Welcome to Q4 2010!!!
THIS is the beginning of the retail roller coaster that we all call “The Holiday Shopping Season.” Are YOU ready to ramp up on eBay and make some serious cash before Baby New Year rings in January 1, 2011?
I certainly am!
Is your dream of having an eBay Store where all your stuff is organized under some semblance of categories, and you are selling TONS of stuff on a daily basis…. think again. For those of you who are sitting on the fence, keep reading….
The first hurdle for those of you who DO NOT have a store is that you will need to POPULATE your store. This means you need to get off your duff and start listing… and listing at least a hundred items a week.
A store with 5 or 10 items in it is, well, lame. Sorry to be so blunt – but that’s the truth.
If YOU walked into a brick and mortar store and the shelves were almost completely barren, would you go back? BE HONEST… no, right?
So first you will need to put your listings in overdrive to stock your virtual shelves.
Next, you need to look at your ROI (return on investment). And I don’t necessarily mean money, I want you to look at your time as well.
One of the BEST features that makes eBay stand apart from Etsy, Amazon and some of the other online giants is the ability to sell items at auction. An auction helps you sell your stuff FASTER and at a higher premium IF your item is in demand.
It is my hope that you’ve been following MY advice on only buying the stuff that sells WELL and IS in demand. If so, then that is what you are going to be listing.
An auction has a definite ENDING time. This works in the seller’s favor, as buyers are motivated to bid. An item that is listed as Fixed Price – otherwise known as “Good ’til Cancelled” does not instill any urgency on the buyer’s part. The buyer can watch the item and think about it and hem and haw ’til the cows come home or ’til you finally cancel it.
On the other hand, an item up for auction takes on a scarcity factor. It will be GONE at the end of the auction duration WHETHER OR NOT it actually sells. There are many more people dreaming about ownership of the item, and buyers get emotionally attached to the item for sale over the listing’s duration.
Also, your item gets TWO 24 hour windows of premium eBay listing exposure – “Time: newly listed” & “Time: ending soonest” – which are both sort options in the upper right hand side of the item search results screen.
If you have an item that is IN DEMAND, using an auction format is best. But what if you are concerned about the auction ending price – you want to start the auction at an amount that you are comfortable with….
A Fixed Price listing will guarantee you get that price and an auction won’t unless you spend a FORTUNE on Insertion fees – Right? WRONG.
eBay has announced that their ever popular FREE insertion fee special with ANY auction starting price will be available for the first 100 listings PER month until mid January.
So if you want to start all your auctions at say $25.00 – you can. It won’t cost you a cent… UNLESS you are a Store Subscriber. Yes, you read that right. The listing special is NOT available to those that are forking over cash on a monthly basis for a “STORE”.
Essentially, with the free insertion fee special, you are creating 3, 5, 7 or 10 day fixed price listings with the ability for the ending price to go UP. If it doesn’t sell, you can relist it again – fiddle with the price if you want or stand firm.
Okay, so we have the start price and insertion fee worked out. Now what about the Final Value Fees (FVF). Are there any breaks for Store Subscribers? The breakdown is as follows:
Store:
Up to $50: A $50.00 item would cost you:
$4.38 FVF
From $50.01 to $1000.00: A $1000.00 item would cost you:
$4.38 + $38.00 = $42.38 FVF
Anything over $1000.00: A $1500.00 item would cost you:
$4.38 + $38.00 + $10.00 = $52.38 FVF
Auction:
Up to $50: A $50.00 item would cost you:
$4.50 FVF
From $50.01 to $1000.00: A $1000.00 item would cost you:
$4.50 + $85.50 = $50.00 FVF
Anything over $1000.00: A $1500.00 item would cost you:
$4.50 + $85.50 + $45.00 = $50.00 FVF
NO, there is NOT an addition mistake under the auction breakdown. Although the FVF is a FLAT 9% for NON-Store Subscriber Auctions, there is a $50.00 cap on each auction! For higher priced stuff you do get a break on FVF’s. To look at it in a more realistic manner, basically you will pay $0.12 MORE in FVF for a $50 sale, BUT the insertion fee for an auction is FREE and depending on your start price you would end up paying DOUBLE or more in the FVF savings.
Here are the store breakdown of Store Subscribers Auction insertion fees:
Store Auction Insertion:
Start Price $0.99 — Fee $0.10
Start Price $9.99 — Fee $0.25
Start Price $24.99 — Fee $0.50
Start Price $49.99 — Fee $0.75
Start Price $199.99 — Fee $1.00
Start Price OVER $200.00 — Fee $2.00
Finally we need to look at the overall savings in FIXED Price Insertion fees. For an eBay Seller WITHOUT a store the insertion fee for ANY start price is $0.50. Please note that the FVF’s are ALL over the place and can range from 6% to 12% depending on the selling category. There is NO FVF cap.
The Fixed Price Store Insertion Fees are on a sliding scale depending on your Store Subscription Level:
Basic Store with a Monthly Subscription Price of $15.95 is $0.20 resulting in a $0.30 savings per item. You would need to list OVER 53 Fixed Priced items with NO auctions to COVER the subscription cost.
Premium Store with a Monthly Subscription Price of $49.95 is $0.05 resulting in a $0.45 savings per item. You would need to list OVER 111 Fixed Priced items with NO auctions to COVER the subscription cost.
Anchor Store with a Monthly Subscription Price of $299.95 is $0.03 resulting in a $0.47 savings per item. You would need to list OVER 638 Fixed Priced items with NO auctions to COVER the subscription cost.
Of course there are other perks for the Anchor store, but if you have that many items live, chances are PRETTY good that you ALREADY have a Store, so this article is a moot point for you anyway.
If you want to add that extra incentive for the anxious buyer (who would be looking for a Fixed Price Item), consider adding a “Buy It Now” that is about 10% HIGHER than what you think your item is worth. That way the buyer who doesn’t want to wait it out can pay a little bit of a premium price for instant gratification. If you have NO CLUE what your item is worth, then putting it up for auction at a start price that covers your time and investment will let the MARKET define your item’s worth – which is not a bad strategy at all.
Getting back to those sitting on the fence, I’m going to leave you with one additional thought, it appears that eBay is putting MORE weight on the regular Fixed Price items (NOT Store Items) in their mysterious “Best Match” search algorithms. So listing items as Store Listings may actually DECREASE your item visability.
Right now, eBay is rewarding high DSR’s, good customer service and active SELLERS, not necessarily active LISTERS or Store Subscribers.
My advice… SKIP the Store and concentrate on listings items that have GREAT sell-through rates, high auction ending prices and are easy to source, list and ship.
Now go out and make some BIG BUCKS selling in Q4!!
