Subscribed To Starter Store & My sales Stopped Dead

[kattinsanity]

I've had really good luck selling for months now.  I average around 50 sales a month which is fine for me being a small seller.

On Thursday I received a message from ebay regarding opening a store.  They offered a starter store for $4.95 a month including 100 listings and 30 cent insertion fee after I used the 100.  It sounded like a good deal so I subscribed to it.

Since doing that I made a small sale on Friday and haven't sold a single thing since.  I shipped 4 items on Saturday and this is the 1st Monday ever that I haven't had a single thing to get shipped.

I'm beginning to regret ever subscribing to the store.  It's strange that my sales stopped immediately after doing that.

[shoptalkid]

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@kattinsanity wrote:

I just looked and I don't have any subscriptions now, my store is down now and hopefully things will get better.  It's the last time I do this.

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Once I see more seller feedback on the starter store and my inventory is depleted, then I may consider downgrading to the starter store.   For now, I signed back up for the  month-to-month $27.95 basic store, because I can usually make up between  50-75% of the monthly store cost with the lower FVF.   So even if I had the starter store, my monthly invoice would maybe be  $8-$14 less than what I'm paying right now with a basic store.   And I get more listings, which I need to start using.     

[kattinsanity]

So~~my store finally closed late Friday afternoon.  In the 2 weeks I had the store I sold a total of 12 items~~7 the 1st week and 5 the 2nd week.

From Friday night until Monday afternoon I sold SIX items already.

In the 1st 3 days since closing my store I have sold HALF the number of items it took 2 weeks for me to sell with the "help" of having a store.  It clearly tells me that having the store is what killed my sales for that 2 weeks.

[irinahat]

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@kattinsanity wrote:

So~~my store finally closed late Friday afternoon.  In the 2 weeks I had the store I sold a total of 12 items~~7 the 1st week and 5 the 2nd week.

From Friday night until Monday afternoon I sold SIX items already.

In the 1st 3 days since closing my store I have sold HALF the number of items it took 2 weeks for me to sell with the "help" of having a store.  It clearly tells me that having the store is what killed my sales for that 2 weeks.

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May is typically EVERYONE'S slowest month. 

It's June 5th and from Friday - Monday, I sold 22 items in the first four days of June.

I DEFINITELY did not do this well over the course of the first four days of May this year.

What this clearly tells me is that May is what killed a lot of people's sales.

.... Which happens every year.

As I said, last year I had 500+ items listed and only managed to sell 23 items or so last May of 2017.

This year's May is looking a lot better - mainly because I have way more items listed and way more inventory - but sales DRASTICALLY picked up at the start of June this year.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

We would have to ask every buyer why they bought that item that day instead of two weeks before....but I do agree that your situation did prove that having the store did NOT help sales. And that's good enough reason to ditch the store as any! 

[shs5607]

I closed my store this month. Like you, no sales. Been selling for years. Also no Seller Protection on returns mislabeled as defective when reason was strictly buyer remorse.

[kattinsanity]

I subscribed to the store on the afternoon of 5/17.  Up until then I had made 25 sales so far in May.  From the 18th through the afternoon of June 1 when my store finally closed I made 12 sales.  From the time my store closed on Friday afternoon through Monday I made 6 sales.  That's proof enough for me that it wasn't that ebay was "slow"~~the store was the problem.

[herecometheplayas]

Do you have to switch to mobile friendly for each individual listing? Trying to figure out if they could all be done at once, since it would be beneath eBay to switch everyone over automatically

[kattinsanity]

On the 147 listings I had running at the same time I changed them one by one.  There may have been an easier way using ebay tools but I didn't know how to do it if it could have been done.  Since then, EVERY new listing I put up I have to do the same thing~~click to check if it's mobile friendly, click on "fix it" and then click on save.  Every new listing has to be "fixed".   It isn't automatic.

[herecometheplayas]

I didn't see a way to do them in bulk, either 😞 So what was supposed to be a free afternoon will be spent "fixing" my 225 listings. bleh

[kattinsanity]

Actually it goes pretty fast.  Just click on the "revise my item", click on  "mobile friendly", click on "fix it" and click on "save".  Then go down and  finish your revision.  Remember though~~that if you relist anything or list a new item you have to do the same thing to make it mobile friendly.

[abfabvintage]

@kattinsanity

@herecometheplayas

Hey, Kat: as you know, I don't use what I call ebay tools lol since I have my own 3rd party program. But If you email shipscript on the Active Content Board, I believe she knows the fastest way to do the bulk fix.  Good Luck.

[ifyouloveit]

Curious how in the long run you feel having a store is worth it? Everything I am reading here lately is suggesting having a store is a bad, bad, bad idea. It actually doesn't look like it makes a darned bit of difference if you have a store or no store.

What's the consensus on paying for a store if you are not a big volume seller? Why would anyone open a store in this current mess? Hoping it helps? Does it help? I am not reading anything here that is suggesting a store is worth the money.

[ymeagainlord]

If you've already made all your listings mobile froendly, why do you have to "fix" each one if you relist or use sell similar?

[castlemagicmemories]

I don't think you are alone in that conclusion.  I believe others have posted that, too.

[yuzuha]

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@ifyouloveit wrote:
Curious how in the long run you feel having a store is worth it? Everything I am reading here lately is suggesting having a store is a bad, bad, bad idea. It actually doesn't look like it makes a darned bit of difference if you have a store or no store.

What's the consensus on paying for a store if you are not a big volume seller? Why would anyone open a store in this current mess? Hoping it helps? Does it help? I am not reading anything here that is suggesting a store is worth the money.

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Basically, it boils down to two very simple questions: do you routinely have over 120 items listed?  That is the break-even point where it makes more sense to have a store than it does to pay for the listings individually.  And, do you sell more than $21 worth of merchandise per month to cover the store fee?  If the answer to both is 'yes,' then a store makes sense.

Having a store will NOT guarantee you more sales, however.  The only thing that will get you more sales is listing items that buyers want to buy at a price they want to pay.  If you're already selling well, then opening a store will probably boost your sales at least somewhat.  If you aren't, well, then it probably isn't worth it.