eBay

treasure.hunter.d · ‎05-19-2014

Hi folks,

As the title to this post says I am going to be opening a store at the beginning of June or thereabouts.

First, I am looking for any suggestions that long-time store owners have about how I should set things up or just general info that will save me time and effort and hopefully protect me from my own mistakes being a store newbie. Anything at all is appreciated.

My biggest question at the moment, and I'll probably add more as I think of them, is that i am registered on Ebay Canada (.ca) but I tend to post more items to Ebay US (.com) as posts on the com side seem to get more views/exposure and more sales result. When I set up my store do I need to do it on ca vs com or vice versa and are there any differences because of where I set up my store. If I do my store through ca will I still be able to list items on com taking advantage of my free listings? Also, I have TRS and Power Seller on the Candian site and only Power Seller on the US site because of the different requirements. Will where I set up my store have any impact on maintaining those status levels.

Sorry if those are stupid questions but again this is my first shot at opening a store.

I'll add more questions I guess as they come to me but that's it for now and again, any other suggestions will be gratefully accepted.

Thanks in advance for your help.

thd

pierrelebel · ‎05-19-2014

"When I set up my store do I need to do it on ca vs com"

It makes absolutely NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER except that you save a few cents every month having your store on eBay.ca (they bill the monthly fee in Cdn$ while eBay.com bills the same fees in US$).

An eBay store is basically a collection of ALL your listings, regardless of the site you use to list (eBay.ca, eBay.com, eBay.uk, etc...)

With a store, you have many advantages:

- lower FVF

- access to Markdown Manager

- weekly newsletter to folks on your mailing list (can be used in conjunction with Markdown Manager or to advertise new listings)

- access to traffic reports

- ability to put your fixed price listings "on vacation".

etc... etc...

TRS and 20% rebate have nothing to do with having or not having a store.

rose-dee · ‎05-20-2014

My #1 suggestion (I've had a store since I started on eBay years ago) -- take the time when you set up your store to browse through and experiment with the "Store Design" features and to properly set up store categories (to help your buyers find what they want). I've always maintained that the real benefit of having a store is its marketing value, beyond the pure economics of store vs. non-store fees, etc.

There are a lot of style and colour options for store design, and some pre-set designs as well. Make your choices, save your design settings, then click on your store icon to take a look, see how you like it. Then go back and try different settings. Whatever you choose, remember your store banner will be your "brand" or look for quite some time, so choose a colour combination that's pleasing to the eye and makes the text easy to read.

Oh yes, and very important -- your store name -- give this some extremely serious thought before you finally hit the button, since this will be your brand on eBay! Do some brainstorming on paper beforehand. Don't forget to consider adding your logo to the store banner, too. You may have to re-size it to fit, but it's another branding feature that I believe has real value.

A store will permit you to use Categories. These can be set up in levels (main category, sub-category, sub-sub-category). It's a very good idea to write down your main categories on a piece of paper before you start adding them on eBay, so you can think about how you want to group your items before you start the process.

I'd recommend you keep the number of main categories fairly limited -- and specify that only the first level be visible, and only if there are items available in that category (I think these are the defaults anyway). There is a point at which too many categories becomes confusing and irritating for buyers, but a good category system can help them quickly find exactly what they're after. You can specify how you want the main categories to be ordered, i.e. either alphabetically or a custom order based on what you think your buyers will be most interested in (my personal preference)

You should consider including the "Search" box on your store banner (I believe this may be a pre-set default, not sure). This allows buyers to search for particular keywords within your store, bringing up applicable items. Similarly, you can add permitted links to some of your other store locations within the banner itself. The banner permits you to add some text to outline your business or just welcome buyers, and if you wish, you can add another text section just below the banner to further describe your business (see my store for example, Pierre's, or any other long-time store owner's to compare). You don't want this area to get too "messy" or big and overwhelm the eye, so I'd say keep the text to just a few brief lines. I see many store owners plastering huge, bold, long-winded paragraphs of blurbs just below their store banners that I feel is just a distraction. Keep the look sleek and minimal.

You can also add Promotion boxes and Custom pages to your store (these go below the banner, but above the listings). I love these add-ons, because you can say pretty much anything you want to promote and highlight your items (and/or include background information that you might not want to clutter up your listings with). Click on my store, and you'll see I've set up a few of these. I have a whole bunch of different Promotion boxes I use from time to time.

