Dear eBay Queen: Should I Open a eBay Store, eCommerce Store or be an eBay Seller?

Dear eBay Queen:

I’ve been selling full time for about six months.  I am thinking maybe I need a store.  Can you tell me the difference between an eBay store, online store and just listing my stuff for 30 days on eBay?

I really would like to make a go of this, and support my family.  My sales are increasing each month.  I would appreciate any tips you can give me.

Trina

 

Dear Trina:

There are drastic differences between an eBay store and an eCommerce store.  An eBay store is hosted on eBay and must abide by the rules of eBay.  An eCommerce store is hosted by the hosting provider of your choice, and you choose the rules, payment options etc.  An eBay store can cost you anywhere from $19.99 to $199.99 per month.  An ecommerce store can cost you as little as $15.95 a month, up to hundreds of dollars per month.  A buyer can search for your item on search engines either way.

The difference between an eBay store and just listing your things for 30 days on eBay are all financial in my opinion.

Subscription fees

Store type Monthly subscription fee Yearly subscription fee
Basic $19.95 per month $15.95 per month
Premium $59.95 per month $49.95 per month
Anchor $199.95 per month $179.95 per month

 

When you sell on eBay as a seller, you receive 50 free listings a month.  As a person with a store you receive more free listings, and get a discount on insertion fees.

Store type Number of free insertion fee listings per month Auction-style insertion fees Fixed price insertion fees for Books, DVDs & Movies, Music, Video Games Fixed price insertion fees for other categories
Basic 150 $0.25 $0.05 $0.20
Premium 500 $0.15 $0.05 $0.10
Anchor 2,500 $0.10 $0.05 $0.05

You also receive lower final value fees if you have a store.

I don’t think it would hurt to open an eBay store.  How many listing do you normally put on eBay per month?  If you list over 75-100 I’d start with the basic store.  If you list anything over 200 I’d try the premium store.  It may seem like a lot to list 500 items, but it might be just what you need to push you to list more and sell more.

 

Dear eBay Queen:

I’m not sure what to do.  I had a buyer make an offer for 3 different counted cross stitch kits I have for sale.   I accepted one of the offers, and countered on the other two.  She accepted, and I sent her an invoice for all 3 items.  Shipping is slightly over 1.5 lbs, so I gave her a quote for exact priority mail shipping.  She messaged this back to me:

“I was not expecting shipping to be so high! Could you knock $6.00 off of this? I really feel like you are robbing me!  I want to have a good feeling about this, and I don’t. Please let me know if you’ll take the $6.00 off.”

I’m not sure what to say!  It seems like if I don’t do it, she’ll leave me a negative. I’m not ripping her off, I’m charging exact shipping, which is $8.95!  What should I do?

Diane

Dear Diane:

I would message her and perhaps send a link to the USPS website that shows how much shipping is, and how you are charging her the exact amount, then I would ask her if she would like for you to cancel all three transactions.  If she declines the cancellation, I would call eBay and see if they might give you a suggestion on what to do if she leaves a negative, or dings your stars.

The other option is to give in, and discount the shipping by six dollars.  I don’t recommend doing that.  I believe it teaches buyers bad behavior, and they could ding your stars or give you a negative anyway.

 melissashirleybasket

Strange eBay Item of the Week: Item #: 371295248698. Needlepoint is my hobby, and can be quite expensive if you’re searching for a specific canvas. Canvases by Melissa Shirley are highly sought after.  Melissa Shirley California Basket Bouquet Hand Painted Needlepoint Canvas, Guide & Thread. SOLD: $330.00.

 

Dear eBay Queen: Return Requests and Cell Phones don’t mix.

Dear eBay Queen:

I’ve been selling for a couple of years, and have always had a “no refund” policy.  I read on an eBay message board that buyers don’t want to buy from someone that doesn’t accept returns.  At the beginning of the year I started accepting returns.  Yesterday, I received my first return request, and I’m kind of confused. I received the following message from eBay:

You can issue a full refund or offer a partial refund.  In either case the buyer keeps the item.  If there is a problem you can ask us to step in and help on (date.)

I don't understand this. In the request details it says buyer pays return shipping. What am I missing? I don't want to accept return until I know what I am agreeing to.

