Spare Change

Money Tip

Advice from Marsha Pater, an eBay PowerSeller, on how to sell items quickly:

•When selling items to businesses, post auctions in the morning, right after potential buyers get to work; for personal items, post in the evening to catch after-work browsers.

•Use the counter to track how many times a page is viewed; if visitor count is low, cut the price or move the item to another category.

•Provide the make, model or part number of the item in the header.

Fund Fact

Is the winning streak in “junk-bond” mutual funds about to end? Some analysts expect default rates on junk bonds to start rising as the economy slows, hurting the funds. As a result, some investors may prefer to put their money into certificates of deposits, where they can earn 5 percent or more without risk, rather than roll the dice to snag junk-bond returns that these days aren’t much higher.

Net Nugget

If you’re looking for more information on pension plan rules in the wake of Congress’ approval of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, try www.bank rate.com/brm/ news/sav/2003 0114a.asp, which explores how to find and recover an unclaimed pension, or www.quicken .com/cms/ viewers/article/ retirement/ 18308, which explains pension plan basics, advantages, eligibility and more.

Market Tip

In the past 12 months, dividend-paying companies in the S&P 500 have gained 7.0 percent, versus a 1.2 percent loss for non-payers. This year, dividend payers have gained 4.4 percent, versus a 4.2 percent loss for non-payers. Companies with a history of raising dividends are particularly attractive, because they’re signaling they’re strong enough to continue paying them.