eBay

lasantino · ‎07-29-2018

Hi, I have a question.

It seems that ebay seems to put a ball park range on the $$ I have in sales every month.

This is despite the fact that i have almost twice as many listings as i did two years ago.

I see some sellers talk about having more than one store.

I always thought that was a strategy to use when you wanted to sell different items, or maybe at a different price point.

Also, opening a new store would start your feedback at zero,,is that correct?? despite having 2000+ feedback on my main ID.

Does anyone have any experiece or idea, does ebay (their software) treat a brand new store any differently than an existing store. (if it's a store that is still identified by ebay backend software as belonging to an exisiting user)

Or has opening a new store resulted in doubling the amount of sales you have ever month..

i hope this question makes sense.

discountme · ‎07-29-2018

Opening a store did nothing but put more money in eBay’s pocket, not mine. I actually get more sales not having a store than when I had one. I gladly pay the full percentage to not be under obligation to them monthly.

ripcityresell · ‎07-29-2018

@lasantino wrote:
Hi, I have a question.

It seems that ebay seems to put a ball park range on the $$ I have in sales every month.
This is despite the fact that i have almost twice as many listings as i did two years ago.
I see some sellers talk about having more than one store.
I always thought that was a strategy to use when you wanted to sell different items, or maybe at a different price point.
Also, opening a new store would start your feedback at zero,,is that correct?? despite having 2000+ feedback on my main ID.
Does anyone have any experiece or idea, does ebay (their software) treat a brand new store any differently than an existing store. (if it's a store that is still identified by ebay backend software as belonging to an exisiting user)
Or has opening a new store resulted in doubling the amount of sales you have ever month..

i hope this question makes sense.

I have three fairly successful stores here. All sell CDs and DVDs, but in different ways and different item types; my main store sells higher priced items that ship with tracking; this store sells lower priced items without tracking and my third sells ONLY children's CDs/DVDs.

Opening a new store, means opening a new account. Opening a new account means you start at zero feedback, regardless of your main account's feedback. You will also be subject to lower selling limits which may mean it's not fesible to open a new store. I have 5 (maybe 6) accounts, one has a selling limit of 10 items, despite being linked to my main account (which has twice as much feedback as this one).

Has it helped sales? Yes, because when I had my main account, these lower priced CDs weren't feasible to sell with tracking, so I sell them on here in a different format. I sell stuff on this account 2 to 1 compared to my main account. Will that mean it will work for everyone? Not at all.

ryanrobyn · ‎07-29-2018

I fell for the Ebay reasoning of more stores more sales. What a farce. When I had 1 store back about 3 years ago I would make from $3000 to $4000 a month with 1000 listings a month. Then I opened sore #2 and added my inventory up to 2000 and the sales started to fall 2 years ago. This drop in sales has continued to today as I now make from $500 to $600 monthly from combined sales. It is pathetic and not due to me. I actually now have 2500 items and continually add new things every day and am constantly revising items. Also play around with auctions and BIN to give the listings new life. ALSO whenever I relist I always change the title so it doesn't just go to the bottom of search. Truthfully search is the problem.Ebay only shows certain listings at different times to different groups of buyers. They also seem to have a quota so when you reach the amount think is okay you basically are dead for awhile. Also how they allow items to be searched by what is typed is nuts. On day I had 9 baby shoes listings and could only find 1 of them. Ask yourself if they can be purchased if no one can find them.

My big problems at the moment are :

1) I have annual fees for the stores an would have to pay BIG cancellation fees,

2) Ebay just constantly keps changing their rules and requirements and you have no choice no matter what your contract said when your annual fees time roles aroe otherund.

3) Not as Described is now 100% th seller's fault even though Ebay encourages the buyers to mark this category erroneously so they don't have to pay return postage. This is a monster money looser due the postage fees you have to pay. Remember paypal keeps 30 cents for all transactions even if they are cancelled or returned. Fun!! I just sold a brand new in box pair of Ivanka Trump boots and it was declared as used because the buyer said I touched them to take the photos so they were used.

