Slightly OT/Ebay stores: anyone have one? Pros, cons

[Archive]

Posted By: Rob Fouch

I'm curious if anyone has an Ebay store, and what the experience has been like. I was thinking of opening one for some of the more unusual items I find at tag sales. Things that are niche items that don't do as well in auction formats. Obscure books, an unusal framed print, eclectic LP, etc. I imagine I'd sell a unique or rare card on occasion, if I stumble across one or get a duplicate, but it seems to me that cards do better in the auction format.

If you have a store, has it been worthwhile? Which level did you choose? What do you not like about it? What kind of stuff do you sell in it? Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Rob



(Hope this is OK to post, Leon. I'm guessing there's a board member or two who sells cards via a store.)

[Archive]

Posted By: anthony

I dont have an ebay store but I can see it being beneficial to many...of the card collector stores, i think there are a ton of guys that use it for advertising other cards. it seems to me that they put a lot of premium cards that are pretty rare and have buy it nows for a king's ransom. but when you run names like cobb, ruth, gehrig, speaker and anything else vintage-wise, you find them and click on 'em. next thing you know you're going through their "store" to see what else they have...

just my 2 cents

[Archive]

Posted By: Anthony N.

I've got one. It has upsides and down.
The downside is that its sort of a redheaded stepchild when it comes to searches. When I shift my listings to fixed prices they usually sell very quickly, but if they sit in my store at the same price they don't sell nearly as quickly.
The upsides?
When ebay springs a last minute dump day it's a quick click to get everything listed.
You can list things as you make them available and they keep relisting every 30 days, so you don't have to relist manually.
The cost is relatively cheap to list, although the fvf are higher.

Overall I think it's worth it, but it could certainly be better.

[Archive]

Posted By: Matt

As Anthony mentioned the final values fees are quite different:


$1.00 - $25.00
12.00% of the closing price

$25.01 - $100.00
12.00% of the initial $25.00 ($3.00), plus 8.00% of the remaining closing value balance

$100.01 - $1,000.00
12.00% of the initial $25.00 ($3.00), plus 8.00% of the initial $25.01 – $100.00 ($6.00), plus 4.00% of the remaining closing value balance $100.01 – $1,000.00

Over $1,000.01
12.00% of the initial $25.00 ($3.00), plus 8.00% of the initial $25.01 – $100.00 ($6.00), plus 4.00% of the initial $100.01 – $1,000.00 ($36.00), plus 2.00% of the remaining closing value balance ($1,000.01-closing value)

[Archive]

Posted By: davidcycleback

I had an eBay store a couple of years ago and sale where great. Then eBay decided wanted sales to be focused on auctions, changed the rules, my store sales dropped and I dropped the store. Have not tried it lately.

Even though I no longer have a store and don't plan on having one in the near future, I say try it out if you want and see if how it works for you. If you don't like the number of sales you get, you can simply close it down. You can close it at any time and will no longer be charged, so there's no big financial risk-- just a matter of your time.

One positive thing of a sales listing is you've already written the description and have the pics, so if it doesn't sell it's ready to relist as an auction. In fact, I believe one of the store owner's options is to send a current store item to immediate auction, and you can do this any time you want.

A con is I wouldn't anticipate a lot of sales.