EBay Stores-good or bad?

I only had traffic on my ebay store when I had active auctions up and alot of them. And I didn't find it drove anyone to my mall site, either.
Others have had better experiences.

Hollis
 
I closed mine when the prices went up. I didn't really get a lot of traffic to it to begin with... but then I have always been sporatic about auctions. Heck.. I've been selling on ebay longer than almost any other vintage seller... but you wouldn't know it by my feedback numbers!

I may someday open another one simply as a vessel to bring in buyers to my store. I don't know. Those prices are pretty darn high.
 
I agree the prices are a little high on the ebay store. There is so much on auctions there now that I felt that the shop would get lost with the others.
I like having my auctions at "the vintage dress".
I got in with that preferred seller discount so my cost are cheaper and I have recieved alot of traffic from it. I only have 7 items on auction at the moment. But plan to have more after I get back from vacation.
 
I've also listed an auction on the vintagedress.com

It didn't sell, but I'm willing to keep trying.
The reason I posted this question is there is a current thread going on on the VC&A board about the pros and cons of eBay stores. Everyone who posted loves them and swear they get multiple sells.

I'm just strategizing on how to make more sales. I guess staying of the chat boards and actually listing some more stuff might help huh?
Sandra
 
Don't knock public chat boards TOO much, Sandra. They bring in lots of lookers.
Heck... I rarely list stuff on ebay these days (but lo & behold! I have stuff up RIGHT NOW!) but I still pop in there now and then.
Because people ALWAYS check out your "me" page.. and that brings lookers to my website.
At least.. that's what I tell myself to justify all the time I spend chatting on various boards!
Every little bit helps.

But yeah.. I'm with ya. I've got MOUNTAINS of stuff here to list... but instead of getting it up I'm scheming of ways to go buy MORE! I'm sick, I tell ya...
 
I've got MOUNTAINS of stuff here to list... but instead of getting it up I'm scheming of ways to go buy MORE! I'm sick, I tell ya...
Click to expand...

::hiding stuff in the car so fiance doesn't notice I'm bringing more dresses home::
Click to expand...

Oh Mercy!! That's the story of my life!! :violins: This isn't a public chat forum, it's a 12-step program... and the 12 steps are:


  1. I think I'll start a little vintage business
  2. It won't take up much of my time
  3. Oh, look at all these adorable little vintage dresses
  4. But wait! There are some more cute vintage dresses
  5. I better buy some shoes and handbags! I don't want the dresses look plain!
  6. Honey, is it ok if I store some stuff in your closet. Mine is out of room for some reason!
  7. Sweetheart, have you seen the kitchen table? I could have sworn it was here yesterday.
  8. Fluffy!! Here Fluffy!! Fluffy where are you??
  9. Honey, have you seen Fluffy? Last time I saw her she was standing near the kitchen table.
  10. Honey?? Honey?? I can barely hear you! Where are you??
  11. Wait!! Don't move!! I'm going to call 911!! If you move that whole wall of dresses could come crashing down on your head and suffocate you!!
  12. Fireman: I'm sorry lady, but I'm going to have to give you a citation. You're house has been declared a public disaster zone. If you try and cram one more garment in here, I'm afraid it is going to burst.
:insert photo of house with windows blown out and vintage clothing strewn all over the lawn, up in the trees, on the car:

:insert Fluffy and spouse sitting in shock on the roof of the neighbor's house after having been projected more than a city block from the force of the explosion. Husband has a vintage Pucci bra sitting askew on his head. Fluffy is wrapped in an Hermes scarf.:
 
I decided to close my ebay store just before the fee increases - because I didn't have a single sale there, whilst at the same time I was getting sales in my Mall store.

I decided the Mall store was the better option of the two, and still do!
 
Just like anything else, Sandra, it is all about what you make of it.

If you have auctions running consistently (you don't have to have 40,000 - but ALWAYS have something running), and you stock your shop with not just the majority of stuff being "what you tried to auction 3 times and it didn't sell" but items that are add ons to what you have at auction you might see some results. (auction off the evening gown, and then use the crossmarketing tool to show that you have 2 pairs of shoes in different sizes that would match perfectly and an evening bag to go with it that might not stand on its own with the dearth of things that are on ebay - but if someone is shopping with you already, the lure of combined shipping might make them spring).

