posted November 12, 2004 02:00 PM
I have a lot of clothes and other household things that I would like to sell. Would it be worth if for me to get an ebay store and list all my stuff on there or just keep doing auctions like I have been? Is it fairly simple to set up a store?
I opened a store about 6 months ago to see if it would be profitable for me. At that time eBay was offering the first 30 days for free so I tried it. The store listings are only 3 cents each, so what I do is list several items in a store catagory and then list one or two auction items in the same cagatory and use the cross promotion tool. My eBay stores sales are about 50% of all of my ebay sales. So for me it was definately worth it. If eBay is still offering the first 30 days for free I would encourage you to try it and see if it would work for you.
posted November 14, 2004 11:32 AM
I used to run an ebay store for a yarn store. The ebay store was an excellent way for customers to see what stock was available in the actual physical store and also a way for cutomers to find out more about the store itself. I highly recommend an ebay store, just be sure that you maintain your stock. Customers get bored easily with a seller if they do not maintain their stock. I did quite a bit of research originally for this customer, because they were in the same position, not sure whether it would really work for them. In the end it was a great seller for them. I no longer run the store for them because the employee who was my primary contact began working outside the yarn shop and no longer had time to maintain the online stock. Do keep in mind that running an ebay store does require some time. Customers appreciate swift service and replies, and the best way to keep customers coming back is excellent customer service.
If anyone else is interested, has questions, or would like to hire me to run a store, please email me at prplgds@yahoo.com
------------------ Live your life as if it were a good story. The best way to be remembered is how exciting your life story is.
posted November 17, 2004 11:40 AM
Hi, I agree, the stores are very helpful in boosting sales. The Store also come with your own URL, which means when someone searches on Google or another search engine...your items pop up. It is a great advertising tool.
posted February 05, 2007 03:36 PM
I started selling items on eBay about a year and a half ago. At that time having a store really worked out well for me. I was able to list a lot of items without having high auction fees. I used auction items to draw customer into my store where they spent most of their money. But, with the recent increases in eBay fees, selling on eBay has altogether become less profitable. I still have an eBay store, but I rarely run auctions, and I am moving my focus to selling through my own website.
If you don't already sell on eBay, I would suggest considering all the eBay fees before spending a buch of time setting up a store on eBay. Consider instead starting your own website. If you spend the necessary time learning how to optimize your website to show up in the top of the search engines, you will save a lot of money in the long run and never have to worry about increasing fees for selling your products.
posted February 05, 2007 04:19 PM
Also, I did not mention this before, but if you do decide that an eBay store is the way to go, it would be better to open a store if you have a large quantity of each item. If you have several items that are all different you will spend a lot of time listing new auctions in your store, but if you have a bunch of the same things, you can list one item in your store and sell 20 of those things without having to take new pictures or creat a new description. EBay stores seem to work best for people how can do this.
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posted November 12, 2004 02:00 PM
