The answer to that question is a resounding "YES", for many reasons, most importantly the following: Benefits On eBay You'll have a unique, personalized and customized section of eBay just for your listings to be presented to potential buyers. You'll be able to develop your own brand , including a color scheme, theme, logo, and format for your Store, to become more memorable and recognizable to other eBay users, particularly buyers. You'll have access to many additional advertising and marketing tools and techniques, including the ability to create Promotional Boxes to display prominently on your main Store homepage, announcing new items, specials, sales, or featured products You'll have an email mailing list for which eBay users can sign up and opt in to receive promotional emails, newsletters, etc.
You'll have several different buttons, links, icons, logos, etc. Benefits Outside eBay Having an eBay Store is one of the most effective methods of obtaining exposure for your listings outside of eBay. There are many features included with an eBay Store that can provide greater prominence to your listings within the search results on Google, Yahoo and other search engine websites, and many of these don't exist within regular eBay listings.
For example, the Search Engine Keywords feature within "Manage My Store" gives you the invaluable opportunity of determining your own keywords and meta tags for Google indexing. Along with that, there are certain sections of your eBay Store that are highly searchable on the internet, even more so than your Store in general, and you can optimize those aspects of your Store quite easily to improve your rankings in the search results on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines.
One of the most notable of these is the custom pages you can create, which are considered extremely content-rich and thus, highly searchable. When this happens, Ebay still charges you a final value fee unless you manually request a refund using their unpaid item process.
If you sell many items through Ebay, this can be a very tedious process. While Ebay has introduced an unpaid item assistant to help with this issue, not all sellers have access to this tool. Because Ebay is such a cut throat marketplace, there is rampant piracy. Unscrupulous sellers will steal your images and your listing verbiage and sell your exact same items alongside of you.
As soon as one copycat goes down, another one pops up. Unless you feel like paying hundreds of dollars a month, Ebay greatly limits what you can do with your storefront. They try to bundle their stores with design tools to add value, but most or all of these tools are available on the web for free already thanks to companies like Google.
And the design of these pages is very canned. Meanwhile, you can build unlimited pages on your own website that you host yourself. When I shop on Ebay, I look for bargains. Especially since most of the stores on Ebay are mom and pop shops or individuals working out of their home, people generally expect to pay less for their merchandise versus a real store. What this means is that you will rarely get top dollar for your items.
Because you are limited by what Ebay allows you to do with your store design, the only way to differentiate yourself is to lower your prices which will cut into your margins. Because Ebay is a closed platform, you do not have access to your customer base nor can you sell to your customers outside of Ebay.
After all, you can not collect emails and you are not allowed to solicit customers after a sale has been made. In other words, you have to constantly fight for new customers and you will never build a loyal customer base. The other problem is that shoppers who buy on Ebay believe that they are buying from individuals or small business owners selling goods out of their garage.
If you want to start a long term ecommerce business, then Ebay is the absolute wrong place to do it. Even though Ebay is not a good long term home for your ecommerce business, there are some benefits to selling on their platform.
As a result, selling on Ebay is a great way to validate your product before you go all in. By selling new items on Ebay first, you can quickly test the market to determine whether you should move forward with a bulk order. Ebay is also a great place to liquidate your old junk or products that have been gathering dust in your warehouse.
To perform product research and validation on Ebay , I like to use a tool called Terapeak. Terapeak scrapes all of the completed listings on Ebay and tells you what products are hot. Related: If you are interested in learning how to sell online, click here to take my FREE 6 day mini course.
I will walk you through the process of finding a product to sell and how to make your first sales online. In the long run, it always pays to own your own platform. After all, when you own your own business, you call all of the shots. No one can raise prices on you. No one can change their selling policies on you No one can ban you from your own platform.
The most compelling reason to start your own online store is that it allows you to own your customer base.
After all, a customer who has purchased from you once is many times more likely to buy from you again. You can gather emails. You can differentiate yourself from the competition with your own design.
You can establish a brand. The biggest hurdle most people have when building their own store is the fear of the unknown.
But these days, there are many simple and inexpensive ways to build your own shopping cart. For example, there are many shopping cart software packages already written for you.
Here are some choices. Whatever you decide, stay away from Ebay Stores. Related: If you are interested in learning how to start your own online store, click here to take my FREE 6 day mini course. What Is Ebay Online Shopping? Ebay is an online marketplace where you can buy goods and services from individuals and businesses from all over the world.
