new store owner question

[laska571]

Hi, 

I am kinda confused and need help. 

I am selling from my personal account (no store) and decided to open starter store because noticed ebay charged me insertion fees (even though I had a 250 listing promo but have currently only 153 items listed). So, after I bought a starter package I noticed all my listings from personal account migrated to my starter store which means I can add only about 97 listing, not 250 as I expected with the new store opening. 

So now I am thinking if opening new ebay account is a better idea to have 250 no insertion fee listing there and 250 in my old personal account (no store). Please help me to understand if I am right.

[shipscript]

@laska571 

When eBay provides 250 free insertions per month, keep in mind that a fixed price listing renews every 30 days, so you can have 250 active listings that run the entire month.  Auctions run for 7 days. That means you can use up your 250 insertions in only 7 days, and if you relist them all, that could mean that you are using 1000 insertions for the month for the same items.  eBay counts actual insertions  (new listing, relist, sell similar), not the maximum number of listings running at any moment.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/listing-tips/free-listings?id=4163

Now, theoretically, when eBay automatically renewed auctions as part of a startup plan, those forced auto-renewed auctions did not count against the free insertion limit. I don't know if eBay eliminated the plan, but anyone who has been on eBay as long as you have is not likely to be in one of those promotions.

The Starter store fees are the same as no store.  The benefits begin with a Basic store. I had also thought that the store would restart your insertions for the month, but apparently not, and it would have been only a one-time benefit.

Maintaining 2 or 3 accounts might get you below the free insertion limit if you correctly calculate the number of insertions each month and don't really plan on any growth.  But then you will have the headache of maintaining multiple accounts (I have a handful - and it can be a handful of effort).

Right now, there is no cost benefit for opening a Starter store because you don't get extra free insertions, and are simply increasing your monthly costs. You will need to do your own math to detemine whether the cost of upgrading from a Starter to a Basic store offsets your current insertion fees; or whether abandoning the store and simply paying the excess insertions, or reverting to multiple accounts to avoid insertions, makes more sense.

[laska571]

Thank you so much for so informative and thorough explanation! You opened my eyes for some things 🙂 

You said "Auctions run for 7 days" but there is an option to increase to 10 days, so I think it will be better choice to extent time of relisting/ number of insertions. 

If there is no other benefits (cost wise) besides having a store name and link to it I think then in my case I think I will create new ebay account. I assume it is ok to attach it to the same bank account and PayPal but not sure if new e-mail will be needed or I can create under the same one. 

Thank you again!

[shipscript]

@laska571 

Without a store, your excess insertions cost 35 cents each.

With a Starter store, your excess insertions cost 30 cents each.

The final value fees on a Starter store are the same as those for no store.

So right now, you do get a small break on insertions that exceed your 250 free insertions, and the Starter store fee pays its own way when compared to the excess insertion fees you had been paying without a store.

If you choose to close your store at the end of the subscription period (which will not affect your current listings or seller account) and open a second account, you can probably get all free insertions if you calculate and plan carefully.

Each eBay account requires its own unique email. You can link the same bank account to multiple eBay accounts.