4) Non payments are growing so by the time you get your listing approved to relist the other bidders are no longer interested. You also have to be on time of opening claims and closing the case to get your fees back. If you don't Ebay will keep the fees.

5) Now Ebay is going to begin handling the financial transactions when they can't even correctly charge or return fees. This will probably be the final straw for MANY sellers except for the Chinese. We don't even know what the fee structure for their service will be as they are "purposely" not telling us.

6) Ebay profits are declining rapidly and they are firing employees when the ones they have can't do their work efficiently.

7) Their software is so ancient that the glitches are too plentiful to even count

I am drowning and only really adding inventory I have on hand to list. Do not actually obtain any new items.

Good luck to you no matter what you choose.

coffeebean832 · ‎07-29-2018

@lasantino wrote:
Also, opening a new store would start your feedback at zero,,is that correct?? despite having 2000+ feedback on my main ID.
Does anyone have any experiece or idea, does ebay (their software) treat a brand new store any differently than an existing store. (if it's a store that is still identified by ebay backend software as belonging to an exisiting user)

Correct, a new account will start at zero feedback but you can use it for buying to gain some FB before you start selling. A new account will also be subject to lower listing limits - you can link a new account to your existing account in order to increase your limits. Sell on the new account without a store until you build up enough sales momentum and increase your selling limits to make a store worth it.

richard1rst · ‎07-29-2018

I have never believed that having a store had anything to do with the amount of sales you make. The purpose of the store is in the bargains that you get in listings fees (as an anchor store the first 10,000 listings are “free”) and other perks. I started with a basic store and as my sales and inventory count increased I gradually moved you to an anchor store.

What you need to see is if one larger store will get you more perks than 2 smaller stores.

My sales increase was as a result of the work I put into expanding my inventory, deleting and refreshing older listings, keeping an eye on pricing vs the competition, etc. In other words, running it as a business.

I have always believed that people buy my product because they like my product, NOT because I have a store. Mostly I don’t think that they know or care.

"Laissez-faire capitalism (AKA The Great Material Continuum) is the only social system based on the recognition of individual rights and, therefore, the only system that bans force from social relationships." ~ Ayn Rand

ripcityresell · ‎07-29-2018

@ryanrobyn wrote:
I fell for the Ebay reasoning of more stores more sales. What a farce. When I had 1 store back about 3 years ago I would make from $3000 to $4000 a month with 1000 listings a month. Then I opened sore #2 and added my inventory up to 2000 and the sales started to fall 2 years ago. This drop in sales has continued to today as I now make from $500 to $600 monthly from combined sales. It is pathetic and not due to me. I actually now have 2500 items and continually add new things every day and am constantly revising items. Also play around with auctions and BIN to give the listings new life. ALSO whenever I relist I always change the title so it doesn't just go to the bottom of search. Truthfully search is the problem.Ebay only shows certain listings at different times to different groups of buyers. They also seem to have a quota so when you reach the amount think is okay you basically are dead for awhile. Also how they allow items to be searched by what is typed is nuts. On day I had 9 baby shoes listings and could only find 1 of them. Ask yourself if they can be purchased if no one can find them.
My big problems at the moment are :
1) I have annual fees for the stores an would have to pay BIG cancellation fees,
2) Ebay just constantly keps changing their rules and requirements and you have no choice no matter what your contract said when your annual fees time roles aroe otherund.
3) Not as Described is now 100% th seller's fault even though Ebay encourages the buyers to mark this category erroneously so they don't have to pay return postage. This is a monster money looser due the postage fees you have to pay. Remember paypal keeps 30 cents for all transactions even if they are cancelled or returned. Fun!! I just sold a brand new in box pair of Ivanka Trump boots and it was declared as used because the buyer said I touched them to take the photos so they were used.
4) Non payments are growing so by the time you get your listing approved to relist the other bidders are no longer interested. You also have to be on time of opening claims and closing the case to get your fees back. If you don't Ebay will keep the fees.
5) Now Ebay is going to begin handling the financial transactions when they can't even correctly charge or return fees. This will probably be the final straw for MANY sellers except for the Chinese. We don't even know what the fee structure for their service will be as they are "purposely" not telling us.
6) Ebay profits are declining rapidly and they are firing employees when the ones they have can't do their work efficiently.
7) Their software is so ancient that the glitches are too plentiful to even count

I am drowning and only really adding inventory I have on hand to list. Do not actually obtain any new items.
Good luck to you no matter what you choose.

