Does buying a starter store decrease customers?

[fredgsanford712]

About 2 weeks ago, I subscribed to a starter store.

My partner's mother has dementia and had to be put in an assisted living residence.

[For those wondering, this place is great.  At first I felt guilty for having to put her in there. But now I feel guilty that we waited so long.  These places are superb and take care of her so much better than we could.]

So I needed the listings to sell her estate to make money for her costs.

Prior, I had been having decent sales and likes as long as I kept listing and active on eBay.

Now that I have the store, it seems dead.
No sales.  Hardly any likes on items.

What gives?

I'm still keeping up the pace I did prior to subscribing to the store.
I'm not sure if there's something else I can be doing to draw interest. 
I hate to think I'm wasting money on this store if it will hinder more than help.

Thank you for any advice you can give me to increase my sasles.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Has NOTHING to do with you 'opening a store'. 

1st, no reason to do a 'store' unless you are planning on doing 'sales' or expect more than $2k in sales to offset Final Value Fees.

2nd- a 'store' is for those selling many items of the same genre; usually 'new' and usually 100's of these items. 

3rd- you are selling 'used old' stuff and/or random 'newer' or 'new' stuff, but not 10's of these 'new items' so your listings are just like a garage sale. The 'good stuff' goes first on Friday/Saturday and by Sunday nobody buys much of anything because all the 'good' stuff is gone. 

That is where you are at. 

Sometimes things just languish for weeks/months until the 'right buyer wanting that item' comes around. 

Something that interests 100 people vs. something that interests 2 people- see the difference?

[fern*wood]

Do you have lots more to get listed? If so, a basic store can save you lots in listing fees. What benefit were you hoping for with a starter store?  Opening a store should definitely not decrease your sales, it may not help either,  but it can save you money.

[jonathanbrightlight]

I have never seen any indication that opening a store has either a positive or negative effect on your sales. Being able to run sale events and issue coupons can, but not just whether you have subscribed to the store feature.

[bonanza125]

No! Opening up an Ebay store doesn't decrease sales. Pricing and demand decreases sales. Check your prices. Compare your prices to the exact item listed by other sellers and sold listings. A lot of people find that the price they are asking is much higher than what the item really sells for. Then check on demand. How many of that particular item has actually sold. If there are very low amount of items sold then the interest level and demand is low to none. Also factor in your return policy. You have no returns. A buyer may pick a seller which has a 30 day returns w/seller pays for shipping on items like what you are selling in compared to no returns. Opening a store helps you rack up listings to increase sales. The more you list the better chance of making sales. 

[inhawaii]

Answer: No

[tobaccocardyahoo]

250 items is not enough not to see hills and valleys in your sales.

2 bad weeks is not uncommon for that number of assorted single quantity collectible items.

[mamacassidy]

Not to sound crazy, but you might consider changing your prices from 6.66 to something else.

Personally, those numbers mean nothing to me. But in all my younger years working in retail, I can tell you that the number 666 freaks a bunch of people out. 

I see most of your prices are 6.66 or 11.11. I don't know if you did this because of some numerology thing or if you just thought those prices would stand out, but I have a feeling it's turning more people off than attracting them.

As far as a store goes, no, it doesn't hurt your sales. 

[mtgraves7984]

But in all my younger years working in retail, I can tell you that the number 666 freaks a bunch of people out.

@mamacassidy 👀

I was today years old when I realized that it freaks me out a little. I ticked to Watch an item, then saw the price. Glad to see OBO... 'cause I won't pay that $6.66. 😲 🤣

[sammiea1460]

I think you should redo some of your pictures. A few listings show extra items that a buyer could interpret as being included in the purchase regardless of title or description.

For example:

Ellen Tracy print purse with the dog figurine.

Cat mug with 2 stuffed animals on a chair.

[broto_64]

Some things that have helped me are listing "uniformity," like however you list one item, the rest follow the same format... So if I'm listing with 6 pictures, it's 6 pictures for every item I list... I do believe more is better when it comes to pictures.

[chapeau-noir]

---

@mamacassidy wrote:

Not to sound crazy, but you might consider changing your prices from 6.66 to something else.

Personally, those numbers mean nothing to me. But in all my younger years working in retail, I can tell you that the number 666 freaks a bunch of people out. 

---

Seriously - I used to do signups at the local bike races and no one would take the bib that said "666" on it. Some would take "13" and we had guys vying for "69", but not 666. 667 was OK - I guess they didn't mind being next door to The Beast. 

So yeah, change those prices!

[reallynicestamps]

And if you do-- make it $9.99 . 

Then add Best Offer with an automatic Reject at $6.67. 

You will not see any offers that are automatically Rejected. 

You can Accept any Offers that are not-- Actually you can set an automatic Accept at $6.68 and only see sales. 

And those sales will be for at least $6.68, many higher. 

Many of those sales will still be at $9.99. 

Others will be lower but all will be higher than the $6.66 you are asking now. 

[mam98031]

If you are going to be listing around 300+ listings a month, you need to Upgrade to a Basic Store.  It will pay for itself since you won't have any listing fees for what you post over 250 listings.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/store-fees?id=4809

[reallynicestamps]

I'd also suggest that you remove the note about location from the description.

Telling the customer that the crocodile purse is being kept in the water closet (toilet) is not a Good Thing. 

And the customer either does not care that your mother is in assisted living or assumes it is just another sob story . Not a selling point.