Is it worth me to commit to a Premium seller account?
I looking for some unbiased, honest feedback. To help provide the proper information, below is much more details on my current selling status. And if you read to the end, I'm hoping you may also be willing to share any advice.
I currently don't have a store. I sell only movies (DVDs, Blu Rays). To skirt around the fees, many of my listings are "build a bundle" with up to 250 variations each. This allows customers to pick-n-choose and allows me to offer some significant discounts -- on most of my bundle listings I offer 40% when purchasing 4+. I also offer significant shipping discounts. For most, I charge only $3.90 on the 1st item and 50¢ for each additional item. I typically only sell items individually that are unique (don't fit into one of my bundles) or most pricey (typically, $10+). My listings tend to cater to bargain hunters as buyers may need to search thru nearly 250 movies to find the one they're looking for. But those that are willing to search thru typically find and order more movies this way. So, there's several pros and cons to consider.
By selling most of my movies thru a "build a bundle" model has allowed me to stay under the 250 monthly listings threshold to save on listing fees. This has also allowed me to list an inventory of nearly 20,000 total items.
After building up inventory, I've managed to increase my weekly sales consistently over the past 3 years. However, in mid-February my impressions and page views took an unexpected and unwarranted nosedive. Even adding more inventory and lowering prices -- which typically boost my sales -- I continued to see a steady decline and has remained around 50% in impressions, pageview and sales since prior to February.
I still sell a large amount of movies, averaging around 40-50 orders per week, and 250-300 total items per week. Overall, I've sold 37K movies and have 838 followers. Here's my user page to see my info -- https://www.ebay.com/usr/jay_2_the_kay
My assumption was eBay doesn't care for sellers that skirt around their fees by using bundle-type listings and they updated whatever algorithm to lessen the impressions I was previously receiving. I've had no luck with eBay in trying to figure the reason for the immediate and steep decline, but I can assure you it wasn't something that changed on my end.
With my inventory, I have nearly 10,000 unique DVD or Blu Ray titles.
This means I would require a Premium account. $720/yr is a huge cost and commitment. And having to relist 10,000 items would take months of effort.
With DVDs so common and competitive, this also means I will need to continue to be ultra competitive on price. My concern is that a new (non-bundle) pricing model will have a major impact on my revenue, so I'm not sure what type of potential sales lift would occur. eBay is also vague on what types of promotions I can run, or how many different promotions I could run simultaneously.
Given my situation, and the unknowns, I'm reluctatns to take on a $720/yr Premium account. It should increase my sales, but likely not enough to warrant the additional time, effort and commitment. Do you have any advice or experience to help convince me to take a big leap with my eBay business?
Appreciate any insights to help me decide. Thank you!
baydealz
·2 years ago"My assumption was eBay doesn't care for sellers..." 'nuff said. It shouldn't be seen as 'skirting,' they should be enabling. If they truly offered an option with better value, they wouldn't need to limit you otherwise. ebay wants everything both ways, they are like a government or something who will continuously find ways to get their buck, whether they offer no value or not.
Nice analysis, but I think risk mitigation is the name here, and bringing on extra fees has 100% new cost, but with marginal benefit. $60/mo, how much profit are you generating monthly? What, 1200 items/mo? So $0.20/item, advertising cost? Which may go down with increased volume?
I hate fixed costs, but you may have the volume to support it, and may increase sales. But I'm not a store owner. It may aid in branding as well. I just find it difficult thinking there is much margin or volume on those. It's probably valid wit those volumes and no lengthy contract, to test it out at least.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoInstead of abusing the variation option, you should be listing them separately, since they are different items, not variations.
I think you would have a better chance of buyers finding your items if they were listed separately.
You have 1 listing with 250 items for a buyer to search through which is a PITA.
If you had a movie I was looking for, probably none of your variation listings would come up in a search and if a listing did, I sure wouldn't set there and scroll through 250 items just to see if you had the movie.
With all the lower priced items, that $750 would sure take a big bite out of any profits and there's no guarantee it would help sales any.
jay_2_the_kay
OP2 years agoThe "build a bundle" listings I'm referring to our listing where I may have up to 250 different movies to choose from in the same listing.
golfingaddict
·2 years agoThose are not typical variation listings.
As you stated "skirting around the fees"
What is the variation? A totally different dvd?
jay_2_the_kay
OP2 years agoThe "build a bundle" listings I'm referring to our listing where I may have up to 250 different movies to choose from in the same listing.
golfingaddict
·2 years agoThere are several levels of stores. Have you read the benefits of each one?
Choose your subscription level (ebay.com)
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoI am happy paying $21.95 for a monthly fee...selling a few thousand items.
I just don't have the time time to list and list...but have a lot of items to lists.
I actually love a day I have nothing to ship out...doesn't happen often.
And the money you save use for promoted listings.
If you don't clear a thousand a month on sales it will not be worth it.
jay_2_the_kay
OP2 years agoThings have slowed down a lot since mid-February, but I average more than $500/week for my net payout the way I'm selling today. I guess my break-even would be netting an additional $14 in sales per week... but I'm worried that my sales would decline in additional to 100 hrs+ to relist everything.
chevymontecarlo88
·2 years agoJust a FYI you can get 10,000 free listings on your DVD listings under a basic store subscription or monthly fee.
jay_2_the_kay
OP2 years agoThe "Basic" option it says I get 1,000 free fixed price insertion per month, and anything over 1,000 I'm charged the $0.25 price insertion charge. Without a suscription, I'm currently getting 250 free insertion/month and charged $0.30 per additional insertion -- which is the same a the "Starter" option.
So... if I have 10,000 items listed, I would be charged monthly for the 9,00 listings. That's $2,250 in insertion fees per month, which adds up to $27K in insertion fees over 1 year. (Yikes!)
Am I misunderstanding? Or did you mean to note 1,000 instead of 10,000?
chevymontecarlo88
·2 years agoCertain categories including movies have an additional 10,000 fixed listings.
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoYes, you are misunderstanding. A store with a Basic subscription gets 10,000 extra free insertions in "select" categories including all 3 that you list in: Movies & TV, Books & Magazines, and Music.
So you can list 11,000 items and only pay for a Basic subscription. I strongly recommend that you try it out as a month-to-month subscription before committing to an annual subscription, which would have a significant "early termination fee" if you change your mind.