Once you have a store you'll have Omniture statistics available to you (access it under the marketing tools). I find this tool invaluable for tracking what my customers are doing and what they're looking for. Obviously, as Pierre pointed out, the other selling management features and perks are important benefits of having a store.

To my mind, the most important benefit of a store is that you'll create an individualized name and look that customers will remember and search for, i.e. visibility. I can see from my Omniture stats that people actually search for my store by name, and that many are even doing so through outside search engines (Google, etc.).

You'll find the link to "Manage Your Store" at the bottom left of your Summary page or at the very bottom right of your store "Home" page screen. Have fun and best of luck!

rose-dee · ‎05-20-2014

P.S. -- Don't forget to come back and show us your new store! We might also have some additional tips once you've got it set up. Cheers!

pierrelebel · ‎05-20-2014

You may want to take a look at the eBay Stores Discussion Board here on eBay.ca. Some threads will answer many questions you have not have asked yet!

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/eBay-Stores/bd-p/2600000000

PS - In my book, an eBay store home page should be the showcase of your items. This is why mine defaults to highest price first. Folks looking for low priced second grade bargains should go see my competitors.

ricarmic · ‎05-20-2014

Hey Pierre who's that shot meant for? 😉

My store is on "best match", and I favor plane Jane style, so far at least....

pierrelebel · ‎05-20-2014

"who's that shot meant for?"

Message was directed to the original poster.. Sellers control their store to some degree. I certainly would not want eBay to impose their "Best Match" to my listings if I can help it. I want to show my best and most expensive on the front page. Then buyers can go inside the store and find "stuff" meeting their budget!

rose-dee · ‎05-20-2014

@pierrelebel wrote:
"who's that shot meant for?"

Message was directed to the original poster..

No Pierre, maybe you didn't see it earlier, but there was a post from you here just a while ago that started "Why, why, why"? I wondered the same thing as 'ricarmic' -- your comments (asking why the person was posting here just to continually disagree) didn't seem related to anything anybody had said on this discussion.

Is Lithium going a bit nuts?

ricarmic · ‎05-20-2014

Yep was just teasing, however this is a good discussion point. At least in my case, my most expensive things aren't what I would generally expect my new /repeat visitors to be really interested in and/or especially these days they're very unlikely to be able to afford. Conversely, I dislike putting the cheapest things up first for similar reasons as you, they also aren't the things I really want my "regulars" to see first (just for fun I went and changed my sort order to cheapest first and it is mostly stuff I should get around to deleting someday). That is how I settled on the best match style - as with just about everything in ebayland each of us has to look at what we sell, who we're selling to and try to figure out the best way to link the two together!

pierrelebel · ‎05-20-2014

"post from you here just a while ago that started "Why, why, why"? "

It does happen from time to time. This was a reply to a post that has been pulled at the request of the poster (a zero feedback user, using a posting ID). Now, totally out of context.since the post being answered has been removed.

Some posters (very few of them) are in the habit of requesting their posts be removed if they later realize they should not have posted as they did (usually the wrong choice of words).

And life does go on.....

treasure.hunter.d · ‎05-22-2014

Thanks folks, I really appreciate the input. Sounds like I have a bit of work ahead of me on this.

I'll be sure and let you all know when it is set up so you can ha e a peak and let me know what you think..

All the best.

thd

treasure.hunter.d · ‎05-22-2014

@rose-dee wrote:
My #1 suggestion (I've had a store since I started on eBay years ago)

Thanks rose. You put a lot of effort into answering my post and I really appreciate it.

All the best

thd

treasure.hunter.d · ‎05-22-2014

@pierrelebel wrote:
"When I set up my store do I need to do it on ca vs com"

Thanks mate, very much appreciate the help.

Cheers

thd

gorilla-scales · ‎05-22-2014

One can still have an ebay.ca registered store and still be billed in USD.

pierrelebel · ‎05-22-2014

Yes, billing currency has nothing to do with where a user is registered, where a seller lists or where a store is lo cated.

However, if a store is located on eBay.ca, eBay will charge the CDN$ value and bill it in US$.

Choice of billing currency is a convenient way for Canadian sellers to pay eBay fees, depending where their funds are.

It does not change the actual value of the fees. Assuming approximate current exchange rates, US$20 fees will be billed at Cdn$ 21.80 if the seller uses Cdn$ as billing currency while Cdn$ 20.00 fees will be billed at US$ 18.20 if the seller uses US$ as billing currency.