Tomorrow is the D-day for eBay stores. As of midnight tonight, the new fee structure goes into effect and every store owner on eBay will begin feeling it in his/her pocketbook. Some are choosing to close their stores completely and either find a new venue for sales or switch more of their inventory over to auction or fixed price listings. Really a poor move on eBay’s part as each of them will result in a $15.99 minimum monthly loss for eBay.
What should those of us that have no immediate plans to close our stores do to help combat/offset the new fees? Here’s some ideas:
- Group store listings. List a large group of similar items in hopes that it will create a multiple purchase scenario and resulting higher sell rate.
- Less Good til Canceled listings. One of the methods I use for auctions is to run an auction and if the item doesn’t sell, wait a few weeks and then run it again. I may start using the same method for store listings. This will mean less active listings, but also less listing fees. Side effect will be that sale % could go down.
- List according to fees. When preparing a new listing, compare auction, fixed and store fees and decide on the most economical way to list.
- Adjust prices on new and existing store listings. I still want to price things to sell, but prices on some of the lower end listings will certainly have to go up to accomodate for the higher listing fees.
- Explore secondary listing venues. I don’t want to go away from eBay as it is still the most popular online auction house, however, if something that I think has potential doesn’t sell after a few listings, it may be time to find a different venue for the item. i.e. books might sell better on amazon or similar book sites.
That’s just a few of the more important changes that may need to come about depending on how hard the fee hike hits. I don’t plan on giving up on the eBay store just yet as I have had some mild success without having any set product or theme for it.
What do you plan on changing/doing about the new fees? Will you close your store? Have you already?
[tags]ebay, ebay store, ebay store fees, ebay listing fees, listing, ebay listing, fees, auction, amazon[/tags]
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September 19th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
HI I want to start selling on ebay I was reading about ebay store new fees because I was thinking of opening a ebay store ( I import taxco mexica silver jewelry). Where can I find what ebay charges for all of ebay fees????
Do you have any suggestions on any good books to help me get started selling on ebay.
I appreciate any info.
Thanks Trish
September 19th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Trish,
The best place to find the fees for eBay is on eBay. If you click on the Sell tab at the top of the screen. There you can find info on anything related to selling on eBay.
The direct link to the fees is:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html
Also, be sure to check out eBid as they are the most likely competitor for ebay at the moment.