It doesn't matter if the products are new or used, you can find practically anything for sale on their platform. Thanks to buyer protection, it is very safe to buy from Ebay.
If you don't receive your purchased goods or if you are unhappy with your products, you can file a Paypal dispute. In general, Ebay tends to side with the buyer. The cost of running an Ebay store varies depending your plan. The right plan to choose depends on your listing volume as there are price breaks with each tier.
Ebay charges both a listing fee and a final value fee to sell on their platform. In addition, there are various promotional and listing features that you must pay for to make your listing more visible to prospective buyers. In this 6 day mini course, I reveal the steps that my wife and I took to earn thousand dollars in the span of just a year. Best of all, it's free and you'll receive weekly ecommerce tips and strategies! Steve Chou is a highly recognized influencer in the ecommerce space and has taught thousands of students how to effectively sell physical products online over at ProfitableOnlineStore.
To stay up to date with all of the latest ecommerce trends, Steve runs a 7 figure ecommerce store , BumblebeeLinens. Steve carries both a bachelors and a masters degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Despite majoring in electrical engineering, he spent a good portion of his graduate education studying entrepreneurship and the mechanics of running small businesses.
Everyone — this article is wrong. I am selling full-time on ebay with a store and doing fine. My previous career is 10 years in web development. Ebay does a hell of a job with all the features of the site not to mention all the security. That is just bottom pricing. I was up all the time managing the sites, working with clients, and dealing with security issues. Plus all the plug ins and widgets you need to show the same information query stuff the ebay store has.
Also, I fail to mention the SEO you need to promote the site and the hours of social media you need to just get the brand recognition out there. So, with all the penny pinching involved, ebay stores are well worth every penny! I completely agree. Ive made a living on eBay and its really not hard IF you have the right inventory source that also drop ships. I found an amazing blog on how to make money one ebay. It gives you a free step by step guide. I agree….. I have had my own website online since !!
Yet eBay is where the sales are still coming from… even though I constantly plug my own website where ever possible people just wont shop there…. The main reason I still have my own website up and running is that is where I use the page source code to drop into my eBay listings and host my images from…. With the recent change to eBay policy stating that I needed to offer larger gallery images at first I declined but then so did my overall sales… So I finally decided to go back and rebuild the entire list of over items and so far am only up to listings but the sales are better than ever..
I guess they were right the larger gallery image does show the buyer of our photographs — how clear our photos actually are…. Then your store makes them money and they get a good chunk of the sellers. Now they want to charge me more to go back to basic on top of their calculated percent of what I may sell. Bull shit! The industry is a China-mart and you do have to compete.
The stores are a rip off and eBay is a rip off as I work full time on it too. Ebay and Paypal are crooks! One thing I think the author failed to mention, is that it also provides the option to showcase your items in search engines, that your own website may not quite be doing so well with your own SEO. If you provide clear information about your own website in the ebay listing, you can then drive traffic back to your website too. But for me, paying for the business shop feature, it is not necessary.
I use the basic functions from time to time for exposure. Absolutely right, you lose all power. Ebay and Paypal are a law unto themselves. They are above the law. Frightening really that an organization should become so powerful and our governments do nothing about it.
Sorry, but Ebay DOES take way too much money from the sellers and guarantees buyers just about anything. Using Ebay is like using Craigslist but Craigslist doesnt take your profit away from you. Ebay is a rip off. Thanks for the heads up. I am planning on selling some items on ebay for the first time and eventually I would like to open up my own online shopping store. Ebay attracts a lot of buyers therefore it saves you money on getting traffic to your products. Having your own domain will require a lot of promotion which is very time consuming and costly too.
Agreed they bring in a lot of business but their fees are so exorbitant that it defeats the advantage of their promotional ability. I have gone from ebay to independent, I would never go back. The only advantage which is a huge one to selling on Ebay is the traffic. The elimination of good decent honest sellers continues unabated at ebay.
They shut me down! Someone should start a class action suit against them, maybe using their security breach as a point among others People would come out of the woodwork! Talk about disgruntled! The fees paid do not bother me so much. They have to charge fees on shipping due to sellers cheating the system and charging. Grow up… They had to design the website, get investors and drive tons of traffic to the site and get it as popular as it is today.
They did all this to make money. And one quick question, why are you selling anything?? You are all complete idiots. Wanting to have all the benefits that Ebay spends millions on IE traffic without paying for it. I totally agree with what you have said! Ebay spends millions for people to have a place to come and make a business?
