Pro's & Con's For Opening A Store

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

I have been debating whether to open up a Premium store or not.  I thought I might try a month instead of a year subscription to see if it is worth it.  I sell vintage jewelry mostly.  I sell between 10 - 25 items a month.  I have been taking advantage of free promotions for a while now & have been able to list over 800 listings each month.  But I am always at the mercy of eBay waiting for them.  I am reluctantly listing in Canadian funds only as I don't want the hassle of dealing with 2 currencies.  The only advantage I can see is getting 1000 listings a month for $74.95 instead of .30 each at $300.00.  The 9% final value fees don't really amount to much savings.  Also the free supplies don't interest me much unless they include items I can use such as small jewelry boxes & bubble envelopes. Other small items I get at the dollar store. I would appreciate anyone's input. Thanks

[musicyouneed]

I was like you.  I debated about opening a store.  There were enough free listings to keep me going, but I was at the mercy of ebay.  I was sent an email about a discount if I opened a store, I got a store in August and it was the best thing I ever did.  I love it.  Sure there is a cost but for piece of mind it is so worth it.  I originally got it for a month to month but within 2 days, I changed that to a yearly.  

Here are some useful tidbits:

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/I-am-finally-going-to-open-a-store-any-advice/m-p/346549/...

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/I-just-got-this-offer-to-open-a-store-sounds-like-a-good-...

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Four-days-into-having-a-store-and-this-is-what-I-think/m-...

So I am 1.5 months into having a store and as I stated earlier, just the fact I am not waiting around for ebay to give me free listings, I love it

Good luck for your decision.  Let me know what you decide.

[momcqueen]

ebay is doing a Promo with Canada Post Solutions for Small Business (formerly VentureOne) where new Basic Store subscribers gets six months free. You can learn some about it at the most recent Weekly Board hour; it came up. A Basic store will get you some stability. And six months of free. 

[mapleleaf-collectibles]

If you are only selling 25-50 items a month, a store may not be cost effective for you. I love the free listings every month, and will never open a store, unless it is also free. If I was planning on doing Ebay as a full time job, my main source of income, then I may consider it, otherwise forget about it. I don't pay anything until an item sells, that's the way it should be. Check around the internet, there are dozens of great selling venues that are all free.