Setting up a basic ebay store opinions?

[sellitcheap2011]

Hi! I have been running my eBay store selling my rope halters, lead ropes and horseshoe dreamcatchers for round about a year. On average I sell about $80 worth of stock each month (not including how much I need to deduct from the amount spent on materials or eBay's fees). 

I have been thinking about for a while about setting up a basic eBay store (what I can afford haha), they do charge less final fees, a lot more free fixed price listings, I won't use the auction because my products have a set price. I just would like to know if a basic store is worth it for me? I love the idea of people seeing my page and everything looks very professional, it's easier to purchase with a selection of choices too not to mention my own URL. 

Obviously, I am going to increase the number of listings I have, but will the amount I sell be enough to pay for the basic store fees + PayPal etc 

Opinions please! might set up in January :))

[stationmasterhobbies]

well the basic store cost $27.50. I have a  350 listing.  and i will be closing it down soon, very slow sales, but i sell Model train products and my profit margin is only about 10%. and only make about $70 profit but still mange to get under cut by people offering $2.50 postage.

Best of luck in your descision'Anthony

[kopenhagen5]

Obviously, I am going to increase the number of listings I have, but will the amount I sell be enough to pay for the basic store fees + PayPal etc 

That will depend on how many you sell.

Look at your average monthly sales over the last 12 months and do the calculations.

But most will say that a store only becomes viable if you have 100-200 listings and a good sell rate.

You could also combine some of your current listings that have same designs.

Do variation listings for different colours.

That will reduce the number of listings and if you have free relists then that can also give you over 300 free listings.

There are also many offers of free lists and no fvf offered on weekends.

You could probably have 100 listings up with zero fees most of the time.

[digital*ghost]

eBay has a tool called Fee Illustrator, where you can input your average number of listings, sales, and sale price, and it will work out the fees you'll pay for each available option (no store, basic store, featured store and anchor store).

You can also use it to find out how many listings / sales you'd need before paying for the store becomes worthwhile in the sense of saving you money, so inputting current stats as well as projected ones should give you a decent idea of when it will be best to upgrade. 

https://www.subs.ebay.com.au/feeweb/feeillustrator

[melinachristina]

Sellit, if you’re like us and don’t get offered free listings above the usual 40 per month and the free weekend listings, a store can look attractive, but what has been said before me is very true - crunch the numbers! We’ve done it quite a few times now and are still undecided. You do need to have above 100 listings, but more importantly, a good sell through rate.

If it’s professionalism you’re looking for you can achieve this without going to a store by creating your own templates, or you can buy them. There are some very good ones available on eBay. I suggest neat and tidy and highly functional. Don’t overdo it. The eBay categories, as pointed out to me here recently, will almost mirror your own anyway and will act as a legend for your inventory, and separate it out. So, you can ‘look like a store’ without actually being one.

Take your time. Explore and investigate, always crunch the numbers accurately, and most importantly, stay in touch with these forums especially if you are going to be selling here long term. The people here, their experience, and willingness to share it will save you many a heartache.

 I wish you well.

Melina.

[brerrabbit585]

You've got more than 40 listings so you either get some of the promotions for extra listings or you're using auto-relist on your listings. This means you can get a lot more listings without needing to have a store.

My suggestion is that if you can get enough listings that you aren't paying listing fees, don't open a store until you're paying more in fees than you would if you had a store. Forget about the fact that it might look more professional to have a store - note I said might! You can look just as professional without having a store.

People want to see the product, nothing else. Having your own URL isn't going to make things sell, nor is a fancy template. It might give you a warm glow but it makes absolutely no difference to buyers! Buyers can easily click on your other items and see what you have without needing store categories.

My store listings look no different to my listings on my non-store ID. Forget fancy templates that detract/distract from the product. I make sure I have clear pictures (some need updating) and a good description so they know what they're buying. Anything else is window dressing and completely unnecessary, and in many cases all it does is annoy buyers.

