Selling through Stores vs Auction

[bess15]

Would be interested to know other smaller sellers' experience of sales volume when listing in stores as opposed to non-store auctions. Obviously you can list more for free through stores unless you get the free listings offers (which I have been lucky enough to receive for the past few months, now nothing since September).   I had a store some time ago and sold very little, then when I closed the store and reverted to non-store auctions the sales picked up.  Not sure if this was just a coincidence, but it actually seemed as though my listings had more visability and views.  I was thinking of re-opening a store as my free listings offers seem to have dried up and I would like to list more than the 40 regular free listings, but as my sales to listings ratio has been just under 20% it doesn't seem viable to pay listing fees on the other 80% that don't sell.  Would appreciate any advice.

[chameleon54]

I suspect it depends on what you sell. I had a look at your items for sale and it looks like you list a lot of cheaper collectables. I often list fairly similar items and find them ideal to offer for auction. 

I suspect if you list them as BINS under a store, they can tend to get lost in searches amongst a sea of similar items. Many collectors only search auctions for their collectables and I suspect auctions recieve higher visibility in the Cassini search system.

If you are finding you sell more by offering auctions, you may be better to set up another selling account and recieve 80 free listings per month. This also doubles your chances of recieving the 150 freebie type offers from forum links. 

I find my non store selling account with auctions, still achieves very good sales, while my stores suffer from the "lights on"  "lights off"  effect that so many store holders experience. My guess is non store account sales are not regulated by ebay in the same way store sales are managed. Basically it seems ebay give higher visibility to non store sellers.

Once I clear the stock I have in storage, ( 2 to 3 years time ) I would consider closing my stores and just running 3 or 4 non store accounts as I  find these more succesful and less regulated than my stores.

[bess15]

Thanks, that really confirms what I  thought and sounds like the lights were out on my old store most of the time!  Will look into setting up another id, thanks for your help.

[*tippy*toes*]

I've got 3 accounts, none of them stores. I run auctions. While I do have the occasional quiet times, most of the time I do OK. I could never give up my regular job, I don't want to give up my regular job, but I earn enough on here to take care of bills when they come in, meaning more of my regular job pay goes into my pocket. I don't seem to have the lights on lights off thing that I often hear the stores are suffering from.

[bess15]

Thanks tippy toes, do you need to have different email addresses and paypal accounts for your separate accounts?  Sounds like additional accounts and not stores is the way to go.  I didn't know before that it was permitted to have more than one.

[*tippy*toes*]

You do need a different email address for each account. You can get more by creating a hotmail or gmail account. My ISP allows 10 different addresses I think so I just created more on there. You can link all your accounts to the same PayPal account. From memory you can link ?8 accounts to the same PayPal.

When you create the accounts, there is somewhere in the site preferences whereby you can link the account to the same PP address. Just remember after you've linked, to change the address in the listings to the PayPal email, otherwise the email for that account will show as the PayPal address. Your new accounts will have a monthly selling limit of 10, even though you will have 40 free listings. If you link them to this account, it will increase it to 30 a month. After a month or so you can call eBay and they'll increase your limit if you ask nicely. I just let mine increase on their own.

To get the initial increase, on your selling page of the new accounts scroll down about half way and there will be a link to increase your limit. It will ask if you have another account, tick yes and it will ask you for the username of that account.

Also on the new accounts you'll be subjected to PayPal's 21 day hold on funds. You have a couple of options there. After posting, upload the tracking number into PayPal as well as eBay and once the tracking shows as delivered, the funds should automatically release after 3 days. If it doesn't call them and they'll release them while on the phone. The other option is to call them and tell them you have an established account and ask them to permanently lift the hold. If they refuse, you can lodge an online dispute with FOS (financial ombudsmen) and they'll force them to lift it.

[bess15 · Accepted solution]

Thanks so much for your help, much appreciated! 

[stylesilver]

Hi Tippy toes (& Everybody!!) Sooo would this be the solution for my niece?. She has a Store selling some gift type items, BUT she also has a whole pile of good brand baby clothes to sell in batches & doesnt want to mix that thru her store items. Sooo 1st you make a new email account THEN come back to Ebay & where do you apply to make a new Ebay account? And is it called a personal account Or something else? Is the purpose of the new account so you can keep any different items you sell, separate from your store. So they dont all show up in store listings? - &  hopefully avoid lights off? too ( Excuse me for being a bit thick today- Not enough coffee!!)

[*tippy*toes*]

To create a new account, log out of the current account. On the logged out page you then have the option of logging back in or creating a new account. Select the create new account option and follow the prompts, using the new email address. It will go through the usual things, name, address, phone number. It will ask you to phone verify the account by ringing with a recorded message or sending a text message if you choose that option. That stops people putting in fake details. You can also change the ID from the computer generated one to one of your choice (which then can't be changed for another 30 days).

Once it's set up with the basics and you get the congratulations message, you can go through the site preferences and set it up properly. If you go to the My Selling page it will allow you to set it up as a selling account. That's where you can then request an increase by linking it to an established account. Any further increase requests must be done by calling them. If you get taken to the seller hub, there is a link somewhere in there to go to the My Selling page. Once that's set up, go back into site preferences and link the PayPal account. As mentioned above, be sure to change the email address in the payment section when setting up the listing or the PayPal address will show as the email address used to create the account. Unless that email is added to PayPal, you won't be able to accept the payments.

I would also suggest for anyone with a new account, buy a few $1 with free postage items from China to get some feedback. Most Chinese leave feedback after payment (or automatically as soon as you leave it). I bought things like phone chargers or USB cables (with no intention of using them) or costume jewellery. No big deal if they don't arrive because you're only buying for the feedback.

Having extra accounts is as you say, to sell other things you don't want mixed up with the store items. So if you sell say books in the store account, you can use the other account to offload some kids clothes that you don't want mixed with the books.

[stylesilver]

THANKS SOOO MUCH "TIPPY TOES" That makes it Very clear how to do this!!