The ebay store works best all around you have modern items where you have multiples of them to buy right away in your ebay store and the auction is just a way to advertise that you have them. But what it also offers for folks is some different crossmarketing tools, etc. If you have inkfrog, etc you can use their gallery set up instead, but its good to know about.

But on the other hand, if you put no promoting into your ebay store, you will only have sporadic success. Just like anything else, I found that when i went out and publicized my ebay store, sell through rate was much higher and so was ending price. Its not something where you can just list and hope for the best if you want the best results. There are people here who have great success at ebay stores, but those folks would be a great success at any venue they chose.

The listing fee on store items on ebay is super cheap - its the FVF on auctions, etc that are skyrocketing.

I have found more and more as time goes by on having my mall store that the biggest hurdle is promoting two different messages. "come to my mall shop" but "come to my ebay store". When i really want them to come to my mall store, why promote both?

Now I am pushing my website (excuse the dust - still not 100% done yet..will be at the end of the month!) and from there i can direct people to where i am. I changed the look of my mall pages so it looks like you are still on my site when you click there, and i can choose to direct people to my auctions if i have them, but this way they are no longer counting on me to list what i have in the mall cheaper on ebay if only they wait. Mainly i find that i just use auctions for clearance, and oddball stuff but mostly only participate in group marketing like VTA.

I am a little leery about closing my ebay store. I don't have much in it, but i promoted the url to my ebay store for several years and because my ebay id is different from my shop name, for the people who still are typing the store web address in, will they no longer find me. Its a little baseless because i keep in touch with my newsletter, but some customers from aw hile back have not subscribed.
 
What I have left to do is fix the About page on the mall to relate more to the website. I have moved most of my links to the main website, but there are a few further things i want to do with it for people to click to features on the web page, and articles when i add them.

What i want to also do is make it less clicks between the front page and the merchandise. i am wondering if that makes an impact, and am really focusing on tweaking my website as a selling tool

Linda is the better example because she has her mall store 100% integrated to her website.
 
I agree with Chris' comments about stores.

I've also found my eBay store to be especially useful when I have items that didn't sell at auction. Usually, it's because the right buyer didn't come along during that week. So, I stick it in my store at 3 cents a month and eventually the right person comes along. You just have to be sure that you have room (both storage space and profit margin) to be able to do that. I have things that might sit for 3 or 6 months, but in the end I get the price I want.

An example: Last year I had a 19teens pattern for an evening dress and I had a reserve on it at auction. It didn't make it above $20, which is pitiful! I stuck it in my store and a month or two later I sold it for $75 to a repeat customer in Germany.

But a constant stream of auctions is absolutely essential to drive traffic to your eBay store - that can't be stressed enough! And those auction fees do add up.

With my store, I've found I can boost my income (to a certain point) by deciding how much to spend in eBay fees. About 20% of my gross revenue goes to eBay fees - so for example, if I want to bring in $1,000 in sales, I aim to rack up $200 in fees for the month. I divide that amount by 30 days to determine my daily goal, and I make sure to list at least that much each day.

Laura
 
I agree with Chris' comments about stores.

I've also found my eBay store to be especially useful when I have items that didn't sell at auction. Usually, it's because the right buyer didn't come along during that week. So, I stick it in my store at 3 cents a month and eventually the right person comes along. You just have to be sure that you have room (both storage space and profit margin) to be able to do that. I have things that might sit for 3 or 6 months, but in the end I get the price I want.

An example: Last year I had a 19teens pattern for an evening dress and I had a reserve on it at auction. It didn't make it above $20, which is pitiful! I stuck it in my store and a month or two later I sold it for $75 to a repeat customer in Germany.

But a constant stream of auctions is absolutely essential to drive traffic to your eBay store - that can't be stressed enough! And those auction fees do add up.

With my store, I've found I can boost my income (to a certain point) by deciding how much to spend in eBay fees. About 20% of my gross revenue goes to eBay fees - so for example, if I want to bring in $1,000 in sales, I aim to rack up $200 in fees for the month. I divide that amount by 30 days to determine my daily goal, and I make sure to list at least that much each day.

Laura
 
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