bluroks
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posted on November 4, 2004 07:25:27 AM new
Hello everyone. I am having a hard time determining on whether to open up a Ebay store or a Vendio store or passing and running auctions.
We sell mostly gently used clothing and some collectibles. Mostly a lot of our items are one of a kind. But lately the fees are killing us on Ebay and the lack of sales these past two months. Normal week we post approx 250 auctions.
And on some of our collectibles like records, sports magazines etc. we see a lot of closing bids on Ebay for $0.01 to $1.00.
So we need something to post to and leave it there. So if anyone could offer some advice on what to do- Ebay store, Vendio Store or just continue to run auctions.
Thanks for the advice.
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AintRichYet
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posted on November 4, 2004 07:49:05 AM new
hi bluroks... definitely open an ebay store ... it only costs about $11/mo, and including a gallery pic, it costs 3 cents per listing per month, AND you can set up each listing as 'good till cancelled', so you won't have to hit 'relist' every month for the items that still are unsold... i just opened our ebay store about 5 weeks ago, and jeeeeeez, it's paid for itself plus tidy profits!!! ... i'm lovin' it.
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AintRichYet
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posted on November 4, 2004 07:53:47 AM new
.... and by the way, this was a change i did having HAD a vendio store for years, which had much fewer sales, timespan-wise, compared to the ebay store ... and it's because you're not allowed to promote your "off-ebay" store on your ebay listings.... it was hard to drive traffic over to there ...
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MAH645
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posted on November 4, 2004 10:45:24 AM new
I would go with the E-Bay store,after opening mine I wouldn't be without it now. I found the Vendio store was best for new items like clocks,License plates. I may open it again later but I have that one closed right now.
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sthoemke
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posted on November 4, 2004 02:40:31 PM new
Opening a store makes since if you have *A LOT* of items to list, and don't mind waiting for purchasers, and have a bunch of items listed to draw traffic to your store.
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Kevinatgrannys
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posted on November 4, 2004 03:03:34 PM new
At least 1/3 of my sales come from my ebay store and I still haven't sold anything out of my Vendio store. Last month over 1/2 of the actual money that I made came from selling out of the ebay store.
Kevin (Has Vendio put me on ignore?)
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nnt
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posted on November 4, 2004 05:24:53 PM new
I am thinking of opening a store. Mostly I sell books - but I will sell most anything.
Now, those of you that are having success with your stores, would you mind telling what you sell - no details, just in general.
Clothing, books, collectibles, etc.
Thanks
Trixie
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Kevinatgrannys
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posted on November 4, 2004 05:41:29 PM new
nnt,
I sell a lot of polished stone items, books and "stuff" from my B&M store. (That is just about everything under the sun, from kitchen stuff to house decorations to ???) If it is a small dollar item that there are hundreds of out on ebay, into the store it goes. All books go into the store. About half of the stone items go into the store for one reason or another. Some due to the high listing fees and some just because "I already have one of those out on auction" and others because they have had their turn at auction. The store makes a great place to put all of my inventory and if I need to put it out on auction to draw people in to the store I don't feel bad about loosing the 3 cents. Be sure to spend the penny and put a gallery picture on all of your store items that you can. Most of the sales I have come from someone just looking at the gallery picture.
Kevin
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MAH645
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posted on November 4, 2004 06:08:57 PM new
Audio books,License Plates,Clocks DVDs and Music Cds.
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AintRichYet
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posted on November 5, 2004 02:36:56 AM new
antiques
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neglus
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posted on November 5, 2004 07:25:25 AM new
My advice, in the immortal words of the NIKE ad folks..JUST DO IT.
It will cost you about $60 + $.03/listing/month with gallery to run a store for 7 months (you should get a credit for one month trial I believe. For that 60 + bucks you can run as many listings as you like.
What you should do is make a commitment to try to make the store work. You will need to stock your store and keep adding new items. You will need to run auctions that shamelessly promote and directly link to your store.
At first I wouldn't worry a whole lot about the appearance. Make sure you use store categories to best advantage. Make sure you use key words that will help people find your store both on ebay and through search engines.
After you have stocked your store, go to the ebay community discussion group "ebay stores" and read all you can about optimizing your store for search engines and submitting to search engines. There are ideas there for linking and folks are very helpful with ideas for improving your store.
Don't sign up for a "featured" or "anchor" store at first (if ever - not sure that they are any more effective than a basic store).
Make a commitment to keep the store open for a long enough period of time to determine its value - it takes a while for search engines to pick up your listings and to build a loyal clientele. It took mine a year to take off but now it constitutes between 1/4 and 1/3 of my sales.
STOCK YOUR STORE! LINK TO YOUR STORE! RUN STRATEGIC AUCTIONS! READ THE EBAY STORE DISCUSSION BOARD....GOOD LUCK!
