Ebay Store? Yes or No?

[towertreasuretrove]

I'm thinking of opening up an Ebay basic Store after 15 years...but I'm not sure about. I usually have about 250-300 listings/month at any one time with sales of about  $300 a month when I get a listing special. If there is no 500 listing special I take a pass and list only 50. So I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble. Any general opinions? Thanks!

[femmefan1946]

Take into consideration that all Fixed Price listings on dotCOM are now Good Til Cancelled, although this will not take effect immediately on dotCA.

The more listings you have the more you can sell.

If you have over 100 products available, a store can be a fee-saver.

[recped]

The decisions to open a store or not is mostly a question of MONEY.

Fees are a bit lower but if you are only selling about $300/month you would only save about $3/month (some categories have much lower fees if you have a Store....unfortunately not the categories you are using currently).

There are of course other advantages, you might sell more if you have more listings all the time instead of depending on free listing promos which are few and far between these days.

There is the free shipping supplies that may or may not be useful.

Your own categories that may lead to more multiple item purchases (more likely if you have more listings).

Vacation setting is useful to some.

Another option if you just want a regular supply of more free listings is to start another selling ID where you will get another set of 50 free listings per month.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@towertreasuretrove 

The 250 store level would still give you some savings and the other features mentioned(like the holiday feature) depending on your available mix of items to list. Remember printed items & Books /DVD's CD's/Wii Games are 5 cent listings. Everything else is 20 cents. I've had a store for a little over a year. For me I get good bang for the buck with 250 at .20 cent listings. Anything over is usually either books/DVD or gaming(Xbox/Wii Games and is less of a drain on the finances. The advantage for you, your selling fees on shipping for your printed items is much less than mine with my mix of items. My normal average per month is approximately 1/3 of sales is shipping. Takes a big bite out of any profits. This is why calculated shipping is so important if you are selling unique items. Next thing to take into consideration is space. Having a good sorting system is very important the more listings you have. With your printed items a decent file cabinet works great. For me, most standard items need to be pre-packaged to match my original entries for shipping. (Prepackage = more space)  500 would be a great level for a good number of sellers. 1000 might be too much of a leap of faith especially when you are searching high and low for item 779 that just sold and your buyer needs to be shipped immediately if not sooner. Best of luck and happy selling.

-Lotz

[ricarmic]

As a personal note, I very much like the vacation settings.

As I traverse being "medium old" I've been doing experiments to try to have more of a life outside selling, and shutting down my store more frequently for shorter periods.

In my (stamp) world, this has not impacted me aside from the actual closed time (so when I reopen I am so far not seeing a significant time lag in sales upon reopening). From others comments this is not true in all categories.

[kawartha-ephemera]

It would be a no for me .... been there done that. Before, you think of subscribing I would first begin taking advantage of the 50 free ebay.com listings, that gets you to 100 freebies per month. A user looking to expand really should get comfortable listing there first before jumping in to a store. Remember a basic store provides 250 listings on both ebay.ca and ebay.com. With the type of products you are currently selling I believe you would need to use every one of those 500 listings / month to prosper.

[towertreasuretrove]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all your comments. What I have listed now isn't indicative of what I sell 95% of the time...8.5x11 black and white photos....train stations, etc. Shipping is easy...same mailer, same weight, same price every time. My stock is just over 250 remastered photos right now. I sell about 15+ when I list them all. Selling 4 would cover the monthly cost of a basic store....so I think  it might be worth it. It saves a lot of time doesn't it? 

I like the idea of listing on both .ca and .com. To do that now is a big hassle. I'd have to recreate everyone of  my .ca listings one-by-one for .com.

[recped]

One more thing.......

If you try a Store just go month to month, don't lock yourself in for the yearly discount  right away.

I'm only active 8 or maybe 9 months of the year and some of that is only if I happen to be around and a free listing promo happens. I really can only make use of a Store for about 5 months out of 12.

[musicyouneed]

I opened a store about 2 years ago and it was the best decision for me.  I love the fact that i can use vacation settings and seller hub.  Sure it cost money but the amount of stress and time I have saved, is well worth it.    Try it for 3 months and see if it works for you.  

[femmefan1946]

@towertreasuretrove 

I'd have to recreate everyone of my .ca listings one-by-one for .com.

Then don't.

Keep your current stock as dotCA.

Put any new stock on dotCOM.

Since you can use Flat Rate shipping, you might also consider making your photos Free Shipping.

DON'T PANIC.

Free shipping just means putting the cost ofshipping into the asking price of the item.

This is an advantage for mobile customers, keeping it simple. They see the item they see what they will pay. No further costs under another tab.

And which is cheaper? A $7.95 item with $3.00 shipping or a $10.95 item with Free Shipping?

Here's another thought.

Which is cheaper ? A $10.95 US item or a $10.95 Cdn item?

If you even paused for a nano-second  before responding-- list on dotCOM as $10.95 US not $8.10US. *

FWIW - When I use Free Shipping on dotCOM,which is seen as Free Shipping to the USA,   I also put the shipping cost to Canada as $0.00. The difference in cost is small (30 c to $2.20 ?) but I believe it to be worthwhile.

*This will have a side advantage of making your Canadian listings look cheaper to US searches. And leaves some wiggle room for Best Offers.

[towertreasuretrove]

And which is cheaper? A $7.95 item with $3.00 shipping or a $10.95 item with Free Shipping?

Here's another thought.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Guess what...I tried that for a while, free shipping. It didn't work for those exact numbers your used. After over a 1000 sales my best sales occur at $7.95 + 3....well now it's $3.50  They tanked at $10.95.  $7.95 looks like a good price, $9.95 doesn't, $10.95 is brutal price...so I guess it depends on price point. The vast majority of buyers don't have a problem with "3.00 shipping (Lettermail). Offering 'No added shipping charge on multiple purchases'  is a great incentive. 

Thank you for your comments...I'll try new listings on .com and see how it works! Good idea for me. Good Selling!