I understand that it cuts into your margins but think of it this way, you are paying to use the site.. This means more sales, more money, and inevitably more fees to be paid, however you are doing business. I totally agree with you. Which far outweighs the fees they charge me… without them I have nothing..
BUT still my own website fails to find buyers like eBay can…. Spit in the bucket. I thought that the article was suggesting exactly that. Thanks for adding so much to the discussion. I appreciate this post and am taking it to heart. I am looking to help my parents set up an ebay store so they can move a lot of the stock from their antique store that amongst other factors was killed by Ebay ironic. I am wondering if there are factors to an ebay store that would give added value that you would not get on your own?
Ease of use 2. Name recognition, credibility 3. Sense of protection 4. Ease of payment options 5. Is there an added exposure to marketing or do you still have to do all the marketing that you would have to do as a new website owner? With these answered it may be that the costs are acceptable in some cases. I am not pro Ebay, they terminated me as an affiliate without paying me due commissions. Throw in the exorbitant fees and Ebay becomes an unattractive option in the long run. Thanks Steve, that sounds just about right.
I have to agree with this article, setting up your own website is the way to go. Running an ebay store can be done in parallel with owning your own website but one should never rely solely on eBay. Your Crazy, You know how hard it is to get unique hits, and than turn that into sales, for less cost than ebay? And thats the easy part.
You might have a chance with a program like WordPress after you figure out all the plug-ins, custom design everything which might take you a few weeks. Or use Storesonline. People who are looking for and buying your products. That kind of traffic and exposure is very hard to come by on the search engines!
The fees reflect the benfits. I made the website everything was seemed good, I also got google adwords for it. I have no idea, but they blacklisted me saying I was not allowed to use them anymore no explanation. I think if you have the money and the right item you could make a great website.
But getting your customers is very difficult Good things about ebay,ebay is pretty trustworthy company, you get lots of potential customers, most times its safe and secure. Also its not always true the buyer is going for the cheapest item they will also go by the sellers feedback as for me I always go 4 the cheapest ;p I have sold items a little higher than what other sellers are selling it for not much maybe a few dollars more. What level of support do you want?
Even more reasons to get an eBay Store. Marketing tools and support Run a sale or offer coupons with exclusive eBay promotional pricing tools Access exclusive eBay sales insights to help you decide what to sell, when to sell and how much to sell for Easily manage your Store in Seller Hub Choose your Store name and custom design your homepage. Perks to boost your profits Get unlimited insertion fee credits for auction listings that end in a sale Use your quarterly coupon for eBay-branded shipping supplies.
Some benefits are not available with Starter Store subscription. Selling scenarios to help you choose Explore the scenarios below to help you decide which eBay Store option will work for you. Paolo Antiques, Basic Store Paolo lists about 1, items per month. Jasmine Jewelry, Premium Store Jasmine chose a Premium Store because she loves the freedom of having 10, free fixed-price listings per month, since she sells multiples of different products.
How difficult is it to change my eBay Store subscription? Not difficult at all. Simply go to My eBay and click on Account, then Subscriptions. Your live listings will remain live on the site after changing your Store subscription level. You can change your logo, Store name, categories, and more at any time by going to Manage My Store located in the left navigation column of My eBay.
FAQs Expand all Collapse all. Visit the Help Center for more detailed information on selling features and fees. Subscribe to a Store Store fee rates Manage your current subscription General fees information. Was this page helpful? Please answer this question before sending. Page name. When you do not have a store subscription for yourself, the listing appears as shown below in the image,. When you do get a store subscription for yourself, your listing appears as shown below. Many reasons can be put forth to convince you why you should go ahead with an eBay store.
With the eBay store subscription, your products get more exposure. The exposure only means an increase in the number of your customers. With a store on eBay, you can work and excel on your customer service and experience efficiently.
Excellent customer service is also one of the most influential factors that pave the way to customer retention. But what needs to be kept in mind is the number of listings that you deal in regularly. Here you need to evaluate your sales when subscribing. It can help you select the right subscription type. For instance, opting for an enterprise subscription when you only have products to list makes no sense and will only result in imminent losses.
According to eBay, if you have more than 50 listings per month, going ahead with the store subscription can be a great way to save money. Having a store represents you are here not just to sell but to establish yourself as an entity. Also, it adds to your professional credibility. When you go ahead with the eBay store subscription, you get to set a unique URL for your store.
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