barncat Posted July 4, 2006 Posted July 4, 2006 Does anyone have a ebay store and how does it work for you? Is it worth it $$ wise? Does it do better than your website does? (edited to say ebay stores not paypal...oops) Quote
Janelle Posted July 5, 2006 Posted July 5, 2006 I actually just opened an ebay store. Nothing so far, but I think it may take some time to take off like with anything else. I'll let you know what happens. I would love to hear from someone who has had one for a while too though! Quote
lindsaycb Posted July 5, 2006 Posted July 5, 2006 Are you saying an ebay store..or their websites that they offer that coordinate with ebay? They offer prostores I believe which seem pretty nice but I wish they'd show you templates before purchasing.I have an ebay store and this last fall/winter I did rather well. BUT you basically are selling at wholesale prices after all of the fees come through. From ebay to paypal, it knocks off quite a bit of $$. There was a month or so where I had $200 worth of monthly fees for Ebay. Quote
billyne Posted July 5, 2006 Posted July 5, 2006 I have one that i sell shoes on- www.sassyshoediva.com --never sold candles on there though ( sorry ) .I use vendio to list my stuff--makes listing a whole lot easier-- www.vendio.com their message board is very helpful.I did pretty well on there but during the summer i do alot of festivals and I don't think that I can juggle both, so I plan on not selling online until the fall but the store is still there if you would like to check it out. Quote
thecandlespastore Posted July 5, 2006 Posted July 5, 2006 I have an Ebay store, and it does pretty well. I had a prostores earlier this year, but I personally do not care for their templates or the setup. So I cancelled.My Ebay store is a featured store. I pretty much adjust my prices to cover my fees, and I have a small handling charge that gets included in the shipping that covers my selling fees and the Paypal fee, so for me its worth it. I had a website but I just recently cancelled it and had my domain forwarded to a blog. Its free, you can punch in payment buttons, and its just saves me the added expense. Plus blogs get more hits for free. I suppose when I start making more money I will reopen the website and even pay someone to design it for me, but that probably won't be for a few months.The way I see it, having my Ebay store is more beneficial for me because for the fees you are getting advertising and having your products seen by so many all over the world, whereas on your wedsite you have to pay for some kind of advertising, or do your best to post your website on as many free sites as possible so you get hits, IE putting your website in your siggy in forums, etc. Cost per click is expensive and can run you a pretty penny each month. If those hits are converting to sales, super! But if they dont then you are out of $$$. Having a website has its great points too. Some websites do let you submit your items to Froogle as well, and you can also sign up for Google Adsense,which is free and pays you to put advertising on your website, and in turn puts yours in other ads that may be seen on other sites too. I just got a $146 check from Google not too long ago. If you are looking for a good website, try shoppingcartsplus.com, I love their templates plus it is so easy to integrate your merchant account and your Paypal account in there. I hav been using them for over 5 years. I also just signed up for an Amazon Silver Store. Uploading items little by little, but I tell you, Nordstom, Lush, and so many other stores are on there making a killing each month! So it motivates me. If you need any help with Ebay and/or website, just PM me:D Quote
thecandlespastore Posted July 5, 2006 Posted July 5, 2006 Forgot to add that I also have a very low cost loyalty program that gives my customers 2% back instantly after they pay with paypal. It has made my repeart buyer percentage pretty high. I also have a map that shows all the locations I have shipped to in the past, up to the last minute, which makes buyers comfy with purchasing for me. I use both tools in my Ebay store and they can be used on websites too. Its with mystorerewards.com and mystoremap.com. Quote
Luci Posted July 5, 2006 Posted July 5, 2006 I bought my first soap supplies and candle stuff on ebay. When I got hooked, if I liked the seller, I would always try to buy again. Several of the sellers I really liked had their websites listed on the about me page. I always go to the website to purchase now to save them the ebay fees. Also, I did notice that lots of times the ebay prices were higher than the website prices unless I got lucky with an auction item. Ebay has been a help for me finding suppliers. Quote
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