eBay

shaden809 · ‎07-08-2017

I have a lot of fabrics and I have been listing my 50 free fixed price listings almost every month this year. I am considering opening a store, but I would welcome some input as to whether it is worth my time and expense.

Thank you for your advice

tellmemama · ‎07-08-2017

It depends on a few things. How much inventory do you have? And do you have low selling limits? If you can only list a few hundred dollars worth of stuff a month, a store won't work for you. If you don't have at least 200 different fabrics to list, it probably wouldn't be worth it either.

That said, I prefer to look at it this way: if you are consistently listing a considerable amount of stuff every month, it's kinda stupid not to have at least a basic store. When all is said and done, you are paying $24.95 for a monthly subscription which works out to about a penny a listing (not including the extra 250 auction format listings in several eligible categories). This doesn't even take into account the vacation setting, markdown manager, or the $25 quarterly coupon for eBay shipping supplies.

I was always dead set against having a store. Then I did a little math.

Joe

ersatz_sobriquet · ‎07-08-2017

I say go for it. Fabrics aren't that often a good auction item unless you have the hottest mid century modern ever. But even if you did have loads of that fabric, some store owners still only run auctions for the final value fee reduction too, at 9.15% I think in your category.

As long as you are ready to ramp up your listings to 250-300 a month, there's that committment to make the math worthwhile.

knode89 · ‎07-08-2017

The first question is. Are you making at least $40 or more a month from your 50 free listings? Because you need to first decide if you are making enough with what you currently are doing to pay for the store in the first place. If you are not selling much currently, a store is not going to increase your sales any. So think about it along that line first.

rschissler · ‎07-08-2017

What's your sell through rate based on those 50 listings per month? That should give you your answer.

ersatz_sobriquet · ‎07-08-2017

@knode89 wrote:
The first question is. Are you making at least $40 or more a month from your 50 free listings? Because you need to first decide if you are making enough with what you currently are doing to pay for the store in the first place. If you are not selling much currently, a store is not going to increase your sales any. So think about it along that line first.

That's true--the items still have to be desirable enough to sell in a reasonable time. I would say a lot more than $40 a month....we're not here to earn below peasant wages.

uncseniorsportsfan · ‎07-08-2017

Unless you are only paying $1 per yard for your inventory - I don't think your margins are high enough to support a store and free shipping, too.

I've sold fabric from time to time on my other account. If I pay $2 per yard (my max) - I would have to sell two yards for at least for $12.00 plus $3.99-$4.99 shipping to make an acceptable profit. At your $14.00 for 2 yds with free shipping - my per yard cost would have to be no more than $1 per yd. I couldn't support a store subscription only on fabric without an available inventory of 500 yards and at least 35 sales of $12 or more plus shipping every month.

While it's true that if you list 250 items each month - a basic store subscription equals 10 cents per listing - but if you only sell 25 items that equals $1.00 per listing for each item sold plus final value fees. In my experience for a store to be worth it at an item price point in the $10-$20 range - I have to sell at least $400 plus shipping.

JMHO

luckythewinner · ‎07-08-2017

@shaden809 wrote:
I have a lot of fabrics and I have been listing my 50 free fixed price listings almost every month this year. I am considering opening a store, but I would welcome some input as to whether it is worth my time and expense.

To me, the most important factor would be whether the fabrics you have been listing reach month have been selling and if so what your profit margin was.

Whether it makes sense to open a store is pretty much a math equation, and that math requires numbers that only you know.

susansweatersandsewing · ‎07-08-2017

I agree that it is a math question. I was thinking of switching to a basic store so that I could print cards and people could click right into my store. I then relized that the amount that I was paying if fees per year was about half of the yearly price for a basic store. I would have to sell at least twice as much maybe a bit more to make it worth it for a store. Since my items are hand made I would have to be able to make twice as many of them. I decided that it probably would not work for me. I think that the advice of several of the people posting here is good advise. It comes down to wether you would really sell more.

reallynicestamps · ‎07-08-2017

For your costs you could look here:

http://www.fees.ebay.ca/feeweb/feeillustrator

I don't quite understand why posters are mentioning auctions.

Over 80% of transactions are now Fixed Price.

You can list 50 free Fixed Price auctions every month. And if you make them 30 Day/Good Til Cancelled you get 23 more days of visibility than with a seven day auction at less cost (because; less labour).

I agree that you should have at least 50 unique listings before opening a Store.

And look at your listings on a mobile.

With Fixed Price you are targetting the impulse buyer who is younger and more likely to be shopping on her phone.

You may or may not like what your listings look like on the phone.

BTW- list on a desktop or laptop, much easier and faster, but design the listings for the mobile customer.

Is there any reason you don't mention what kind of fabrc you are selling in your titles? Cotton? Chino? Linen? Silk? Poly Blend?

llllady · ‎07-09-2017

@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:
@knode89 wrote:
The first question is. Are you making at least $40 or more a month from your 50 free listings? Because you need to first decide if you are making enough with what you currently are doing to pay for the store in the first place. If you are not selling much currently, a store is not going to increase your sales any. So think about it along that line first.
That's true--the items still have to be desirable enough to sell in a reasonable time. I would say a lot more than $40 a month....we're not here to earn below peasant wages.

I must have missed that memo. 😉

“It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent” ― Madeleine K. Albright

Great! 45.8% down over the same time last year with 2x+ items listed. Are you impressed? I'm certainly not!

duncanvr · ‎07-09-2017

Open a basic store get onto ebay UK and use 1500 free Buy it now fixed price listings a month, your items are still seen world wide

papermoneyforme · ‎07-09-2017

@tellmemama wrote:
It depends on a few things. How much inventory do you have? And do you have low selling limits? If you can only list a few hundred dollars worth of stuff a month, a store won't work for you. If you don't have at least 200 different fabrics to list, it probably wouldn't be worth it either.

That said, I prefer to look at it this way: if you are consistently listing a considerable amount of stuff every month, it's kinda stupid not to have at least a basic store. When all is said and done, you are paying $24.95 for a monthly subscription which works out to about a penny a listing (not including the extra 250 auction format listings in several eligible categories). This doesn't even take into account the vacation setting, markdown manager, or the $25 quarterly coupon for eBay shipping supplies.

I was always dead set against having a store. Then I did a little math.

It is actually about 10¢ per lisring for 250 fixed price.

papermoneyforme · ‎07-09-2017

@duncanvr wrote:
Open a basic store get onto ebay UK and use 1500 free Buy it now fixed price listings a month, your items are still seen world wide

Where are you getting your information from? Here is the UK store information and you would have to list on a whole lot of other sites to get that, if you ever do.

Basic store gets you 250 fixed price listings.

http://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/business/news/spring2017/fees-update