When To Open An eBay Store: Case Study
The Question: Should I Open An eBay Store?
This is a question we asked ourselves multiple times before finally making the decision to open our eBay store.
Our inventory had steadily grown and we were able to relist month after month using our free eBay listings and special promotions.
Financially, it didn’t make sense to pay $16, $50 or $180 each month for something we were doing for FREE.
We sought out advice from other eBay sellers via online forums, Facebook groups, live webinars, etc. Many, if not most of them being experienced eBay sellers that desire a part-time to full-time income and have an eBay Store.
The common answer from these veteran sellers for why we needed a store was:
Branding.
Personally, this did not fit for us. Mostly because we looked at it from a consumer point of view.
Meaning, when we searched an item to purchase on eBay, do we begin our search with eBay stores only? No.
We would simply type in the keyword phrase for the item we were looking for and Walla, results!
Upon clicking on the item we’re interested in, do we say “Hey, does the person selling this item have a Store?”
Nope, that was never a question.
Frankly, we search for relevance, value and seller reputation.
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The Revelation: The Real Reason We Needed to Open an eBay Store
So what made us finally decide to purchase an eBay Store?
We finally realized the real reason we needed to open an eBay store while listening to a webinar:
When waiting to list your items based on the next eBay listing sale, you’re allowing those sales to “run your business” instead of “you” running your business.
That comment changed our perspective and made us realize that we weren’t really running our business… eBay was.
To us, eBay is a family business and therefore we should run it as OUR business.
Waiting and wondering “if and when” eBay was going to have another free listing sale would determine what items and when items would get listed.
This is what hobbyists do.
Business owners list items regardless of sales.
You can’t sell what you don’t have listed. Therefore, by getting a new perspective of our business, we understood that we needed to run it as a business.
And we see this example by many top sellers in eBay including BHFO with clothing, eforcity with phones & accessories, gohastings in books and yallstore with computers.
The Results: Drum Roll Please!
Has our eBay Store increased our sales?
Yes and no.
That’s a loaded question because it’s trying to make an apples to apples comparison when it simply isn’t that easy.
Yes, we have had sales increase since opening an eBay store. Simply because we have more items listed at any given time than we did before.
Usually we were waiting to list hundreds of items because we hit our free monthly listing max within the first day or week.
With an eBay Store, we now have 150, 500 or 2500 listings included with our monthly purchase plus any additional eBay listing sales that may take place.
Can we say sales have increased simply based on being an eBay Store owner?
No.
Again, in our case, we don’t believe we are recognized for our “branding” and that gives us relevance to the buyer.
Simply put, we get more sales because we have more items listed at any given time than when we did not have an eBay Store.
That, in combination with our feedback rating, pricing, shipping and customer service adds to our success.
Still Not Sure if Opening an eBay Store is Right for You?
Deciding to open an eBay store is definitely a big decision for your business and one not to be made lightly.
First, take eBay’s free listing promotions off the table. Don’t even consider those listings as an option. Know one knows when eBay is going to give those promotions or how long they will continue offering them. So don’t count on those free listings.
Use eBay’s Fee Illustrator to calculate whether or not the eBay store is worth it with all of the fees that as associated.
If you have more items than the number of free listings that you get per month (not including promotional free listings), you’re going to have to pay for listing insertion fees. Eventually, you’ll be paying more than what it would cost to have a store subscription that includes more free listings per month.
Also, you may be under the impression that having a store requires a bunch of extra work.
This is simply not true.
Once your store is open, all your listings will continue to run until they end. Then all you have to do is relist as normal and everything will be in your new eBay store. That’s it.
You will have some nice extra features with your store, such as:
Store categories
Offer price markdowns and sales on your items
Store vacation mode
Your own store page URL which you can share on social media for promoting your items
Store categories and branding within each listing description for cross promotion
Opening an eBay Store Conclusion
It’s time to start running your own eBay business and stop letting eBay call all the shots!
If it’s not listed, you can’t sell it.
You’ll find that if you take that leap of faith, bite the bullet and open your eBay store, you’ll feel more in control and be able to run your eBay business they way YOU want to run it!