this from experience

Regarding PayPal fees

1. Are you spending time chasing up payments for direct deposits?

2. Are you spending time logging onto your bank website to see if the payment is there or has been cleared?

3. Are you spending time trying to work out who the direct deposit was from?

4. Are buyers not paying and so you then have to spend time filing non-payment disputes and so?

5. Are you spending time having to negotiate with your buyers extended time to pay?

Now consider the time you spend on all of this and if you were being paid by your employer to do this same, what would it be worth? Now consider if the PayPal fees are worth it to free up your precious time by accepting instant PayPal payments where it is all done for you - confirmation of payment, tracking and so on!

I see PayPal fees as a cost to running my home-based business. Many years back when we had a store at an international airport; we not only had all our credit card merchant fees [very few people paid cash], but we also had to pay a percentage of the gross sales to the shopping centre on top of our base rent.