posted on September 10, 2001 10:36:50 AM new
A few have reported OK success with their store. Most have reported very underwhelming results.
I personally tried pretty hard to get something out of it - I had links in all my auctions and tried "specials" but no dice. I had tons of people use buy-it-now on auctions priced the same as the store. So I know it wasn't my price.
Until eBay stores has a nicer portal and a search capability, I think they will be pretty much a zero for most people. Despite all their press releases and glamour partners.
posted on September 10, 2001 11:04:43 AM new
vargas,
Actually, you can have your BIN & use it, too. You can add a link in your auction to your store w/wording such as, "if you like this one, come to my ebay store for more items like this".
People who missed the BIN might well come over to pick up one for themselves.
My store sales started to pick up once I used the "come on over & see more items" w/a link directly to the store.
posted on September 10, 2001 11:54:23 AM new
Mine has been coming in spurts - nothing for a week, and then a few sales, then nothing again, then another flurry.. A couple of weeks ago I sold 8 of my handcrafted items.
Last night I sold 19 Harry Potter trading cards to a lady who is THRILLED to be able to finish up her set because she needed just single commons/uncommons and few sell those..
I also have links in my auctions referring back to my ebay store: In a set of cards I'll put something like "If you're looking for individual cards, please visit my Ebay Storefront". I think that's how this buyer found me is from an auction with a link. 8)
Since I'm on page 7 of the Collectibles I don't think I get much traffic that way...
posted on September 10, 2001 12:08:01 PM new
is ebay store included in major search engines such as lycos,google etc??
ebay store items are not included in ebay auction search,so if they are not in major search engines search,then how do you expect to sell anything??
how many ebay bidders bother to do ebay store search when they have plenty of items in ebay auction??
posted on September 10, 2001 02:11:13 PM new
i don't have an ebay store, so this is my impression of them solely as a buyer.
when i first saw them, i clicked on a couple and then never bothered again. until the other day, when i'd clicked into an interesting listing and the seller had said in the description something along the lines of 'visit my ebay store, i have 100 other vintage widgets for sale there.' that was worth my time, because i had a good idea of what i'd find listed there and they were, generally, what i was looking for.
posted on September 10, 2001 07:01:07 PM new
It is too soon to write a glowing review or a sad obituary for the ebay stores. They are slowly evolving and I think could become a great tool.
The stores were hampered from the outset by incredibly poor design - the appearance is just another "other auctions" format and takes getting used to. Also the seller can not determine what offerings go in which order.
I waited a month for some of the worst bugs to be worked out, then just opened a bare bones store. Nothing.
Then I added some links, some pictures and some special items just in the store and got a few sales.
So I added some more links, to my specific categories and the sales increased some.
For me it is growing about as fast as I can make it but there is one possible downside. As my store sales grow, my auction bids and BIN orders have shrunk. I am not sure if I am ahead or not, also too early to infer more than general trends.
One thing I have noticed, however, is that the store has helped with the larger tiket items, perhaps because store items are listed by price, starting with the highest. I like the resulting larger sales even if the low ticket items go begging.
I may add a "Under $10 Gifts" Category for the bargain hunters.
Ebay stores are only as good as your ability to drive traffic to them. Ebay does very little unless you are a power seller and pay for the featured seller privilege. Curently that is by invitation only, though I doubt it will do a small specialized seller much good. Great for sellers with deep inventory of popular categories. Just what we feared, eh? The Wal-Marting of ebay.
