Free insertion fees

[blufin-912]

Hello,

near the end of July I subscribed to a basic starter store as I was starting to pay insertion fees. This month, I only ave 250 free insertion for my basic starter store. I did not receive the 250 free insertion fees offered to everyone. Is my thinking wrong?  I understood that I would receive 250 free insertions fees offered to everyone and an additional 250 for subscribing to a basic store. I am now paying insertion fees….again!  

[fern*wood]

No, you don't get both. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

Sellers who don't have a store get 250 free insertions.

Sellers who have a Starter store subscription get 250 free insertions.  

You don't get 500 free insertions; you only get the Starter store allotment.

There is a higher level of store subscription called "Basic" which gets more free insertions.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

A starter store is pretty much worthless. It's for those who want to have a "store" with only marketing benefits and no express financial benefits. (You're effectively wasting money right now...)

A basic store (and above) works for those seeking to take benefit from the greater number of listing insertions, FVF discounts on select categories, $25 free shipping supplies coupon each quarter, and marketing of a store.

A basic store costs $27.99/month. One simple calculation is, how much does a listing insertion fee cost after your 250th insertion (transitioning from free to paid) and and how many listings to you have to have listed each month for the store to pay for itself (How many listing insertion fees = $27.99/mo, and how many do you plan to list, and will you save money). Also, factor in the potential FVF discounts by category, shipping supplies discount, and store marketing. I do coins, my FVF discount is significant, from 12.9% --> 8.8% (and 7% on bullion). Mine was a no brainer.

[blufin-912]

ThAnk you all for replying.  I did find this sentence in the section that describes zero fee insertions. 

Insertion fees

All sellers get a monthly allocation of zero insertion fee listings. When you have an eBay Store subscription, you get more zero insertion fee listings per month than sellers who don't have a Store

so, if I was getting 250 without a store this sentence leads me to believe I should get more than 250. 

[chapeau-noir]

eBay's 'help' pages are not always very well written.

Upgrade to Basic if you want more listings and features.  I have a starter store but it's because I need the bit of branding as people tend to bookmark my store (niche seller) and shop there and have for years (I used to be full time and had a premium store) - for $5/month its a cheap investment, but it doesn't give me more listings - it's bare bones.

[nobody*s_perfect]

---

@blufin-912 wrote:

ThAnk you all for replying.  I did find this sentence in the section that describes zero fee insertions. 

Insertion fees

All sellers get a monthly allocation of zero insertion fee listings. When you have an eBay Store subscription, you get more zero insertion fee listings per month than sellers who don't have a Store

so, if I was getting 250 without a store this sentence leads me to believe I should get more than 250. 

---

Yes, that is misleading.  They probably just failed to update it the last time there was an adjustment in the number of free insertions.  IIRC when the Starter store was introduced, non-stores were getting 200 free insertions per month, so the 250 for Starter stores was more.

[reallynicestamps]

When the number of free insertions for non-Store members was raised to 250, the Starter Store probably should have been dropped.

I suppose there were too many Starter Store subscribers to make that feasible. Plus eBay gets $8 a month from them and all they get is slightly lower FVF and a coupon for shipping supplies.

If you need more than 250 listings a month, you will have to upgrade to a Basic Store.

If you feel adventurous, you can have another completely 1000 free listings on eBay Canada with a Basic Store. (2000 free listings for the price of 1000)

You will have to ship to Canada.

You cannot use the GSP.

You will be listing in loonies (Canadian dollars).

You will be using Flat Rate Shipping.

But  your items will be seen on both sites and you will still be using your US location.

You can also do this without any Store, giving you 500 completely free listings.

While Canadian sellers do this as a matter of course, US sellers have been slow to take advantage.

[nobody*s_perfect]

---

@reallynicestamps wrote:

When the number of free insertions for non-Store members was raised to 250, the Starter Store probably should have been dropped.

I suppose there were too many Starter Store subscribers to make that feasible. Plus eBay gets $8 a month from them and all they get is slightly lower FVF and a coupon for shipping supplies.....

---

Last time I compared the charts, Starter stores paid the same FVFs as non-stores. They still have a separate rates chart on the Help page about store rates, so apparently they still have higher rates than other stores, but I'm not in the mood to compare them against the non-store rates again.

Starter stores do not get a supplies coupon.

Non-store: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822

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

[reallynicestamps]

Those 250 Starter Store listings are not free.

You pay $8 a month for them.

If, like many SS subscribers you used only 200 each would cost you 4c each. If you used only 100 each would cost you 8c apiece. Less than the 251st non-store listing, but still.

Same with Basic Stores. At $28 a month you pay 2.8c each if you use them all, more for each one if you don't.

I probably have the rates mixed up. I registered in Canada and pay those rates instead. But the math is probably correct.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

@reallynicestamps 

Maybe I am missing something... but what you just said doesn't make any sense. You are talking about the 250 starter store listings. There are no starter store listings. Starter stores are given no more listing insertions than non stores? So your $8 doesn't pay for 250 listing insertions if they are 250 listing insertions you ALREADY had free prior to the store. You are paying $8 for a store, but have gained 0 free/paid insertions?...

Again, maybe I'm missing something, but several of us already stated starter store gets no extra insertions.

[janet9988]

---

@blufin-912 wrote:

ThAnk you all for replying.  I did find this sentence in the section that describes zero fee insertions. 

Insertion fees

All sellers get a monthly allocation of zero insertion fee listings. When you have an eBay Store subscription, you get more zero insertion fee listings per month than sellers who don't have a Store

so, if I was getting 250 without a store this sentence leads me to believe I should get more than 250. 

---

It is very deceiving.

[stuff4divas]

---

@blufin-912 wrote:

ThAnk you all for replying.  I did find this sentence in the section that describes zero fee insertions. 

Insertion fees

All sellers get a monthly allocation of zero insertion fee listings. When you have an eBay Store subscription, you get more zero insertion fee listings per month than sellers who don't have a Store

so, if I was getting 250 without a store this sentence leads me to believe I should get more than 250. 

---

we only get more free listings starting with a basic store, here is the link>

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

[reallynicestamps]

@ajs_coins_and_alchemy 

Without any Store, a member has 250 Free Listings. At no cost.

With a Starter Store, a member pays $8 a month for 250 listings. There are no free listings involved because the non-Store 250 are not part of that subscription.

The Starter Store subscriber can only list 250 items before being charged 35c per listing for any exceeding the subscription 250.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

@reallynicestamps 

Okay. If you have 250 free insertions with no store. And you have 250 "(additional) fee-less" insertions with a store. You are NOT PAYING for those insertions. I understand your math, but your premise is flawed.

No one is paying $8 for a starter store to get 250 listings. They had 250 listings to begin with. If these 250 come from here or there is irrelevant. The $8 paid should never be described as "for 250 listings" it should be described as for having a store for marketing purposes. 

Otherwise you're telling me someone is paying money for something they had to begin with and that, sorry, is the most nonsensical argument ever.

You pay $8/month. Your number of listings available to you (w/o extra individual listing charge) does NOT change. That insinuates you are NOT paying for those listings. Otherwise, WHY would you pay for something you had to begin with. 

LOOK AT WHAT CHANGES. THAT IS WHAT YOU PAY FOR. # OF LISTINGS DOESNT CHANGE.