Ebay store vs auction listings?

[corkibaby]

Hi there, I just got my power sellers icon last month!! yay!!!:^O I've been thinking about opening an ebay store. Does anyone have any feed back on how this is a bennefit and what are the pluses and draw backs of having a store? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

[youreinthebook]

Congratulations on becoming a PS. You will probably find that the biggest benefit for PSers is the ability to keep up on information that can be found here and on the U.S. Powerseller's board. The difference between the Canadian PS board and the U.S. PS board is that the U.S. Powersellers attack each other while we here don't -- we prefer to attack Canada Post. 😉

As for Stores:

Plus: Much cheaper listing fees than auctions ("Core")
Drawback: Won't show up in the standard eBay search unless 30 or less items appear, and your gallery image won't appear, either.
Drawback: Higher Final Value Fee than Core, and going higher all the time.

Plus: You can list items for 30 days to infinity ("Good 'til Cancelled").
Drawback: Must pay a monthly fee starting at $15.95
Drawback: No longer any free trial
Plus: They throw in Seller Manager to help manage your listings and sales
Drawback: It's not really that good.

Plus: Your items, because they can be listed for longer durations, will start to appear in search engines and shopping sites like Froogle.

Plus: You get a telephone number to call eBay if you need help with your Store.
Drawback: Have you ever used eBay help?


eBay's Propoganda for Stores: http://pages.ebay.com/storefronts/openbenefits.html

You should know, however, that eBay's fees for Stores go up on the 21st by a huge percentage as eBay has recently decided that we Store sellers have diminished the "magic" of eBay and we need to be punished. Well, they didn't put it that way, exactly, except for the magic part.

Good Luck

[jasonsportscards]

for price it was great, nt so sure anymore with the increase that is coming. another drawback and i think its a big thing, is exposure when search for ebay is done. if there are a lot of items that are the same, all store listings get pushed to the bottom, 2nd , 3rd page etc and many don't normally look there. so best advice is to have some auctions that will draw people to your listing then hopefully they will check out your store
jason

[corkibaby]

Thanks for the advice. Do you think you get more sells because of having a store? Do ebayer perfer buying in auction form or stores?

[youreinthebook]

I absolutely get more sales because of stores, but it really depends on what products you sell. Stores are good for products that would normally not be hot sellers at auctions but sell in stores because people do search for them from time to time.

As for buyers' preferences... there really are both types. Some buyers love to try to win auctions to get a bargain, while others prefer to just pay the extra to get the item and get it over with.

The best way to use a store is to appeal to both types. For what you sell, for example, if you have 6 of one type of item, put one up for auction for your cost or slightly above, and put the other 5 in your store at a more premium price but available for immediate purchase. Be sure to mention in your auction, at least two or three times, that the item is available for immediate purchase in your eBay Store. Provide a link to the store item in your auction listing to make it easy.

It will take some testing to see what items work best for this method, but if you do it well you definitely have people going into your store to check out your other items as well.

But I have to warn that Stores don't work for everyone. Many sellers have given up on their store, especially after the fee hikes. Like with everything on eBay, it all depends on how popular your item is, what your margins are and how much competition you have.

Cheers

[corkibaby]

thanks so much...great idea's. Is having a store on a month to month basis or do you have to agree to so many months?

[zarzuella]

This link should answer your questions:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jspa?forumID=21

Ann

[youreinthebook]

Just month-to-month. They charge your account $15.95 at the beginning of each month. Not sure if they pro-rate it if you start in the middle of the month, I would think they would, but who knows?

Cheers,
Ernie.

[jomoto]

HI,
On ebay now for 7 years, store and all. selling in your ebay store, is like getting 4/10 with the 6/49.

you must sell on auction, with my exp on auction sales sell higher than store prices. traffic goes up over 1000%.

i still do not understand why Ebay has stores for u, and the worst of all is Ebay Express, the US side want to ban it already!

Canada post, very slow, but at least they honor claims, UPS and FEDEX, are kind of like ...........

PAypal, i dont know how they can still operate with all there scams and all. There is one lawsuit everyday filed against Paypal in the USA...its a matter of time before they regroup, or shut down.
Cant wait till another CC provider comes in , so they can go at eachothers throts, and we can take advantage.

Ebay Canada, we have to suck up to the US side, if not

we close shop.

[supremesite]

Stick to auction style! Buyers like the FUN of bidding! There is NO fun in buy-it-now prices.

[tiger_japanese_auto_parts]

hi dear all eBay power seller, i just got my power seller, it is so great to keep the ebay comunity in best standing, so try hard to get more from ebay. any positive feedback is really appricitated
thanks
Mike