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With the new eBay fees coming, is an eBay store right for you?
nam812
Posts: 10,541 ✭✭✭✭✭
I pretty much run 30 day fixed priced listings without a store for 35 cents each, so I was examining if a basic store would work for me when the new eBay fees are rolled out.
The main thing that made me look into it is that stores will now get full search exposure. The store fixed price listings will cost 20 cents each, but there is a monthly fee of $15.95 for the store.
I did the math, and for those that are curious, a store will become a better deal than just using fixed price listings without a store on your 107th listing. If you have only 106 items in your basic store it would have been 5 cents cheaper to just list them with fixed price listings and no store. For those that have 107 and more items to list, then a basic store makes sense.
Currently I only have about 50 items, so I will hold off on the store for now.
Edited to add: The fixed price listing for non store listings are going up to 50 cents (from 35 cents), so that 107 number now shrinks to 54.
The main thing that made me look into it is that stores will now get full search exposure. The store fixed price listings will cost 20 cents each, but there is a monthly fee of $15.95 for the store.
I did the math, and for those that are curious, a store will become a better deal than just using fixed price listings without a store on your 107th listing. If you have only 106 items in your basic store it would have been 5 cents cheaper to just list them with fixed price listings and no store. For those that have 107 and more items to list, then a basic store makes sense.
Currently I only have about 50 items, so I will hold off on the store for now.
Edited to add: The fixed price listing for non store listings are going up to 50 cents (from 35 cents), so that 107 number now shrinks to 54.
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<< <i>Okay, so that is for initial listing fees. What about final value fees? Are they cheaper in a store front versus fixed price listings without the store? just curious because I sell 90% of my items via fixed price and never thought about doing a store. >>
I didnt get that far.
There will prolly always be some value to having stores in the world's
largest outlet mall.
When "stores in search" was tried - off and on - in 2004/05, it made
EBAY a goldmine for small sellers. During some of those times, there
were only 8M to 11M listings on the entire site.
As we approach 50M listings - on the way to 75M+ - the value of
"stores in search" has to be calculated differently. Being on page-one
of search results ALL DAY is substantially more valuable than being on
page-one for a few seconds/minutes/hours.
The refresh-rate in some categories will be mili-seconds. Happily, cards
are, currently, likely to be among the least negatively impacted categories.
IF a few mega-sellers step in, that will change.
EBAY never gives away ANYTHING that has much value. In most categories,
"stores in search" will now just be a selling point for EBAY that will likely have
NO meaningful impact on sales.
If you are only selling cards, EBAY is still the spot AND willl likely remain the spot
for a long time.
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Listing Counts:
March 28, 2010 3:06 pm
eBay 45,757,962 -68001
eCrater 3,143,109 +4674
Bonanzle 2,865,893 +6145
..........
While ecrater is "free," sellers still have to buy click-ads/adwords
to generate big traffic. Costs are a little cheaper than EBAY, but
not by a bunch.
The primary benefit of being away from EBAY is that the "quality"
of buyers is MUCH better on the other sites. No fake INR/SNAD
epidemics. The downside is that you have to do more work - and
spend money - to set up your ads, if you want traffic.
And, of course, PayPal is a much kinder/gentler beast away from
EBAY. Also, any payment method is acceptable; about 70% of
my ecrater payments currently come from google-checkout.
I expect the Moon and the Ranch to get major pops in listing
counts, by the end of April. Lots of EBAY sellers are not as much
into experimenting/gambling as most of us here are. Any level
of migration should hike traffic at the sites, in some categories.
.......................
I am going to watch EBAY for a few weeks, before I make any
firm decisions about buying into the new system.
If search-results for stores are favored - even a little - over
ordinary BINs, I may buy in.
No advantage to being an early adopter.
..........
<< <i>I went ahead and opened a basic store for the discount. I list auctions mostly, usually 50+ a month. By my calculation (I could be wrong), the monthly discount a store gives me in my selling range ($50-$200) will be greater than the cost of the store. Not by much, though. >>
Do you mean in final value fees? If so you seem to be correct because a "non store" auction will have an FVF of 9% (capped at $50), and a store auction listing (not to be confused with fixed price listings) will have an FVF of 8.75% of the initial $50.00, plus 4.0%
of the next $50.01–$1,000.00, plus 2.0% of the remaining closing value balance (anything over $1,000.01).
What all that means is that on an auction listing that sells for $150:
non store FVF = $13.50
store FVF = $8.38
I upgraded to the $49.99 Store last month am waiting to see how it all shakes out in the next few weeks. I have also culled out about 600 listings that were getting close to or hitting the 6 mo.-1 year mark or were less then $5 dollars, am going into the new scheme with about 650 items listed. Most (95%) $10 or above (Not counting Auctions). As Storm says it's still the best game in town, my Sales this weekend were 4K, last 90 days 11K.
Neil
Ryan
1951 Topps Red backs psa 8 only!
1960 Golden Press Presidential set Psa 8 's - Psa 9's
1961 Golden Press psa 9's
1976 Topps baseball psa 9 Stars
1980 Kelloggs baseball Psa 9's - Psa 10's
1988-1989 Fleer Basketball psa 9's
1988-1989 Fleer Stickers psa 9's
1989-1990 Fleer Basketball psa 10's
1992 Coca-Cola Donruss Nolan Ryan 1-26 Psa 10 only Gpa 9.80++ E-mail Newyork00007@aol.com
As for me, when April the 1st gets here, myself along with millions of others will be listing a lot of carp for the free listings. This will absolutely shred a lot of search features gained by the store. I think in the end ebay will discontinue the free 99 cent listings because of this, but until they do, be prepared to see millions of listings of garbage from all categories, including baseball cards.
"...be prepared to see millions of listings of garbage from all categories, including baseball cards...."
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Yup.
This will render the "stores in search" scheme useless.
Sellers can test the value of SIS by hitting the refresh
button every few minutes. Items on page-one will be
on page-100 within a few minutes in MANY categories.
"Best Match" - favoring mega-sellers - will further disadvantage
small sellers in many categories.
if you do so for peronsal use, income is not neccessarily reportable.
Topps White Out (silver) letters Alex Gordon
80 Topps Greg Pryor “No Name"
90 ProSet Dexter Manley error
90 Topps Jeff King Yellow back
1958 Topps Pancho Herrera (no“a”)
81 Topps Art Howe (black smear above hat)
91 D A. Hawkins BC-12 “Pitcher”
<< <i>not only that but don't you have to report everything from ebay sales on your taxes as income if you are "a store"
if you do so for peronsal use, income is not neccessarily reportable. >>
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Income is reportable, regardless of its soucrce.
This was their fee structure on Nov 9th, 2006. I'm unwilling to create todays chart, but I'd love to see it if someone was willing.
<< <i>
<< <i>not only that but don't you have to report everything from ebay sales on your taxes as income if you are "a store"
if you do so for peronsal use, income is not neccessarily reportable. >>
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Income is reportable, regardless of its soucrce. >>
I list my profits (if any) as hobby income, which is supposed to be a net number from the year of sales. Is that correct?