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What size store do you have?

I finally opened a basic store a year ago after just using the free listings and promos we use to get. The 250 BIN just aren't cutting it - and the auctions go nowhere usually - so I was thinking of upgrading to the next level store. 

 

I have enough inventory to use the 1000 listings but am wondering if it's worth it - now that sales have fallen for a lot of us. It won't sell if it's not listed - but an extra $40 a month for a yr is a lot of money.

 

Is it worth it as far as sales and do you have to redo all your categories and start from scratch?

 

I know some hated the free promos - but I sold much more with the promos and the site saturated with items - then I have with fewer items clogging up categories and no promos.

 

Tahnks in advance!

Message 1 of 20
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19 REPLIES 19

What size store do you have?

I have a Premium Store, have had so for ummmm, probably 8 years now.  Long before they offered 'listings' per month.  I DO NOT have the yearly 'contract', I hate contracts.  Clearly it would be worth it, as I've been selling for that long, just hate the beholden feeling.

 

Recently I've had about 500 listings on average, but recently revamped my inventory system, and have room so now working to bump it up to at least 700 or so.  I think the more items listed, the more items are likely to sell just overall.  This past July I made just enough to cover all my monthly expenses, I list very little in the summer with kids home, so partially my own fault.  That was the first time EVER that I came in that low.

 

Whether it's worth it or not is really a personal call.  Are you staying with selling for a year or more vs trying to wind it down? If yes, and you've already said you have that much inventory, then I'd be inclined to say yes.  Do you clear more than $75/month right now?  If so, I do feel confident that you could sell another what, 5-6 items per month to make up the extra $40 expense.  And likely, if you had that many items listed, probably more than that, right?

 

Keep in mind, that a Premium Store DOES NOT offer any better search placement, at least in my experience.  So don't do it based on that at all.  But if you have the inventory & storage space, and plan on actively selling for a while longer, then why not?  

 

Just my thoughts 🙂 

 

 

Message 2 of 20
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What size store do you have?

I have a basic store, have had it a few years now.  I do not list all of my inventory all at the same time -- I do not go past the 250/250 as I refuse to pay insertion fees. 

 

However, I occasionally give thought to upgrading my store to a premium level as with all my combined inventory, plus more I'd acquire, I would have enough to nearly fill a premium store.

 

I have ruled it out though. In my case the sales just aren't there.  I can not justify paying the extra store fee with the amount of sales I get monthly.  The math just doesn't make sense for me.  It's all a numbers game and I think you have to caclulate what you are clearing monthly + what the extra listings you'd be getting and sell potential in them.

 

It's a tough one.  But it would be nice to have 500/500.  Good Luck to you.

Happy 2018! May this upcoming year be a prosperous one!
Message 3 of 20
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What size store do you have?

I have two "stores" if that's what they're called. I have a 27" Sayno and a 40" Samsung.  While not much going on right now, my listings show up on both monitors.....

"Fly the Big Ones"
Message 4 of 20
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What size store do you have?

Actually you get 1000 BIN and 500 auctions - that's what makes it so enticing! 

Message 5 of 20
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What size store do you have?

I have a premium store, my inventory fluctuates between 500 and 1000 items, I think it is worth having.  Swenson made some good points - there is no influence on search placement at all, but you can leave some of your slower sellers up all the time until someone finds them.  And you don't have to constantly relist.  I did make the commitment to stay for a year because my sales fluctuate greatly throughout the seasons, I am super busy right now, not so much in the spring. 

----------------------------
Successful and experienced seller since 1997, over 70,000 feedback, boardie since the boards were begun.
Message 6 of 20
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What size store do you have?

Wow.  1000 bins.  That IS entcining.  Now you have me thinking about it as well!

Happy 2018! May this upcoming year be a prosperous one!
Message 7 of 20
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What size store do you have?

Is it worth it as far as sales and do you have to redo all your categories and start from scratch?

 

I don't have any store right now, but have had the basic deal on and off several times.  Since I don't have to redo anything with it - it saves everything even when it's cancelled - I don't believe you'll have to redo anything or start from scratch simply because you upped the level.

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.
Message 8 of 20
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What size store do you have?

Having upgraded from basic to premium a few months back I can say that you don't have to change anything in your store config or listings.

 

Having 1000 BIN listings available is nice, I bounce between 800 and 900 at any one time.  However, there is a *significant* time investment in maintaining 800 listings vs 250 listings.  I don't use GTC because I don't have lots of multiples of single products, most every thing is 1 of 1.  This means items need to be reslisted / sell similar each month.  It's also harder to catch it when eBay screws up and resets the quantity back to 2 on listing when I occasionally do have multiples.  With the larger store also comes more time invested in chasing product and new listings.  I also rented a storage locker because the wife wanted the spare bedroom back, but that's another story.

 

According to the performance tab I'm ahead 40% this year against the same time last year, however I have not verified that and other stats are consistently incorrect so I take that with a grain of salt.  I've tripled my inventory, increased the amount of time for maintenance, pay rent on a storage locker for a 40% increase in total revenue.  For now the money is nice, despite the work, but that may change in the future.  ymmv.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew
Message 9 of 20
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What size store do you have?


@tunicaslot wrote:

I finally opened a basic store a year ago after just using the free listings and promos we use to get. The 250 BIN just aren't cutting it - and the auctions go nowhere usually - so I was thinking of upgrading to the next level store. 

 

I have enough inventory to use the 1000 listings but am wondering if it's worth it - now that sales have fallen for a lot of us. It won't sell if it's not listed - but an extra $40 a month for a yr is a lot of money.

