This is a brief guide on eBay's Insertion Fees, Relist Credits, Second Chance Offers, Non Paying Bidders and Postage & Handling.

Insertion fees...

First things first, the insertion fee. The insertion fee is based on the initial starting price. Starting something at 1-99c is the cheapest auction price at 30c. This goes up to 50c from $1-19.99 etc. The complete list can be found here http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/fees.html

It's definitely cheaper to start your items lower and simply including a handling fee by increasing the postage costs. Obviously not everyone is comfortable with that though. The other thing to consider if you're selling a lot of things is a store, stores offer lower insertion fees. The downside being the store costs $10 per month and they are also less prominent when people do searches.

Relist credits...

If your item doesn't sell, and this is the first time you listed it, or if you have claimed back your Final Value Fee through the dispute console, then you have 90 days to relist it and get back the insertion fee of the relisted item. The one proviso being you can NOT start it higher than your original item. The other interesting thing, even if you have offered Second Chances, and they have been taken up, you still get the relist credit if the original bidder didn't end up paying, and you got back your FVF from the dispute console. Also, you don't have to relist the indentical item, you can relist a similar item, or even a completely different item, and provided the relisted item sellls, you will get back your insertion fee.

Second chance offers...

If you sell the same item over and over it may be worth considering offering second chances, even if the initial item sells for a price you're happy with, remembering you don't pay the insertion fee on second chance offers, you do still pay the FVF though. Obviously you don't want to flood the market, but many times in a bidding frenzy people will bid quite high and even the under bidder, or bidders, may bid higher than you usually get. Second chance offers can also be automated using Selling Manager Pro, which is $10 per month.

Final Notes...

Don't forget to subscribe to the free Selling Manager and Sales Reports. Selling Manager gives you an at a glance look at how many items you have eligible for relist credits. You'd be surprised how that can get away from you if you let it. Handling fees on your part maximise profits and reduce both Insertion and Final Value Fees, so long as it is a "reasonable" amount.