Well, I guess embellishing things a bit will help you make a point, but allow me to correct a few of your comments.

1) Big is subjective. You pay 1/3 of the amount on the remaining months in the contract. The only time that is really 'big' is if you cancel a month or two after you started the contract or if you have an anchor store.

2) Change has happened since the beginning of eBay. They have made changes twice a year for a decade or longer now. Successful sellers have learned to adapt.

3) Well, technically, Not as Described IS 100% the seller's fault. What you mean is that buyers are now using SNAD as a reason to return even if it's not true and the seller has no choice. It's true that you have to accept the return, but there is an appeal process after the item is received and some sellers have won the appeal to get money returned.

4) Yes, you have to go through the UID process, but eBay doesn't keep any fees unless you open and don't close it for like 30 days. If you can't remember to close a UID for a month, then there are more issues than eBay. Also, use IPR and UID won't happen.

5) eBay is NOT handling the financial transactions. They aren't doing it now, they won't be doing it when the new payment system comes around. It's handled by a 3rd party company (Adyen) just like it is now (PayPal). If you don't know who Adyen is, they are a lot more successful and handle payments for a good many companies than people realize.

6) Declining rapidly is a stretch. In fact, they haven't declined at all. They just haven't grown as much as anticipated. I can't fault you on your customer service comment tho 🙂

7) I believe you mean their programmers are tasked to do too many things that the site is experiencing a lot of glitches. You are correct on that part.

duggmills · ‎07-30-2018

What? Not enough competition for you?

So, you want to dilute the marketplace further by competing with yourself?

"Fly the Big Ones"

ryanrobyn · ‎07-30-2018

They do not take your feedback to zero except for a brand new account when you add a 2n store. I had such a long history with Ebay they did not give me limits.
If you link your account to your PayPal account you will not have PayPal put a hold on your funds as you have an established successful record.
You get NO extra perks. Actually with a store I get none of the free listing offers. Ebay encourages store ownership it seems only for the fees they get as they do not help you any other way then a regular account.
You must realize that one large store is still open to getting increased fees for too many NAD or too many defects while 2 stores gives you some protection because they are spread around. Do NOT think you are not going to get NADS as Ebay encourages them - probably so they can increase your fees even though they lose out on the initial sale fee their fees increase because your fees for a whole store are bigger then one little sale. Ebay is all about fees for themselves.
I agree the store does not sell it is you that do and the fact they want your item.

ryanrobyn · ‎07-30-2018

In response to secondchancemedia:
1. You should keep up on the business financial aspects of really what is happening to Ebay. They are on the decline.
2. Also check out the latest announcements for Ebay will begin financial transactions for select target groups. They will also allow you to use PayPal but first it must go through Ebay to PayPal.
3. Yes, Ebay has continually made changes but NOT the drastic recent ones where they continue to take benefits away from TRSs and the rules for defects and trusting the USPS to deliver on time or you get a shipping defect.
4. The appeals process does not work - call for yourself - if you appeal you get an automatic defect.

karmy2005 · ‎08-16-2018

I have 2 ebay stores currently. 1 anchor and 1 premium, but they will soon both be anchors in a week or so.

You only get a lower selling limit if you sign up for a personal ebay account. But if you register as a business with ebay, they do give you much higher selling limit. You start out with 5000 items per month, but that limit goes up to 11,000 after about 30-50 successful sold items. That's what happened to me.

Your new account will have zero feedback, so sales will be hard to come by during the first 2-3 months. Probably best to sell without a store or get a small store.