Question for sellers that have a basic store

[beallieblue-oz]

Hi, I have been doing a bit of thought about opening a basic store,

as half my stock is unlisted waiting on the extra freebies.

I have read up on the FVF from 9.9 to only 8%. Which will save a few cents.

Another option is I have to leave for  a few days and the odd weeks holiday during the year,

I know you can put yourself on holidays, as I have had stores in the old days.

Which would save a lot of stress and taking items off.

Okay do you find you sell more with a store now days

When stores get free extra  listing are they for 30days.

I only have handmade items on this ID, but can add extra bits and pieces

From another. 

Any hints would be appreciated,  as its been 5yrs aprox since I have had a store.

Thank you Pam

[beallieblue-oz]

I couldn't find anything about crafts, just says collectables.

can anyone with a craft shop help with this one. Do you pay 8% or 9.5% FVFs.

[twyngwyn]

http://sellercentre.ebay.com.au/ebay-for-business/about-store-packages

[englishrosegardens]

I have a craft shop so I know it's TRUE. It's somewhere in the fine print but you have to look hard to find it.

[englishrosegardens]

http://sellercentre.ebay.com.au/sites/default/files/fees_by_category.pdf

This is the page that shows crafts come under collectibles - second 'box' from the bottom in the right hand column.

[englishrosegardens]

Do you always tick the box to get the three free auto relists, and do you always check the forums for a link to the extra free listings that we get?  Have you got your preferences ticked to receive promotional emails from ebay, which is what you need to do in order to get the emails for the extra freebies.  The links in the forums usually work but it doesn't hurt to have the right boxes ticked in your preferences as well. 

We had 150 free listings very recently and if you'd used all of those and had the auto relist box ticked, you would still have 150 listings now, minus any that had sold.  That's on top of the 40.

If you have everything on 10 days and tick the auto relist box each listing would run for 40 days, which would allow you to have approx. 50 running at a time even without the extra freebies.

Have you thought about listing your cards in a different category and not crafts?  I have no idea what categories are available but I'd imagine a lot of people buying cards wouldn't necessarily think of looking in crafts.  They may not be looking for handcrafted cards but if they saw them in another category they might buy them.

[beallieblue-oz]

Hi Thanks for that, what a blimey ripoff, all those sellers with little crafty bits.

I could put them under home wares ~parties and occasions. some of them are.

now yes I tick the box for 3 relistings

yes I use 10 days and yes I come to the forums for the free listing link, as the messages don't come through until late in the first day.

But this time it didn't work out right, as with the time before last , they had a few days to go, then a new month, so by the time they unrelisted it was too late, so hense they are still sitting there, as i like to put new ones on with my monthly 40.

alright if they did it fortnightly, but it was 3 weeks, so puts me right out.'

Now I will have to rethink again, as the stuff i was going to add to the shop is all crafty stuff. 

so I may as well puddle around with what I am doing, for the moment. 

Thanks everyone for your help, it pays to come here first, before you go for the big splash.

[englishrosegardens · Accepted solution]

Park your new stuff in scheduled so it's sitting there ready to go when we get extra freebies.  You can edit the start date in scheduled so if they're not ready to start at the right time you can easily change it.

If you've still got one cycle to go when the freebies come up, you can remove auto relist so that they drop into unsold and can be relisted, or you can change the duration so they end during the promotional period.  It won't always work but it often will, especially if you spread your listings over the entire time that they give the extra freebies. 

For example, if something is on 10 days and it's on day 6 of its third cycle when the freebies start, you can change it to a 7 day duration and remove AR, and it'll drop into unsold on the second day of the freebies.  If it's on day 4 when the freebies start, change it to a 5-day duration and remove AR. 

Just remember to change the duration back again when you relist, but you can do that easily enough with bulk edit - so long as you remember that you can only edit to a longer duration in the first two hours after a listing starts.  Yes, it's all more work, but a lot can be done with bulk relisting/editing, and it's either do extra work or pay extra money for a store or listings.

[beallieblue-oz]

Thank you, you are a mind of information, I will take up your hints , and see if they work, I am sure this will also help other sellers, if they haven't worked it out.
I only have about 80 , try for 100, but don't complain, as i know they are selling, if I don't get there. Will put the store on hold for awhile and see how I go.
cheers Pam.

[jillywinkle]

Traffic reports via omniture service show that nobody has viewed my "storefront" for the past 3 to 4 months. Not one view of the storefront & dismal spasmodic sales for yonks. Whether omniture software is not working properly, or the stats are true I can only surmise. This fact has led me to close my basic store at the end of this month & begin using the 40 free listings per month. I've had a store on and off for over 8 years. Mainly on. Sales are lousy since Google changed their ways, I don't see the point of the $20 per month anymore as I only run around 80 to 100 listings these days. Ten day listings on a revolving basis should have items ranked higher on a regular basis I assume or so the story goes. I no longer see the point of a store for this amount of listings..jilly

[i-love-my-sheep]

And don't forget the promotions that give you 150 free listings too for non stores!