As for stores paying less in final value fees, I worked out that the exact same $12 item on my non-store ID would cost me 6c more in fees - big deal! I'd have to sell 457 items a month before I saved any money in selling fees by opening a store on that ID. I sell in crafts which comes under collectables for fee purposes and it's only half a percent less for a store. A lot of other categories have higher fees than the standard ones so check out the list of categories.

[brerrabbit585]

Are you aware that it's a policy violation to have choice listings? You can get a policy violation and have your listing removed for doing it. You can give buyers a choice by doing a multi-variation listing with the same items in it but in a variety of colours and sizes.

It's also a policy violation to put your contact details in the listing and putting your store name in is the same as giving your contact details.

Lastly, you need to extend your handling time or you'll end up with defects for not posting on time - too many of those and ebay will stop you selling. You've got in one listing that the halters are made to order and can take up to seven days before they're posted, yet the delivery estimate on the listing is from 20th December to 28th December - from WA to rural Victoria.

[purplemon18]

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@brerrabbit585 wrote:
Are you aware that it's a policy violation to have choice listings? You can get a policy violation and have your listing removed for doing it. You can give buyers a choice by doing a multi-variation listing with the same items in it but in a variety of colours and sizes.

It's also a policy violation to put your contact details in the listing and putting your store name in is the same as giving your contact details.

Lastly, you need to extend your handling time or you'll end up with defects for not posting on time - too many of those and ebay will stop you selling. You've got in one listing that the halters are made to order and can take up to seven days before they're posted, yet the delivery estimate on the listing is from 20th December to 28th December - from WA to rural Victoria.

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sellitcheap2011 could just change her/his username to "ThatEquineStuffWA" or some similar variant. 

[purplemon18]

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@sellitcheap2011 wrote:

Hi! I have been running my eBay store selling my rope halters, lead ropes and horseshoe dreamcatchers for round about a year. On average I sell about $80 worth of stock each month (not including how much I need to deduct from the amount spent on materials or eBay's fees). 

I have been thinking about for a while about setting up a basic eBay store (what I can afford haha), they do charge less final fees, a lot more free fixed price listings, I won't use the auction because my products have a set price. I just would like to know if a basic store is worth it for me? I love the idea of people seeing my page and everything looks very professional, it's easier to purchase with a selection of choices too not to mention my own URL. 

Obviously, I am going to increase the number of listings I have, but will the amount I sell be enough to pay for the basic store fees + PayPal etc 

Opinions please! might set up in January :))

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You do actually have your own URL, it's here:

https://www.ebay.com.au/usr/sellitcheap2011

Obviously, if you change your name like I suggested in my previous post, that link will change, so probably not a good idea. Better to just change the sign off to to "us", or  "me"

There are several things you can do to customise that page to give yourself some branding though.

[digital*ghost]

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@brerrabbit585 wrote:
Are you aware that it's a policy violation to have choice listings? You can get a policy violation and have your listing removed for doing it. You can give buyers a choice by doing a multi-variation listing with the same items in it but in a variety of colours and sizes.

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Choice listings referred specifically to listings where different options available incurred different charges, on different items.

An example of a choice listing is multiple CD titles in one listing, with different list prices in the description (because it meant people couldn't just buy from the listing, and alternative purchase / payment arrangements were usually required).

A listing where there is a variation offered on the same item, but doesn't alter the price, isn't a choice listing (eg a phone case in multiple colours and / or sizes, all at the same price, and the buyer can leave a note during checkout with their selection(s)). Variation listings are easier these days, but that is how it needed to be done before they were introduced. I can't actually find the choice listing policy in eBay's help pages now, though (I looked under listing policies, and also under prohibited items, so not sure where it went). 

OP listings state that various sizes of the same items are available, but the only reference I saw to price variation is when mentioning other designs being available. It's possible eBay could misconstrue the intent, though. They certainly did with me when I used the words "custom" and "contact me" in my listings.