The buyer selected “wrong size or didn’t fit” and left the following comment:

“I received the item and it’s a really cute dress, but it is too small for me.  Thank you for sending it so quickly.  How do I return it for a refund?  The tags are still attached.”

Why can’t I just get the item back and refund her money?  Why would I want to give the buyer a refund and let them keep it?

Paula

 

Dear Paula:

I am assuming you are looking at this return request on your phone.  I had a similar thing happen to me too, when I was trying to respond to a return request on my phone.  When you look at this on a computer you’ll see a different layout.  There are a couple of options when you view this from your computer you should see:

  • Accept the return. Buyer pays for shipping wait to get the item back before you refund the buyer.
  • Refund the buyer, you fully refund the buyer to close this request.  The buyer keeps the item.
  • Offer a partial refund.  You fully refund the buyer to close this request.  The buyer keeps the item.
  • Send a message.  Communicate with your buyer.
  • Ask us to step in and help. If there’s a problem, you can ask us to step in and help on  (date)

This will not give you a defect since the buyer said that it was too small. I would simply accept the return and wait for the buyer to send it back.

 

Dear eBay Queen:

I’m not sure what is going on here. I seem to be having a TON of grumpy or irrational customers. Is this just the way that the first of the year goes?  I’ve only been selling full time for 6 months or so, and I have been really happy with my sales on eBay and Amazon, but handling these grumpy customers is about all I can take.  Here is the worst one:

What a horrible eBay person you are!  Your customer service is the worst!  It’s like I’m shopping at Dollar General!  I ordered this dress for my daughter’s school recital and it has not arrived.  The tracking shows that it went to California, and I live in Texas!  I am leaving you a negative feedback for your poor customer service!  I also will be telling everyone I know that you can’t put the proper address on a package.  How stupid can you be to send it to California?  I’ll be waiting for your excuse to see how negative my feedback will be.”

I messaged this lady back to let her know that it was sent to the address in Texas, and that it was misrouted by the post office.  She still left me a negative.

Just yesterday I had a customer open an item not received case and it was just sent 3 days before that!  Do you have any advice for me?  What am I doing wrong?

Grace

 

Dear Grace:

I’ve always thought that customers were a bit grumpier in January and February than they are the rest of the year.  The best way to handle a grumpy customer is to kill them with kindness.  No matter how unfriendly they are to you, be kind to them.  It’s hard I know, but in the end when you have to call eBay, the grumpy buyer will look bad and you will be the seller that kept your cool.

I think I would contact eBay about the negative.  You just might be able to get this removed since it was not your fault the post office sent it to the wrong place first, and there is a veiled threat of feedback in her message.

eyeglasses

Strange eBay Item of the Week: Item #351238783836  Looking for some unique eyeglasses? eBay might be the place to look! The Worldwide Most Populare Vintage Eyeglasses by Philippe Chevallier Paris N92 SOLD: $3990.00.

eBay Room’s Gone Wild…

I’ve been busy.. and my eBay room at church is suffering because of it.

Here’s what it looks like when I walk in the room.. The only thing

in there that the eye can see that is mine? The HUGE purse..

and the computer.

Here’s a view from my desk…

Here’s the main eBay room.. scary huh?  I’ll be working on this stuff ASAP..

If you don’t hear back from me by Tuesday send help 😉

How can a Simple Blanket Create SO many eBay Problems?

This looks like a simple chenille blanket huh?  I had 3 of them at one time.

They were perfect, new and in the original packaging.

Super soft an a very nice shade of chocolate brown.  I sold all 3 of them.  Here’s my eBay ad:

Up for auction is a very nice NEW Luxury Chocolate Brown Chenille Throw Blanket.</P>

  • NEW
  • HEAVY thick blanket
  • chocolate or deep dark brown
  • dry clean only
  • retails 120.00
  • 50×70
  • The fringe is  LONG (about 6″) and  will arrive slightly tangled.
  • Shipping is Free!

So why would anyone be upset at this blanket?  It’s brand new, free shipping, color was

accurately represented.. what could it be?  Out of the  3 that I sold I received a neutral

and a negative from the buyers.  Do you have any idea what ticked them off so bad?