I too sell collectables – vintage, antique items. All my items originally start at auction, but where I differ is that I run 10 day auctions. Why? Because not everyone is watching eBay all day every day, especially people looking from overseas. AND all my items always get 2 goes at auction, before they go into my store, usually with 10% increase as the BIN price. (Auction start is always lowest I will accept.) Often things will sell second time around at auction, sometimes even with a little bidding war. My repeat buyers stay fairly steady at 15-20% - they know when my auctions start (Thurs / Sat 4pm every week)  - I have always started and finished auctions at a time that suits me. Apparently (and I have never bothered to look before) auction sales accounted for about 45% of my $ earnings last calendar year.

I don’t have any tips / tricks to offer; I will continue to start everything at auction because I have NO IDEA of the true value of what I sell. I am fairly knowledgeable in a few areas, but thank goodness for Google Image Search!

There is a very well-known antiques etc dealer / seller who still starts everything at 99 cents, as they did when I first started on eBay 22 years ago (Yipes! Time flies when you're having fun 😁) I was never game enough to do the same (though eBay told me to), but they no doubt continue to achieve the prices they do because they have an ENORMOUS following, and sell quality items. I do miss the old bidding wars, and many items just sell at opening bid, but the occasional sleeper that takes off makes auctions worthwhile IMO.