Store or No Store * What are Benefits and Pitfalls
Store or No Store * What are Benefits and Pitfalls
I have 2 sites with nearly 4000 items
Do store save money if re-listing required?
What are re-listing costs compared to non-store listings?
Do I find a wider market with a store?
Can I transfer all 4000 items to a store ?
What can I learn?
Thank you
Terry / Morgan
22 comments
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoAlthough it may seem trivial, that $25 quarterly credit on Ebay Shipping Supplies can lead to an increased professionalism in packaging, which helps feed repeat business.
The ability to create your own store categories promotes selections to feed your repeat buyers, including placing "goes with", likely extensions of a collection in the same category. Once you have repeat buyers checking your stores, you can attempt to broaden their collections subtly.
It requires minimal care and feeding, pays for itself, and offers another outlet for merchandising,
tdl_collectibles
·2 years agoMight have missed it in the replies but there is no automatic transfer for listings. You'd need to use a third party resource like Inkfrog to backup the listings with all photos then move between usernames. You'd have to use their $30.00 a month option I think and then you can do a one-time transfer to your one large store, and then just cancel Inkfrog after that.
brightlightbookseller
·2 years agoThey're not talking about creating a new user account, only a store, which doesn't require anything to "transfer" listings. If you open a store with your current username, all your listings will automatically appear in your storefront.
fern*wood
·2 years agoI'm going to keep it simple. For me, it's all in the math. Based on your number of listings, I can't believe you don't have a store subscription. What are you spending each month on listing fees? I spend only ~$22. a month for my listings with my yearly subscription. I can think of no pitfalls right off the top of my head, unless I wanted to quickly quit and I'm locked in to a year. If that's a fear, just subscribe to the monthly fee.
morgan1889cc
OP2 years agoSpent over S4K last year in fees, what a relief a store will be
Thank you
Terry
fern*wood
·2 years agoKeep in mind I was talking about listing fees, not final value fees. A store will lower FVFs slightly, but not by much. Are you saying you paid 4K in listing fees?
movieman630
·2 years agoI've had a store for over 14 years and I love it.
It's good for you if:
If you have a very large inventory.
You post new stuff weekly.
You sell stuff that isn't over saturated with competition.
You have the best prices for your items.
You research your competition regularly to bolster your sales.
You DO NOT DROP SHIP.
You're planning on doing this long term as a business (ie: your not just cleaning out your attic).
You have time to manage your ebay business daily.
In my opinion if you can say the above things it's worth it for you. If your just going to post things that are common with outrageous prices it's not going to be worth your time.
morgan1889cc
OP2 years agoI thank you
I have been selling since 90's and wish we had this then
Take care
Terry
richard1rst
·2 years agoself deleted
morgan1889cc
OP2 years agoI appreciate your thoughts and feedback
Terry
ten_o_nine
·2 years agoStore or No Store * What are Benefits and Pitfalls
***********************************************************
Benefits:
* Lower fees on listings and sales
* Centralized management of listings and inventory
* Customizable store design and branding
* Ability to offer fixed-price listings and auction style
* Enhanced visibility and search engine optimization (SEO)
* Increased credibility and trust with buyers
* Ability to offer promotions and discounts
Pitfalls:
* Higher upfront costs for the store subscription
* Additional time and effort required to manage and maintain the store
* Risk of low sales volume, which can offset the benefits of lower fees
* Limited flexibility in terms of design options
Whether or not to have an eBay store depends on your individual selling goals, volume, and strategy.
mam98031
·2 years agoInteresting Post. I'm unsure this is completely accurate.
Starter stores do not have lower FVFs. Basic and above do.
You can centrally manage listings in the Seller Hub too without a store
You don't need a store to offer both Fixed price listings and auction style listings.
IDK about increased credibility and trust with buyers. That is a new one on me.
Other Benefits not mentioned
Increased number of Free listings depending on which store level chosen.
A coupon to apply towards Ebay branded shipping supplies.
If I missed anything important, I'm sorry.
With the pitfalls, the upfront fees on a store is normally made up easily by the listing fees made and the reduction in the FVFs.
I spend no extra time managing my store / listings than I would if I didn't have a store.
Why is there a risk of low sales volume because someone has a store? How is that a risk associated with having a store? Or are you just talking about a general risk not associated with having a store? Then that would not be a pitfall of having a store.
Limited in design options of listings or the store?
morgan1889cc
OP2 years agothank you for all those thoughts and information
Take care
Terry
morgan1889cc
OP2 years agoI appreciate your thoughts and feedback
Thank you
Terry
slippinjimmy
·2 years agoIf you are listing thousands of item with a non-store account you must be paying a LOT of listing fees. Having a Store won't eliminate listing costs but it will reduce them dramatically.
Things to look for when reading the links @mtgraves7984 posted.....
A basic store includes 1000 fixed price listings PLUS 10,000 more free in select Categories, I think you are listing some/most of your listings in the eligible Categories.
A basic store also includes 250 Auction format listing.
In some Categories there are reduced Final Value Fee for Stores, some are the same as non-store, none will ever be more with a Store.
You need to figure out if a Basic Store will work for you or if you need to move up to a Premium Store.
It's almost certain that you will save money as long as you don't sign up for a Store which includes more listings than you currently need (you can always move up a level, even if you are subscribed to the 12 month plan).
I suggest that if you give a Store a test you should start with a month to month subscription, a 12 month subscription is cheaper but there would be a penalty ($$$) if you want to get out before the 12 months is up.
Stores have other features that may or may not be useful for you, mostly related to marketing, when I had a store I didn't use the other features much at all but many sellers do take advantage of these intangibles.
slippinjimmy
·2 years ago@morgan1889cc
Forgot to mention......when you subscribe to a Store your current listings appear there instantly, you don't need to do anything although you might want to set up custom categories and then assign them to your listings (the default is to use standard eBay categories).
morgan1889cc
OP2 years agoThank you Mr. Jimmy, very thorough and complete
pjcdn2005
·2 years ago"In some Categories there are reduced Final Value Fee for Stores, some are the same as non-store, none will ever be more with a Store."
---------
IF I am remembering correctly, when you open a store you receive the reduced final value fees on current listings once the listing renews, not immediately. Can anyone confirm or deny that? It's been a while since I heard that so it could be wrong.
brightlightbookseller
·2 years agoI don't see anything in eBay's help pages that states that, but it wouldn't surprise me.
pjcdn2005
·2 years agoI couldn't find anything about it either. It's possible that they did that when I opened a store in about 2006. That was a long time ago so it has likely changed.
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoThat's my reading, too. The stores TOS states that the FVF rate for any listing is determined when the listing goes live, or when it rolls over.
http://pages.ebay.com/stores/subscriptionterms.html
IMHO this seller should sign up for a month-to-month Basic store subscription ASAP.
mtgraves7984
·2 years ago@morgan1889cc
Here's some good reading for starters. Good luck with your future endeavors!
eBay Stores overview | eBay
Open an eBay Store | eBay
Store selling fees | eBay