BobC
Bench Warmer
Does anyone have an EBAY store and how do they do?
EBAY Store
- Thread starter BobC
- Start date
R
rainmanesq
Guest
I have 1 and do alright. Some people load up their store w/low end inserts, gu, etc., but store fees (10% roughly) can eat that up, so it’s not worth it to list those in your store in my opinion. My store listings are mainly modern BGS/PSA cards priced @ 24.99+. Some months are better than others, some are slow (ex., people are thinking of FB now rather than baseball), but it is well worth it. The key is to have auctions to lure people into your store.
it costs $0.05 for listings under $25 and $0.10 for items $25+, gallery is $0.01, i have around 100 items in my store right now, mostly mid/high range with a bit of cheap fodder ($7 and under)...i wouldnt consider myself to have a 'huge' or 'great' inventory but i did just over $1000 my first month, mostly selling stuff i dont have much use for...ive done well buying Exquisite in lots and then piecing them out in my store for those doing the set, where they can get multiple cards from the set with combined shipping which is another key...
R
rainmanesq
Guest
I do the same thing- buy out collections or lots and break them up. some items work better in auction- some work better in stores. things like cup, exquisite, bowman chrome, etc. get the set builders/team buyers/impulse people who will hit BINs in stores. sometimes I will throw in lower end (<$25) items into my store, but often times (e.g., if it is a low end gu of a less than popular player), auctioning them off and fetching the <$5 is an easier way to go, especially if you do not want to hold items until the cows come home. Time is $ and you can only have so much cardboard around, especially if you bust a lot of cases, buy collections/lots frequently, grade a lot, etc. if you're in a hurry for cash or don't like to hold cards, perhaps the auction route is better for you. if you're ok w/waiting say 60 days to sell a card, perhaps a store would work for you. or maybe you can find a happy medium?
Another thing to consider is using the best offer feature- I have had a lot of luck w/that. Things like prospects (I mainly sell modern baseball/prospects) are hard to put BINs on, so a store lets me test the market w/o spending a ton in fees. My cost basis for prospects is always cheap, so I am not going to panic if a card in my store does not sell today. Also, timing can be an issue- guy gets hyped, have the cards in your store, bang, they often get sold before joebob can list his and the hype starts to die down. Not to mention, if you accumulate any significant amount of inventory (I happen to have way too many graded cards right now- have to list them in my store), a store lets you upload the cards once, set it for 30 days (or GTC) and easily relist it, especially if you are using an auction management program like turbolister, selling manager pro, inkfrog, etc.
I have found that when I have a decent mix of auctions and store listings, I do pretty well. Same w/listing cards from every sport (something I am currently lagging on due to time issues). Also, if you have a store, use your store reports (free) to see what people are searching for and how they navigate your store. I have been able to find new things to list that way- e.g., things that may not have sold the 1st time around, things I would not think would sell, etc
BTW, IDK if ebay’s still offering it, but they used to have a ‘first month free’ deal where you could try a store out for 30 days and the first month was free. I think they also had a ½ off 1st month deal, but I’ve had my store for so long, that IDK if they’re having any deals currently. Worth checking out though. Another idea is to visit ebay’s discussion boards for stores- see how other people do things, what current store issues (lack of visibility- though that’s changing from time to time) are, etc.
Another thing to consider is using the best offer feature- I have had a lot of luck w/that. Things like prospects (I mainly sell modern baseball/prospects) are hard to put BINs on, so a store lets me test the market w/o spending a ton in fees. My cost basis for prospects is always cheap, so I am not going to panic if a card in my store does not sell today. Also, timing can be an issue- guy gets hyped, have the cards in your store, bang, they often get sold before joebob can list his and the hype starts to die down. Not to mention, if you accumulate any significant amount of inventory (I happen to have way too many graded cards right now- have to list them in my store), a store lets you upload the cards once, set it for 30 days (or GTC) and easily relist it, especially if you are using an auction management program like turbolister, selling manager pro, inkfrog, etc.
I have found that when I have a decent mix of auctions and store listings, I do pretty well. Same w/listing cards from every sport (something I am currently lagging on due to time issues). Also, if you have a store, use your store reports (free) to see what people are searching for and how they navigate your store. I have been able to find new things to list that way- e.g., things that may not have sold the 1st time around, things I would not think would sell, etc
BTW, IDK if ebay’s still offering it, but they used to have a ‘first month free’ deal where you could try a store out for 30 days and the first month was free. I think they also had a ½ off 1st month deal, but I’ve had my store for so long, that IDK if they’re having any deals currently. Worth checking out though. Another idea is to visit ebay’s discussion boards for stores- see how other people do things, what current store issues (lack of visibility- though that’s changing from time to time) are, etc.