**********************************
"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "...holy sh@#...what a ride!"
http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards
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kineticenergy
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posted on November 5, 2004 08:12:48 AM new
I am debating this as well. I had an eBay store for a 3 month period and had all of 2 sales. I have a vendio store right now. I sell mostly gently used clothing also. I really liked the flexibility of design with the eBay store. Vendio's is funtional but not exactly unique. I'm really thinking of switching.
I wonder if I would get the free month trial for the eBay store again.
http://shop.vendio.com/KineticEnergy/
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ltray
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posted on November 5, 2004 08:37:44 AM new
http://shop.vendio.com/KineticEnergy
Nice store, I wonder if my sinuses would improve if I buy the " Gap WindBreaker" pants for my spouse? 
[ edited by ltray on Nov 5, 2004 08:38 AM ]
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bluroks
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posted on November 5, 2004 09:16:09 AM new
Thanks for the advice everyone! I justed opened one up and man it was so easy!
Now to fill it up!
Thanks again!
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magneticattractions
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posted on November 5, 2004 01:10:29 PM new
If you have an eBay store..do you get charged a picture fee of .10 everytime someone opens up an item and looks at the picture (like I get charged now when I offer a second chance offer?). And do you have to pay Vendio fees on everything you sell in an eBay store?
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Kevinatgrannys
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posted on November 5, 2004 02:20:17 PM new
magneticattractions,
I don't know about the "picture fee of .10 everytime someone opens up an item". I have the Sales Manager plan through Vendio so all I pay for is the plan and image storage fees, I also pay the final value fee to both Vendio and ebay that goes with any other listings. That is why I like using my ebay store, I don't have to pay the heavy listing fees just to put it out. Just 3 cents per month for the listing and gallery on each item. (plus the monthly store fee)
I hope that this makes sense. If not, let me know and I will try to be more confused.
Kevin
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magneticattractions
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posted on November 5, 2004 04:01:08 PM new
I have the "pay as you go so my storage fees are .10 each time I put up an auction (no matter how many pics), and of course I know about all the other fees (ebay, end of listing, etc). But I did notice, whenever I send a second chance auction to somone, I'm charged an additional .10..so I wondered if I would be if I had an eBay store.
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ms24ktau
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posted on November 5, 2004 04:45:49 PM new
All of these possibilities confuse me...one person said it cost them 11.00 per month and another 60.00 per month...why is that? Also, If I have something for sale in my store, can I also list it as a regular eBay auction and if it sells either way, cancel the other. As I type this I'm thinking it would be stupid to pay both fees, or would it? How do I get people to look at my store? If they are searching for gadget xyz on regular eBay, does the regular eBay search show store items also? I think I'm getting to old for this!!!
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Kevinatgrannys
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posted on November 5, 2004 06:01:09 PM new
magneticattractions,
I am afraid that I am out of my league on this one. Maybe one of the other people here that are on the same plan as you can answer. (I hope)
ms24ktau,
The $60 was used to illustrate what it would cost to run a store for approximately 7 months. (the figures were rounded off) It is $9.95 per month for a basic ebay store. Then you would add to that the 3 cents per listing in the store. As far as listing the same thing in both your store and a auction, unless you have more than one, no you can't do both. I also would see no reason to do this. All auction items are shown in your ebay store along with your store inventory. If I have several of the same thing I will put one out on auction and the rest in the store. I us the one on auction to draw people into my store and hopefully buy more of these and something else along with it. This works very nicely during the Christmas season. (Sort of one stop shopping)
As for the search, the only way your store items show up in an active search is if there are fewer than 10(I think) auctions running of the item you are searching for. That is why it is necessary to shamelessly point out that you have an ebay store in all of your auction listings.
Everybody confused yet???
Kevin
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neglus
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posted on November 5, 2004 08:38:58 PM new
Magnetic - i think the thing with the second chance offer is that Vendio and ebay treat it like a new auction and you are charged Vendio listing fees all over again ( doesn't have anything to do with people clicking on anything.)> Vendio charges listing fees for store items MONTHLY - so yes, you will get a 10 cent Vendio fee each month on the pay as you go plan. If you have a lot of items you might want to investigate the Variable rate plans (the one I use doesn't charge listing fees but does charge a small FVF.
**********************************
"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "...holy sh@#...what a ride!"
http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards
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ms24ktau
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posted on November 6, 2004 06:04:04 AM new
Thank You Kevin...I hope you are a teacher...you're very good at making your thoughts clear on paper. I think I'm going to try it...nothing ventured, nothing gained...right???
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AintRichYet
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posted on November 6, 2004 07:30:25 AM new
neglus... if we are a vendio user, and if we set up items in our ebay Store to be good-till-cancelled, how does vendio approach the 'relisting' and "fee" of it, in regards to the automatic relaunch, and the photos contained there-in?
(i hope you understand my question lol)
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Kevinatgrannys
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posted on November 6, 2004 08:47:56 AM new
ms24ktau...Thanks for the compliment! Good luck with your store!! Don't forget, promote the heck out of it in every listing.
Kevin
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