what level of sales $ do you need to break even when opening a basic level ebay store"

[pipilo02]

Not too good at math but it seems like you would have to sell at least $20,000 a year to just break even with paying the basic level fees.....otherwise it's more cost effective to simply list items....is my thinking straight?

[papermoneyforme]

I'm, sorry but what part of level of sales $ is hard to understand?

He did not ask how many you have to list, what prices, or anything else, just level of sales $

[papermoneyforme]

The rest came after the title, and in my detailed post, I did comment on the rest.

Sales $ means just that, not profit, or listings or COGS, or expenses as those are totally different subjects and answered totally differently.

If all you worry about is how many do I have to list to get a specific level of sales is a totally different subject with many different variables.

[keziak]

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@papermoneyforme wrote:

I am going to stick my neck out and say many posters need to go to business school.

You need to calculate the difference between the sales at 10% for no store and the discounted store rate + the store fee.

To keep it simple, $100 in sales with no store costs 10% or $10.00 in FVF's.

With a basic store on annual and if you pay 6%, you pay $6 in FVF's plus the cost of $20 for the store or $26. You are still $16.00 in the hole money wise.

At 200, it is 20 vs 32

At 300 it is 30 vs 38

At 400 it is 40 vs 46

At 500 it is 50 vs 50

So 500 is your break even with a basic store and 1500 is the break even with a premium store

These numbers would of course change depending on the actual rate you pay in FVF's with a store.

Listings do not pay for your store. If you listed 2000 items and sold $300 worth, you are still losing money with a store as far as sales are concerned. Saying you saved so much in listings fees is not the way to look at it as that puts nothing back in your pocket, only sales do.

You may have other reasons for a store, more listings, vacation, specials, etc but it is still only the $ sales that determine the financial benefit of a store.

You can also add what I call goodwill financial benefits that are perceived only. You may also need to list thousands of cheap items with marginal profits to get a return, but that can be very scarry financially.

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to clarify since I didn't go to business school, with 100 listings it's $10 for the FVFs but also $30 for the listing fees for a total cost of $40. With a store it's $20 "listing fees" and $6 in FVFs for a total of $26. What am I confusing about this example?

[papermoneyforme]

It is not 100 listings, but $100 in sales, 2 totally different things

[femmefan1946]

@tellmemama

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO0cvqT1tAE

[thatsallfolks]

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@papermoneyforme wrote:

The rest came after the title, and in my detailed post, I did comment on the rest.

Sales $ means just that, not profit, or listings or COGS, or expenses as those are totally different subjects and answered totally differently.

If all you worry about is how many do I have to list to get a specific level of sales is a totally different subject with many different variables.

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The point being that there ARE different variables, i.e. the OP needs to look at it differently. There's no forum rule that says we're only allowed to answer the exact question asked by the OP.

[keziak]

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@papermoneyforme wrote:

It is not 100 listings, but $100 in sales, 2 totally different things

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OK< thanks. So the numbers in this sentence are dollars, not listings? 

"So 500 is your break even with a basic store and 1500 is the break even with a premium store"

If so that makes me feel better than if you were talking about needing 1500 LISTINGS to break even.

[papermoneyforme]

it's all dollars, not listings

[southern*sweet*tea]

I still say you're all way overthinking this. When you make $20 after regular fees, the basic store is paid for. No fuss, no muss, no math.  Done. Take that $20 and pay your store bill.

If a seller needs more than 50 listings, and will consistently list 125+ month after month, then a store makes sense.  Fifty free plus 75 at 30 cents each is $22.50 in listing fees. That's a store payment. There's also the matter of lower FVF. 

Final value fees

Final value fees for Stores listings
Per item, based on the total amount of the sale Maximum fee is $250 Category

Final value fee†

Coins & Paper Money

Stamps

6.15% of the total amount of the sale

Musical Instruments & Gear

• Except Pro Audio Equipment, DJ Equipment (see Consumer Electronics, Cameras & Photo and more), and Guitars & Basses

7.15% of the total amount of the sale

Musical Instruments & Gear > Guitars & Basses

3.50% of the total amount of the sale

eBay Motors > Parts & Accessories and eBay Motors > Automotive Tools & Supplies

• Except Car Electronics (see Consumer Electronics, Cameras & Photo and more)

• Except Apparel & Merchandise (see Clothing, Shoes & Accessories)

