I have a question to pose to anyone out there that buys or sells on ebay. I sell quite a bit of brochures, manuals and the like on ebay during the winter. With all the wet weather preventing me from farming right now, I have been researching what is for sale there right now in the categories I list in. I have always posted my items in the auction-style format, but it is surprising to me how many items are now a fixed-price listing, not near as many auction listings as there used to be. Now my questions - is this because you (the buyer) prefer to purchase an item right away when you find it (as opposed to waiting for an auction to end to see if you won or not)? Or is it because the seller has better luck selling this way? Or is it that ebay's fee structure is such that it is cheaper to post and sell an item this way rather than in the auction format? I know that the base philosophy of ebay has changed radically since its beginnings (and not for the better, IMHO) but after all is said and done it is still the cheapest way for me as a seller to get the items I want to sell out in a global market. I just want to post my items there in the format that the majority of buyers want, while at the same time maximizing my profit margin on the item. Maybe that's not possible anymore?