NO BENEFITS FOR STARTER STORE

[pinkyflor]

I got very excited when I got the 2021 Spring Seller update, then I saw the tittle “ zero insertion fee allotment increase”  I thought I would have the opportunity to be able to sell more things without paying the fee, then when I finished reading I was VERY disappointed, I have the starter store,  but this one will not be able to enjoy any free increase . WHY????? this is not fair!!!! Why this store was not considered for a moderate increase in listings ??? An increase of 40 or 50 listings would be a great support for small sellers. Now I wonder ..... why should I pay for a starter store? According to the spring seller updated, starting April 1 all sellers will receive 250 free auction + fixed price listings, which is exactly the same amount as what a starter store gets without paying the subscription fee. Not fair ☹️

[slippinjimmy]

It's pretty clear that eBay would not mind phasing out the Starter Store, in terms of pricing it was always a bit pointless and now it's totally pointless.

On the other hand it's still a low cost way to get the less tangible benefits that come with a Store.

Looks to me like eBay knows they will be losing Store Subscribers and they have already seen a reduction in Store level subscriptions, I know of a couple of sellers who have downgraded from Anchor because of the free listing that eBay has handed out over the past year.

Keep in mind the Seller Update also includes a "small" increase in FVF's across the board, that should balance the revenue loss from Store subscriptions.

[rangers2337]

I am upset because they changed the listing terms. I was only in the anchor store to get the free listings. Now the store level below has enough to cover me. Pretty much ebay is making me waste 240 a month because I am stuck in a contract. They should let us change without a fee because they changed what is in each store and that is what is most unfair. Putting sellers in a contract and changing the terms in mid contract and not letting us out. 

[shado-x]

Why this store was not considered for a moderate increase in listings ??? An increase of 40 or 50 listings would be a great support for small sellers. Now I wonder ..... why should I pay for a starter store?

Before the pandemic, The Starter Store provided only 50 listings more than without.  Originally those without stores were allowed only 50 free listings per month, but numerous times eBay provided some bonus listing promos.  The Starter Store would give only 100 free listings.  I received a promotion for 2 free months for Starter when I began with a Store, then commited for a year for $4.99/mo.  When the pan[ic]demic came, eBay increased it to 250 and added a couple of perks if one joined managed payments ("MP").  The Starter Store today is designed so that you use the software provided to grow your business with the placement of having a store.  Once you feel the need to go another step up, go for the Basic Store which is more costly ($21.99/mo per 1 year commitment), but the benefits and savings come back----especially if you have more to sell and require a bit of time to get items sold.  With a Starter Store, if you feel the need to push sales revenues higher, you can upgrade your store to Basic.

So really, getting 250 from 100 is more than fair.

[dhbookds]

@rangers2337 

You're NOT stuck in a contract............at least until 4/30.....you can downgrade according to one of the blues on the update board.  There  2 threads about it, but where in all this mess is questionable........Call Concierge.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

You don't provide any information about your business model, but one thing to consider before going from Starter Store to No Store is that if you list more than the allotted free listings, with a starter store you will pay 30 cents for each additional listing, and for a Non-store, it is 35 cents. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong). Also, you lose the store landing page and so forth and the promotions manager benefits

As I say, I don't know anything about your particular business, so this may or may not matter to you, I don't know. Just something to consider.

[dhbookds]

@rangers2337 

be sure to use your shipping coupon before you downgrade.........

[pinkyflor]

It is good that you see it that way, for me it is unfair that the listings for some stores increase for others not. I have inventory but not enough sales to pay 21.99 a month for a basic store. Good luck with your store and thank you for your opinion.

[luckythewinner]

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@pinkyflor wrote:

NO BENEFITS FOR STARTER STORE

There are no free listing benefits to a starter store.

The benefits of a starter store are 30 cent insertions (as opposed to 35 cents), and the ability to create a storefront and brand yourself.

So there are benefits, but whether those benefits matter to you is another question altogether. 

[farmalljr]

In February alone you had 11 sales that were over a $21 average. Over three months you have had 50 sales. That's over 16 sales each month average. 

You are making enough money in sales, to pay for a store, IF you wanted to. Having a bigger store also comes with more perks, that you could make use of IF you wanted to grow your business. For 17 dollars more a month, you would have the opportunity to grow your business by leaps and bounds. Instead of looking at how you can do better and grow more, you are complaining because you didn't get more of something for free. 

Here is something to think about. If YOU were eBay, would you really want to waste your time/efforts with really puny sellers, who were just looking to sell the occasional closet clean out, the shade tree dollar, or would you spend the effort with sellers who are growing your platform, working hard to bring larger amounts of inventory to your hungry buyers?

