Since I am losing a not so small fortune on mystery auctions, I'm not the one to be giving advise. I think that mystery auctions is a hard category to guess about. There is a lot of disagreement about these auctions, too. Many people have declared that they are ALL scams, which isn't true, of course, but I'd bet there is a relatively high number of scammers doing mystery auctions. Some sellers seem to be using them as loss leaders. Other sellers don't want to take the time to list a quantity of small items individually. Most of the auctions, though, are gambling - no matter how the ad is worded.

I haven't seen anyone yet doing what I have been trying to do. I've been trying to promote the conceptual art known as mail art. Traditionally mail art operates outside the economy. Mail art is free art, or more likely, barter art - I send you mail art, you send me mail art. This trading is fine - I do it from time to time, but it isn't as interesting , challenging or artistic as sending it to someone who is not expecting it. Or isn't sure what to expect.

For me, Ebay has been an experiment to see how people will respond to conceptual art and to determine if conceptual art such as mine has any monetary value in the general population. I don't sell empty boxes with unknown contents (or gifts). I find an item that seems to be popular on ebay. I put the poplar item up for auction (instead of the empty box or envelope that most sellers use in their mystery auctions). Then I build a themed assemblage around the popular item. I tell the sellers as much as I can about what is in the box without being specific about the other items or their value. This is a way to keep the element of surprise in the piece. From my experience, the mystery auction aspect ( in my case the addition of unknown, but related items) actually reduces the amount people are willing to pay for my item. I don't know why this is except that people usually want to know what it is they are buying. I wonder if the mystery auction aspect is off-putting because the category itself is seen as disreputable.

The reviews and guides are consistent. They stick with the conventional wisdom that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. My last auction sold for $30.03 with free shipping. It will cost more than this to mail it. It was a mixture of new and used items. (I keep a lot of new items on hand for my mail). I did not put in items that were "junk" at all. I chose my items based on the theme of the project and on whether or not they would fit in the box. I took things from my life that I like a lot and sacrificed them to the project. I just now made a conservative estimate of the value of what I put in the last box. It is $275. The auction price won't even cover the shipping much less the packaging - which is an essential aspect of the work itself and as such can't be compromised.

So from my experience, if you are putting items in your mystery boxes that would likely sell on their own, you'll probably make more just listing them straight. Unlike me, you're a business person and may have customers who would have interest in your particular mystery box. I have listed mine in categories other than mystery auctions. I listed in mystery auctions a few times, but all my bids came from the category of my centerpiece item - Eickholt vase, Vera Bradley Apple Green bag, etc. If you specify that you are auctioning a particular item, a certain coin, for instance, that will be accompanied by gifts of a similar genre, maybe you could listi in your usual category instead of mystery auctions. Your regular customers could find you. I don't think there should be any problem with doing that.

Good luck! I hope you and the missus feel better real soon!