Mike...most people end their auctions on Sundays.Don't know why but they do.To me...well...if everyone in the world ends their auctions on Sunday..that is one heck of alot of sales to go through.

I always try to end them at around 8PM PDT so that folks back east can still have time to bid before they hit the hay...UNLESS....I am selling certain items which will appeal to people in other countries such as lps and bakelite radios etc..Many of my best buyers for lps and retro items live in Japan so I try and end my auctions in the evening Tokyo time.

I start almost everything at $9.99 with no reserve at all.Reserves cost you listing fees.If you describe your item well in the subject line you will always get viewers.If you have an expensive item that you are worried about then just start the auction at your bare bones minimum price to alleviate your worries.If you wanna get real ballsy....list the auctions at .99 to save even more in listing fees.
Plain templates have always worked for me but I guess that fancy ones might work as well.Fancy ones might be harder to load on some older computors though and speed is important when viewing.If it is too slow to load for me then I will simply not look at all.

Small lots work the best as postage is cheaper.If you sell a plate that is worth $20 and the buyer pays $15,then he is getting a deal BUT...when you ad on the $12.00 or so to mail it...then that deal is not great so you will then get lower bids.If the postage is more than what the item is worth....well....who wants that right?
I never charge for insurance unless someone asks for special insurance.Up here we have an automatic $100 insurance on small parcels anyway.Probably different for you guys.Also...insurance does not cover glass items.If they break...tough.
Just my take.I have been doing eBay now for over 8 years and have over 2500 transactions.No worries so far as a seller.
Hope that this helps.