 

Is it worth it as far as sales and do you have to redo all your categories and start from scratch?

 

I know some hated the free promos - but I sold much more with the promos and the site saturated with items - then I have with fewer items clogging up categories and no promos.

 

Tahnks in advance!


If your original annual subscription is about to run out, then this would be a great time to experiment with a higher level.  Cancel the annual subscription for the Basic store (during its final month, so you don't get an early termination fee), then sign up for a month-to-month subscription at the higher level. In a couple of months, it should be clear to you whether you want to stay with the new level or go back to Basic.  Then you can sign up for a year at whichever.

Message 10 of 20
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What size store do you have?

I had a basic store up until August when my sales fell so low I realized it was cheaper with an individual account as far as the fees. Been a seller since 2000 and had the store for over 5 years. I've noticed that sales have dropped all over in many categories. Search the community boards and you'll see that many sellers have complained about sales going down. What i believe is happening is the free listings are found only on eBay. Not on searches on Bing or Google. I sell mostly license plates so each plate has a specific number. I have all of my plates listed in the web store on my website and on another marketplace which is straight selling. So when I list a particular plate using one of my 50 free listings, the plate comes up on a search on Google Images twice- the link to my web store and the link to my other marketplace. The third link to ebay never shows on any of my free listings, however if I pay to list it shows up.

 

Another thing I'm convinced is with all of the free listings made available, the market is pretty much being flooded. Kinda hard to sell a common item like an oil filter for your Camaro for $6.99 when there are hundreds at prices between $2.99 and $29.99. If you're listing for 30 days, anyone browsing is only going to see the filter only on 2 days- the day you list it and the day it comes off. That being said, it doesn't make much sense to list the filter amongst the other several hundred.

 

Now if you have something unique that nobody else has, that's a different story. But you need to do your homework to see if anything like it has sold lately and then figure your profit based on what has sold.

 

Gee I miss the old eBay where sellers AND ebay both made money!

Message 11 of 20
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What size store do you have?


tunicaslot wrote:

I finally opened a basic store a year ago after just using the free listings and promos we use to get. The 250 BIN just aren't cutting it - and the auctions go nowhere usually - so I was thinking of upgrading to the next level store. 

 

I have enough inventory to use the 1000 listings but am wondering if it's worth it - now that sales have fallen for a lot of us. It won't sell if it's not listed - but an extra $40 a month for a yr is a lot of money.

 

Is it worth it as far as sales and do you have to redo all your categories and start from scratch?

 

I know some hated the free promos - but I sold much more with the promos and the site saturated with items - then I have with fewer items clogging up categories and no promos.

 

Tahnks in advance!

 


What you might try before signing on for a full year subscription to a larger store is just take the Premium store on a month-to-month basis for two or three or four months to try it out.  That way, it won't cost you too much more than if you'd taken on the full year subscription, but gives you the option to stop the month-to-month if this doesn't pan out for you as fully as you hope.

 

And this would let you post all those listings NOW,  at the Holiday Shopping season, and on into the winter months, which many of us find more profitable than during the summer.

 

If you're happy with your sales results, you can subscribe for a year, knowing that it's going to be worth it.  If it doesn't bring in enough additional sales to feel is was really worth it, you can dump it.  Because...

 

upping to the next level should truly do more than just bring in enough more sales to pay reasonably well.  There are other ways to work selling your merchandise here.  The higher level store should really be expected to Pay Off in a nice healthy profit sort of way.   'Cause you can always just open up a few more entry level eBay accounts under different names, all attached to your original PayPal account, and use those Free 50 listings to pad out what you currently subscribe to... without having to pay a dime extra for all those listings from as many additional accounts as you need.

 

And, yes.. you really have to pay close attention to which account you're working, so you don't get yourself confused and make a mistake, but it does let you sort of divvy your merchandise into groupings, with each Free-50 account sort of having it's own *flavor*.  Nice for buyers interested in Ye' Olde Prim decor to browse ALL of your old prim stuff together, and then nice for the buyer interested in your old postcards to see them all offered in another account.  etc.

Message 12 of 20
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What size store do you have?

I don't use GTC because I don't have lots of multiples of single products, most every thing is 1 of 1.  This means items need to be reslisted / sell similar each month. 

 

???

 

Single item listings can be listed in the GTC duration.

Message 13 of 20
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What size store do you have?

This is my third year having a basic store, yearly subscription. I've just recently started using ALL of my 250 FP listings, and am starting to use auctions a little more. I paid about 15 extra listings in October and will probably pay quite a few more for November. In December, I have listings that I'll end before they renew late in the month.

 

I figure if I spend an extra $20-$30 for extra listings during the holidays, it's still cheaper than upgrading my store. I've considered upgrading, but just like you, the slow sales means it doesn't really make sense. To be truthful, I'm evaluating if it's worth it to even keep the basic store when it comes up for renewal in March.

Message 14 of 20
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What size store do you have?

I want to thank you all for your replies! I have well over 600 items sitting on the sidelines even with using the auctions so an upgrade does seem like the reasonable thing to do. Since my yearly subscription does not expire until May I believe - I'll have to call and see if I can upgrade being in the middle of the contract.

 

I realize additional time has to be taken when relisting - but I always pull my items out now before relisting to make sure the item is still as described and the quantity is correct. Soucing is not a problem and I have 40 yrs of items we've accrued to get rid of before retirement in a few years as fillers if I ever run low.

 

 

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