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Ebay store?
lsutigers1973
Posts: 11,093 ✭
I know this has been discussed before but it seems it has been a while. I was thinking of opening an eBay store and would like opinions of eBay stores based on the current condition of eBay and the site changes over the last few months. The bulk of my supply would be items under $25. Are there any other viable options?
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I am Sorry No One will answer your Thread, would you like a Hug?
Neil
Ross,
From what I can see, the biggest advantages for me opening a store appear to be the low insertion fees and longer listing times. The FVF's seem to only have a significant difference if you are selling items over $24.99. For the experienced eBay store folks, does that sound about right?
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It is still a "good" deal. But, not a great deal.
The recent "changes" have not had a substantial impact.
Store items usually do not appear in BM searches. The exposure
is extremely limited. You MUST run auctions or BINs to drive traffic
into the store. google store-connector is also a must; as much
as 60% of traffic comes directly from google.
Active users on EBAY are in decline. Barrons says EBAY traffic will
grow about 1% in 2009; Amazon about 12%, internet about 8%.
An "active user" - at EBAY - is a member who has bought or sold
ONE item in the past 12-months.
Currently, about 25% of EBAYs top 1000 sellers have ZERO listings.
MANY are leaving to start their own sites. Many have moved to
other "free" sites that do NOT have the same kind of "rules" that
EBAY selectively enforces.
ecarter.com and ebid.net are both viable; and MUCH less expensive.
I also like the customer quality at delcampe.com.
NOTE: I never care what EBAY's fees are, as long as they provide
traffic. Lately, the traffic is LOW and there are TONS of scamsters
masquerading as "buyers."
When you factor in the slow EBAY traffic and high-fees, it is really
a better deal to use the "free" sites. You get fewer sales, do less
work, spend less money, and make more money on a percentage
basis.
Over the years, I have experimented with ALL of the sites. This
last round of tests is the FIRST time that I have made money on
any of them; except for AMZN, which is always good.
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Note on PayPal:
PayPal is a JOY to deal with on sites other than EBAY. There is
no "buyer/seller protection" nonsense. If a crook wants to burn
you, they will have to deal with the security specialists at THEIR
own credit card company; not the teenage maroooons and bots
at PayPal.
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EBAY ProStores have an interesting scheme. Pay Per Action (PPA)
is a bid process that lets the seller select exposure levels and ONLY
charges the seller when a sale is actually completed.
The minimum bid is 8%. BUT, let's say the seller is willing to go 20%
or 30%; that seller will move merch. EBAY saturates its own site and
other sites with click ads that drive buyers to the highest-bidding sellers.
ProStores are a bit difficult to setup, compared to an EBAY store. They
have, historically, had MUCH more downtime than godaddy or the other
discount hosts, but if they are SEOd and promoted properly they do
work for some folks.
PPA will eventually be offered to all EBAY sellers. Sadly, by then, most
small sellers will have already moved on.
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If nobody sees the listings, the price is irrelevant.
You still have to run CORE listings to drive traffic into the store.
1% to 10% is the general requirement, depending on the category.
This month I tested a lot of 7-day, 10-day, and 30-day BINs. While
the upfront costs on the 30-day specials are cheap, the STR is lower
than BOTH 7 and 10-day listings. The FVFs on the 30-days are also
a little higher.
EBAY stores are great staging areas, warehouses, and fishing spots.
You can retail merch at high-prices, if you are VERY patient.
Lsu
What storm said is pretty much dead on. Last year was my first big year storewise with around 400-700 items and I did really good selling singles from 70-79 with nice scans and nice stuff. Now with the glut with the goldsellers OR titanium whatever they are paying on the backend im left in the weeds im pushed out of the picture unless someone hits the view other stores. Without even doing anything lastyear id have 50-100 looks a day. Now with the same type inventory 10-30 if I dont use anything to promote my store. This month has been better than the last few and has me still listing Im around 1000 now. Like storm mentioned I do pretty well when Im selling psa on auction to get them in the store and singles go pretty well. Its a good place to park your better stuff for 50 cents a year lol and for me lets me know what I still have in front of my face.
If things dont change this spring with ebay I'll probably convert to prostores or my own site. The paypal thing has me pretty po'd along with the burbank deal and few others. But for now its still worth it but alot more work.
Thing is I tend to deal with the same folks over and over id probably be better off just letting them into my photobucket for singles lot cheaper for them and me and less hassle. Though not sure how you could approach it without making them mad for spamming email. Im sitting on 2000-3000 unique emails all from buyers from the past but refuse to spam. If it was me Id enjoy the email and have in the past but seems to be a very touchy situation with many.
Thats my 2cents
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A Holiday Greeting email with a %-off coupon is fine.
Make sure to hide the addys of the other recipients
of the email. (I got one the other day with 400 other
addys on it.)
Moving buyers off of EBAY and into your own venue
has ALWAYS been the smart way to play EBAY; now,
it is more necessary than ever.
Flyers with alt-venues should be included in EVERY order.
A gophone or skype number is cheap and buyers should
be invited to call in before they buy anything anywhere.
There really is no reason that an EBAY buyer should make
more than one or two transactions via EBAY, once you get
your hooks into them. Such buyers get better prices and
better service, and there are almost NEVER any problems
with payment or refunds.
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When I used to sell mostly collectibles, I moved almost 75%
of buyers to my mail-order flyers every year. Now, I sell almost
entirely used-fashion and used-electronics, so I seldom even try
to move the buyers off of EBAY.
Serious collectors are EASY to entice to any venue you choose.
They just want some personal contact, reasonable prices, and
great service.
I'm really considering giving ecrater a try. I love the concept of having my own store. It was very profitable a few years back before the fee hikes and visability changes. Maybe with a link from my ebay about me page and linking from my signature on all the web forums I frequent I can pull some sales. If nothing else at least it will be FREE! Best of luck to you with whatever you decide.
Sportlots FS
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I highly recommend it.
Any sales you get are almost free money.
You can have up to FIVE stores on ONE ID. This means you can
load each store with different categories, if you choose to.
The buyers outside of EBAY are a much nicer bunch.
Although, even on EBAY, collectible buyers are definitely the
best and easiest customers.