posted on September 16, 2006 07:13:55 PM new
But isn't that counter to what most people predicted; i.e. that with higher Stores fees people would close up shop and slink away into the night?
And doesn't that run contrary to the continuing kvetching (I just wanted to say "continuing kvetching" once, somewhere) about Search? How can you expect to sell Stores items without the pull of core listings if Search is so broken?
posted on September 16, 2006 07:30:32 PM new
It is very possible they are driving traffic to their store via google ads, etc. rather than solely being in the confines of Ebay. It may not be necessary for them to run core auctions at all. Might even be cheaper no to run auctions.
posted on September 16, 2006 08:18:36 PM new
Beth,
Which sellers are you referring to? I was one of the big guys in your category... (4000+ ads listed in my store)... and I left eBay for my own site. Never been happier! My costs are WAY down... My sales have dropped slightly (but not significantly) and I'm making WAY more profit... and that's only after a few weeks on my own.
I'm not disputing your research... I'm just honestly curious... I usually stay on top of what else is going on in our category... but I've been too busy with my own site to pay much attention lately. I wonder how their sales are doing...
posted on September 16, 2006 10:10:10 PM new
My most expensive cost per sale is relists - which I will be cutting back on before stores. My second most expensive item is auctions - first list.
posted on September 17, 2006 05:48:33 AM new
Easy to see these stores. Just go to Ebay Stores and search for Ad.
Susan: 20,000
Period paper: 10,000
Ea: You were a good size but there is a whole page and a half that were larger.
One of the things that I do see is a conundrum in my area. Everyone pretty much has the same stuff. So you are forced to compete on price (hence the 99 cent guys) or you are forced to find a supply of relatively rare items (except for Period paper, who developed his own authenticating site and charges 20X everyone else for the same thing...what did Barnum say?).
So, if I put a 1905 Pierce Arrow car ad up for auction, right below me will be the 30 store items that are exactly the same or similar for anywhere from 99 cents to $23. It is not in my best interest to run a core listing to give the store sellers "free" views.
Therefore, I want to try to find unique ads, but if I do, why list them as auctions? If someone is searching for a 1945 Squeeze ad I will be the only one, so just leave it in my store. The only reason to list it at auction is if I know there will be a bidding war, which there was on the Squeeze ad.
This is the conundrum: why list to auction at all in 99% of the cases? It is never in my best interest unless there might be a bidding war.
Again, a core listing does not necessarily draw others to my eBay store as the competition is selling the same or similar items a few inches below me.
(Edited to add: EA: My vendio store was about 50% of my sales until I opened my eBay store. It then dropped to 10-20% of sales. As I change product mix and market to particular niches through print media, that number is climbing back to 40% range).
posted on September 17, 2006 06:31:59 AM new
Beth,
I agree completely! It's a tough field on eBay. I honestly don't know how sellers like Susan are making it. With her number of listings, and gallery usage... her monthly LISTING fees on eBay are $1,215.95.
If her average ad selling price was $9.99 (which it looks like it's probably a bit lower) she'd have to sell LOTS of ads just to break even. Her profit for each $9.99 ad wouldn't be that much. 10% or $1.00 would be eaten up by final value fees. Then if you add in labor costs to create the listingss (say... 6 minutes average time per ad @ minimum wage of $5.15, or about $0.52 per ad) AND That's before Paypal fees... which is probably about another $0.50 per sale. And none of that's including the cost of the magazines to get the ads from! Her total profit per ad (if the average sale was $9.99) would be about $7.97. Plus, she's definately not making up any of these costs in s/h. She would have to sell 153 ads per month just to break even. As you know the sell-through-rate for our area isn't always that good. Not impossible, especially with 20,000 listings... but it sure seems like an awful lot of work just to make eBay richer. I'd be surprised if she's making more money herself than eBay is off of her hard work.
I think that's why sellers in our field are going to have to look for other venues to effectively market their items. I'm glad that the Vendio store is working out well for you! I'm equally pleased with my website.
I definitely agree with you on the auctions, though. They were the biggest waste of money for me too. I was utilizing them just to advertise my eBay store items. I'd be lucky to sell enough auction items to cover the listing costs of the auctions. But, occassionaly, I'd pick up a few store sales too. I'm not surprised that many ad sellers are dropping those first... but, I expect they may drop their eBay stores (or significantly decrease their inventory) after a few months of "testing the waters" with the new eBay pricing.
posted on September 17, 2006 08:17:48 AM new
Postcard sellers have similar problems - small sellers dumping cards in their store for 99 cents who think they're making money. I disagree that people will find unusual items in your store so why list at auction. Not to kvetch- but store items can be darned invisible at times. I have a postcard with 8 bids on auction now and a very similar one languishing in my store at half the price.
posted on September 17, 2006 09:11:24 AM new
I tried an experiment. I listed items I had a few of in both auctions and store listings. That includes the multitude of LPs I have. I have some very unique items. Most of my sales were from the store listings.
