Starting a store

[grandpawclay]

Hi, We have been selling for over a year and are now considering getting an ebay store. 

Currently we get 250 free listings. If we get a basic store will we get an extra 250 free listings for a total of 500 free listings to use between individual auctions and the store or,  just 250 free listings like we do now?

Thanks for any help,

[klhmdg · Accepted solution]

No. If you get a store you get the listings that come with the store.

Its not 250 free + store amount of listings.

[caldreamer]

Basic store you get 1,000 fixed price, 250 auction (select category) and additional 10,000 fixed price (select categories).    The real plus to having a store is customer can easily view your other items and may purchase multiple items.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Be careful how you use the word "basic." The lowest level of Store subscription is called Starter and the next level up is called Basic.

The 250 free insertions that you get now are for sellers who don't have a Store subscription. If you sign up for a Store, you don't get those 250 any more.

When you sign up for a Store subscription, you immediately get the full month's allotment of free insertions for the Store,  but any balance remaining of your non-store 250 are canceled. So if you use up your 250 for April, and THEN sign up for a Starter store, you'll get a total of 500 free insertions, just for April.  Then on May 1 you will get just the 250 for the Starter store.

[domin-tomas]

I would try monthly first, then go on from there. Just give it a few months and if you like it go for the yearly. If you just purchase a yearly store and decide to close it ebay will charge a high percentage fee on the rest of the contract.

[fern*wood]

With over a thousand listings, you definitely need a store.  It should save you a bunch in listing fees.  I'd check out the basic one rather than the starter store.

[m60driver]

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@domin-tomas wrote:

I would try monthly first, then go on from there. Just give it a few months and if you like it go for the yearly. If you just purchase a yearly store and decide to close it ebay will charge a high percentage fee on the rest of the contract.

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Actually, I think the penalty fee adds up to about the same as if you had subscribed at the monthly rate.  But it can add up if you wait too long and are not prepared for the sudden added cost.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@fern*wood wrote:

With over a thousand listings, you definitely need a store.  It should save you a bunch in listing fees.  I'd check out the basic one rather than the starter store.

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Yikes, good catch!  Yes, the OP is definitely a candidate for the Basic level of Store subscription.

One caveat:  The OP has over 200 listings in the Books category in auction format.  The Basic store gets 250 auction-format insertions each month, but the list of categories where they can be used doesn't include Books. So those auctions need to be changed to fixed price listings or the regular insertion fee (25 cents) will be charged.

The list of "Select categories" for Stores' auction-format listings can be found on the general page about Stores fees:

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

[grandpawclay]

Thank you, that is exactly what I was looking for.

[grandpawclay]

Thank you so much, that is really good information. 

[grandpawclay]

Thank you, we are planning on monthly for a while.

[grandpawclay]

Thanks for the reply as you can see, we deal mostly in books so I need to really think about the books/magazines category issue. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

Most of your book auctions get only one bid, so you wouldn't lose much if anything if you switched to all fixed price listings.  Some of the books might be appropriate for the Collectibles category, where you CAN use your free store auctions.