8.15% of the total amount of the sale

Select Computer/Tablets & Networking and Video Game Consoles 

See included categories below

4.00% of the total amount of the sale

Select Consumer Electronics, Cameras & Photo, and more

See included categories below

6.15% of the total amount of the sale

Select Camera & Photo Accessories, Cell Phone Accessories, and more 

See included categories below

9.15% of the total amount of the sale

Clothing, Shoes & Accessories

• Includes Apparel & Merchandise found in eBay Motors > Parts & Accessories

9.15% of the total amount of the sale

Books

DVDs & Movies

Music

Video Games

9.15% of the total amount of the sale

Business & Industrial

• Except Heavy Equipment

• Except Concession Trailers & Carts (found in Restaurant & Catering)

• Except Imaging & Aesthetics Equipment (found in Healthcare, Lab & Life Science)

• Except Commercial Printing Presses (found in Printing & Graphic Arts)

Learn more about Business & Industrial fees in the excluded categories.

9.15% of the total amount of the sale

All other categories

9.15% of the total amount of the sale

† If your account doesn't meet our minimum performance standards for the US region at the time of a sale, your final value fees will increase by 4%. This additional final value fee is calculated on the total amount of the sale and is charged per item, and is in addition to any standard final value fees that are applicable. We will indicate which listings are subject to this additional fee on both the View Account Status page and your invoice. You can see if your seller level is Below Standard in the US region by going to your Seller Dashboard.

Select Computer/Tablets & Networking, Video Game Consoles categories with a final value fee of 4.00%

Select Camera & Photo Accessories, Cell Phone Accessories and more categories with a final value fee...

Select Consumer Electronics, Cameras & Photo and more categories with a final value fee of 6.15%

[tellmemama]

Yes, I agree that the goal is to sell and not list.  But as so many have said, it can't sell if it isn't on the site.  For me it all comes down to what it costs to get it in front of buyers' eyes.  A store is a definite money-suck for the very casual seller.  But if a seller is planning on listing considerably more than 50 items a month it doesn't matter what kind of sales they get.  Those insertion fees add up pretty quickly at 30 cents each vs. a penny each with a basic store.  And this doesn't even take into account the extra features that come with it.

Not that it's anyone's business but my total sales are at just under $1.1 million since I started in 2000.  For the last several years my annual gross sales are just shy of $200K.  I get sick just thinking about all the excess fees I've paid for being stubborn.

For what it's worth, I can do the math.

[papermoneyforme]

I am not sure what your point is other than telling us your sales.

You are obviously well above the $ breakeven point of a store or no store

[tellmemama]

The point of sharing my sales record while stupidly avoiding a store was that I ended up with paying considerably more in fees when I didn't have to.  That said, I still stick with my reasoning.  All of your algorithms for levels of sales don't mean much if you're paying too much to get in listed in the first place.  If anyone lists more than casually (100 items or more per month), it is cheaper to have a store to save on insertion fees.  

And yeah, I'm proud of my sales.  Why wouldn't I be?  I worked hard to do it.

[thatsallfolks]

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@thatsallfolks wrote:

"Break-even" is affected by ALL costs that vary between the options, not just the obvious FVF%.

Would you really tell someone who has to list 200 items a month to achieve $400 in sales (at 6% FVF) that they shouldn't open a store because they won't hit your magic $500 figure?

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Still waiting for an answer to this question. Would it be:

1. No, don't get a store, because you don't hit the $500 break-even point with the simplistic FVF discount calculation
2. Yes, you should get a store, because even though you're $4 short on the FVF discount paying for it, you'll also save $45 in listing fees, so you're way past the actual break-even.

?

[papermoneyforme]

You really are looking for a fight by manipulating to justify your position.

In regards to your first questions, I did not say that but you seem to push it from your closed interpretation.

I also never said any of what you insist on repeating. You are the only one that has said that.

And I will repeat again, I am talking about the break even $ amount, not who should have a store or not which you keep harping on.

You can keep on and on about it, but I am finished with this post as you do not read and refuse to look at what was written and replace it with your own reasons which are unrelated to the question and my answer.  They will probably remove part or all of this as I refuse to continue dealing with closed minded posters.

There is a name for posters like you but if I use it, the post will definitely be pulled.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

[thatsallfolks]

I believe that making an OP aware of other considerations beyond their initial question is part of what makes this community useful, especially when the OP is trying to make a decision on a fairly complex topic.

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