Over the last year, I have gained the ability to list 59,000 more items. I intend to make use of as many of those as I possibly can. 

A Basic store is really a store that the owner, is not going to put large amounts of effort into. By that I mean, they do not envision generally, it being a full time job or income. Some do, but most do not. They are here to sell, but usually not 50k or more in sales. 

Premium store people are generally the solo operator striving for 50k-100k or more in sales.

Anchor stores are the people with employees looking for at least 250K to 1 Mil+ in sales. 

Enterprise stores are corporations, like best buy.

Starter store people? Yard sale type people. Not a serious effort to move much merchandise. AKA not even on eBay's radar. The fees from these type of sellers is so insignificant, this is why you aren't getting "more" for "free". 

I'm listing at least 20 items a day, or 600+ items a month. I AM insignificant to eBay, so why would a starter store even get a sneer from eBay?

None of that was meant to be a punch in the face or rude. But I certainly hope sellers don't think their tiny store means anything to anyone but themselves and their buyers. If you want more, you have to pay to play and work for it. If you have the inventory, then bump up your store so your inventory has the opportunity to sell (if it's not listed, it's not going to sell). Do month to month without a contract if you are not sure it's right for you. You'll pay more, but at least you can walk away if it's not working for you. Instead of complaining, work on the solution. No one is going to take care of YOU better than YOU. List until your fingers bleed and enjoy the fruits of your efforts in time. 

[chapeau-noir]

Oh, we humble starter store people!  We may be po' but we're proud.

Another benefit to the starter store is having a coherent set of listings rather than listings scattered randomly around the site.  I have more than a few buyers (and repeat customers) who actually like to shop inside my store, and I have at least a small presence to direct people to when I hand out a business card. So there is that, too.

I don't need more free listings - I only run about 150 items anymore, but I do think tossing us even a few more freebies with our store subscription would keep those $5 monthly payments coming into eBay.

[tdrake]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

Oh, we humble starter store people!  We may be po' but we're proud.

Another benefit to the starter store is having a coherent set of listings rather than listings scattered randomly around the site.  I have more than a few buyers (and repeat customers) who actually like to shop inside my store, and I have at least a small presence to direct people to when I hand out a business card. So there is that, too.

I don't need more free listings - I only run about 150 items anymore, but I do think tossing us even a few more freebies with our store subscription would keep those $5 monthly payments coming into eBay.

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Yes, that.    I have a starter store, only on this ID, because I want to be able to run a few sales, and set vacation time, except now looks like anyone can, but no matter, I've been using the change handling time method to greater success lately.    I rarely have more than 100 listings anyways, only a dozen or so on my store ID (this one) at the moment, so the free doesn't mean a lot except that I think they just upped non-stores amount so that is a moot point.  

So starter store works for me, if it's dropped then I'd have think about spending for "basic", probably would take it but wouldn't be "happy". 

[tori_729]

That's why it's all over these boards not to do a yearly contract for your store. I'm glad I took that advice.

[tori_729]

Maybe this is b/c of the OP's overall attitude but I think you need to see this from the perspective of us smaller sellers. We have other things going on in our lives so we can't list full time. But it's nice to have a store front to promote our stuff. We don't often get repeat sellers (at least I don't; mostly b/c I don't have as specific of a niche and only have 200-250 listings) so more store management, discount codes, sales, etc aren't as important to us. BUT it's nice to have a little bit more free listings than the average person and because we work hard at being TRS, having some discounts related to that are nice too. 

It would be NICE as a small but dedicated seller to get some of the benefits of a larger seller. At least for me, the reason I'm not larger is because I have kids at home full time and don't have the time to list and source all the time. And there are others who work full time but love doing this on the side. I think for us, the Starter Store is GREAT. BUT $8/month is steep to pay for something when we don't use a lot of the benefits b/c they are really just aimed for larger sellers.

[tori_729]

I agree it sucks. I'm dropping my subscription specifically b/c of this. I was on the fence before on whether I wanted to go up to basic or maybe just drop my store all together and build a second account. I decided to stick w/ a starter store and now this made my decision easier.

I love having a store front that I can promote to others and categories that I built. I'm a little OCD about going in and looking at it all lol.... but it's not worth keeping if that's all it's for. 

I would be okay with them raising the price a bit and give us more listings and some FVF discounts. But for the price right now, it's just not worth it. 
Not to mention the Promoted Listings credit going away.... not sure how that will affect things as well. 😞