Opening Shop - eBay stores

Saturday 04 July 2009
by SaleHoo.com

I'm aged 55 and reside in Hamilton New Zealand. Due to circumstance out of my control I decided I needed to build an alternative income for my retirement. So I looked to New Zealand's eBay type internet seller which is called Trade me. I initially tried sourcing from overseas on my own buy just using Google and going from there. Man, that was a big learning curve and headache in itself, and I approached all with a bit of trepidation after hearing and learning of all the internet scams et. In my internet travels I came across SaleHoo. To be honest I looked at it, went away, came back,looked at it, went away, and then came back and decided what have I got to lose. They appear to be on the up and up or as we say in new Zealand the "real deal". I converted the American dollar into New Zealand dollars and again thought yes, no, yes, no, and then I said "stop procrastinating, and just do it! If you are serious about this, these people look like they can help". Guess what all my self doubt and worrying was for nothing! The material they sent were excellent, and they put me on to a trusted site for electronic items. The first thing that popped up was a special on radio controlled mini cooper cars. Having had success with a similar product, I thought "lets go", the price was right, and the shipping rate excellent. I marked them up to sell at 60% to cover costs and give myself a reasonable margin. But here is the icing on the cake, the very first buyer ordered three! My costs will be covered well and truly by my first trade of products sourced with advice from SaleHoo. I'm happy as.

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"A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person."

Now that the number of items you are selling on eBay is growing, you need to start thinking about other ways to promote your business.

A great way to do this is by using the eBay store option, and this is the subject of this week's newsletter.

eBay stores allows sellers to open their own online 'shop'. You can brand your store by using your own distinctive design, and use it to build up your merchandise. It's another great strategy for building your brand and increasing your presence on eBay.

eBay reports that sellers boost their revenue by 25% in the first three months of opening a store!

However, this is not by any means a tool for the casual seller! Starting at $15.95 per month, and requiring at least 20 unique feedback results or ID verification, the time and cost commitments required by an eBay store mean that it probably won't be a viable option until you have a steady monthly turnover.

For a large scale seller however, eBay stores make a whole lot of sense. They are far, far cheaper to run that a brick and mortar store, and they give you access to a much larger customer base.

Most eBay powersellers recommend them. You can see for yourself the benefits below:

1. An opportunity to cross-sell your items. If people like your item that they find by an eBay search, then they are likely to click on your store icon to see what else you stock.
2. Gain credibility and professionalism. A sleek looking website, all your products on display, your own web address...it all helps to create the impression that you provide excellent value for money.
3. Customers can search your site. When you open an eBay store, you automatically get your own search engine so that buyers will be able to search the contents of your store for exactly what they want.
4. Bigger Profits. According to eBay's statistics, store sellers see an average 25% increase in sales in the 3 months following store open.
5. Spend less on listing fees. When you open a store, it's just 5 cents for each 30-day period and 1-cent for the Gallery feature.
6. Save time. Stop spending your time relisting your items. Instead, stock your store with Store Inventory listings that last for longer durations.

How do I open a store?

It's incredibly easy. As long as you have created a sellers account and have a credit card on file all you have to do is select a name and design for your store using the guided set-up. You can have your store up and running by the end of the day!

You can choose between three different types of store:

• A Basic Store ($15.95/month) - good for sellers just starting to scale-up their business.
• A Featured Store ($49.95/month) - a more comprehensive solution.
• An Anchor Store ($499.95/month) - you have to be pretty serious for this option to be viable! This has all the frills for high-volume sellers who want maximum exposure on eBay.

**Top Tip**

Stick with a basic store until you've built up your feedback. Buyers will often be wary of buying from a newbie eBay store - so you may end up paying more fees than you get in revenue if you upgrade too soon.

When you open a store, people will be able to access it in two ways. They can either click through to the store from one of your items. Or they can access it through the eBay Store Directory in every category in which you have an item listed.

Note that because store owners pay a smaller fee to list their items, items will only be displayed BELOW regular auction listings when someone searches eBay. To counter this, most store owners list some of their items in regular auctions as well to get more attention.

As an eBay store owner, you also are able to use the Store Inventory listing format, exclusive to eBay Store sellers. The Store Inventory allows you to list items at a set price, set items up as 'Good 'Til Cancelled' so that they have an unlimited duration, and much more.

Having an eBay store gives you access to heaps of useful marketing tools. Just one example is RSS technology. eBay makes it easy for you to set up RSS feed from your store so that people can subscribe to your feed and receive updated item lists from your store.

**Extra privileges**

Becoming a store owner gives you the privilege of phone support from eBay during business hours, toll free.

If you want to change your User ID to match your store name, then do the following:

• Change your store name temporarily to something else (you can change it back later).
• Change your User ID. Be sure to check your spelling before submitting the change, as you can only make User ID changes once every 30 days.
• When your User Id has been changed, go back and restore the name of your store.

***Tip**

Include a 'New Arrivals' area in our eBay store to showcase your new items. This keeps your store interesting, rather than just showcasing the same old stock.

Note: When you change your User ID a little 'Changed ID' icon will be displayed next for your name for the following 30 days. This is to prevent people changing their ID for illegal purposes.

Visit http://pages.ebay.com/storefronts/faq.html#inventory to find out more about eBay stores.

Workbook

Start writing an action plan:>

What would be a viable time frame to open an eBay store?

You need to consider:

• Your feedback score - is it high enough or do you need ID verification? (Remember that high and good feedback makes more of an impression).
• Your costs - starting at an extra $15.95 per month (approx $191.40/year), plus listing costs (5 cents + 1 cent for gallery) per item.
• Your stock levels - do you have enough to make a store worthwhile?
• Your stock turnover - is there is a high enough turnover to create continual interest in your store?

What do you need to achieve before opening a store?

Have a look at some other eBay stores. What type of design have they used to make their stores appealing? Have a look at the some award winning stores:

http://pages.ebay.com/storefronts/bestinstores.html

Make a list of winning techniques you could apply to your own store.

Useful Links

• eBay store help

Want another string to your bow? Or just want someone to take some of the work off your shoulders? Learn the answers to these questions and more next week!

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