Planning a big eBay sale? Beat new charges and do it this weekend

eBay charges sellers two types of fee; a final value fee and an 'insertion' fee, which is the basic fee for listing an item (see our 40 eBay buying tips guide for tricks and tools to hunt hidden bargains).

From Tuesday, the insertion fee is changing. So if you've got lots of items to sell, you should sell them now. Here's how it works:

• The insertion fee. This is based on your item's starting price. You can currently list 100 auctions free each month, so long as you start the bidding below £1. Above that, the insertion fee then usually ranges from 10p to £1.30, depending on the exact start price. Buy-it-now (fixed price) listings are usually a flat 40p.

  But from 13 May, you'll only be able to list 20 items free each month, though these can be at any start price. Unlike the current system, these can be buy-it-now items, as well as auctions. After 20 items, you'll be charged 35p per item.

• Final value fee. If the item sells, you also pay a flat 10% on the final transaction price (up to a maximum of £75). This fee will stay the same.

So what should I do now?

It depends on what you're flogging.

• Got a large bag of goodies? Sling them on eBay by Tuesday. This is perfect for offloading low-cost items not guaranteed to sell, as you won't lose any cash if nobody bites. We're talking magazines, CDs, old Argos catalogues and broken electronics, for example.

  Also, act fast if you've tons of valuable goods with mass appeal. Listing these items at 99p can spark bidding wars and ultimately mean higher closing prices.

• Only flogging niche goods or a few high value items? No rush. From Tuesday, you can list 20 auction or fixed price buy-it-now items for free each month – plenty for most people.

  You'll also be able to pick any start price, which is useful if you have goods only a few will be interested in, or you want to guarantee you won't end up selling a £300 TV for 99p. As buy-it-now listings will be free too, it could be worth taking a punt and sticking goods up at ambitious prices.

'20 listings suits me just fine'

The announcement got a mixed reaction from eBay fans.

MoneySavingExpert.com forum user Soolin wrote: "I love this new announcement. 99p listings were not worth it – I wasn't going to list stuff over and over at 99p and hope for a sale. I would rather give it away, so 20 listings suits me just fine."

Meanwhile Goldiegirl says: "I'm not too down-hearted about this. In any one month, I'm unlikely to have more than 20 items that I will want to sell. However, I'm selling off our LP collection at the moment, and the 100 free 99p listings have been ideal for this."