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What Can I Expect When I Open An eBay Store?~Repost

Many people start selling on eBay to get rid of things from around the house or to make some quick cash, so they start a selling account and list auctions.

After they get bit by the “eBay bug” they start listing more frequently and start thinking about opening an eBay store.

In my opinion, eBay stores are for the serious seller who is planning to sell on eBay long term.

If you know you’re going to sell on eBay long term, then a store is the way to go.

Please be aware though, that opening an eBay store is not the equivalent of sprinkling magic fairy dust on your eBay listings……just because you open a store, doesn’t mean you’ll be rolling in dough tomorrow morning.

Opening an eBay store is the same as opening a brick and mortar store in many ways. It takes time to build a business, so be patient. The customers will come. While you’re waiting for them to come, keep listing and organizing your store.

Your feedback score also plays a role in how quickly things sell for you.

If you have a few hundred feedback when you open your store, chances are that sales will come to you faster than to the person who opens their store with a feedback score of zero. (Although, that can be done too.)

When I opened my store, I had a feedback score of 60. I started listing everything in my store and putting a few things on auction each week to give my store more exposure. In the old days, stores didn’t have the exposure on eBay that they do now, so putting items on auction was necessary to get more exposure.

It was three weeks until I sold my very first item out of my store. I remember thinking “What if I’m wasting my time and money on this?” but Lizzie was telling me that sales would come and my store would take off soon, and it did.

Along the way, I’ve learned a lot about investing in inventory, keywords, marketing, sales, and more.

One thing that helps your store “take off” is to keep listing new inventory.

Set goals, get the first page of your store filled up, then set a goal for 50 items, then 100, and keep setting goals.

For over a year, I kept my store between 300-400 items thinking that it was a good number of items to have in my inventory. I didn’t want to pay a lot out in fees and I wanted it to be manageable, so I kept it in that range. Then, I decided that I would just list anything I found that would sell on eBay and not pay attention to keeping my store inventory numbers in a certain range.

That’s when my sales took off. Within a few months, I had my inventory up to 550 items……..the sales started rolling in. I started working diligently to fill my store up to the next 100 items. Each time I reach another 100 items in my inventory, I see my sales increase.

The more you have listed, the more links there are to your items and the chances are higher that someone will buy an item from you.

I’ve found that when I don’t list items consistently, I don’t sell consistently.

At first, if I had a slow week of sales, I wasn’t motivated to list. I found that when I didn’t list during the slow times, it took longer for me to get out of the lull in sales, but if I kept listing, I would start selling. Now I focus on listing rather than selling. The more I focus on listings, the more I sell.

So, please don’t open an eBay store with 30 items in your inventory and wonder why you’re not making thousands of dollars a month. Unless your items are high ticket items and you have multiple quantities available. Don’t expect to replace the income from your current job right away.

Selling on eBay is not (and I repeat NOT) a way to get rich quick.

It takes time, effort and money to make money. There’s plenty of money to be made on eBay, but you have to be patient, build your business, and learn what works for you and your family.

Weekly Woo Hoos

What did you sell this week that you’re excited about?

Leave a comment linking to an item you sold that makes you do the happy dance!

A “woo hoo” doesn’t have to sell super high. It can be something you’re thrilled to get rid of, something that you got for free and sold, something you paid little for and sold for a great price, & of course it can be something you sold that blew you away!

Whatever it is, leave a link in the comments.

If you sold something at a consignment store or rummage sale, just leave a description in the comments–we want to hear those stories too.

Guidelines:

1. The item you link to must be sold not currently for sale.

2. The item you link to must be family friendly.

3. No affiliate links accepted

4. Links may be deleted at the discretion of The Selling Sisters

: Not much selling for me this week. I did buy a Wii game though;0!

:

5 Ways to Increase Your On-line Sales in December

1.  Have someone analyze your store or listings.

It helps to have another set of eyes looking at your store to see if there’s something you can change that will increase your sales.  The easier it is for customers to find items in your store (organized categories) to search your store (search box in the listings) and the more information you put in your listings, the better.

2. Answer questions promptly.

Sometimes in the busyness of shipping and listing, answering questions gets lost.  I wonder how many more sales could be made if I answered all of my questions from customers within 24 hours.

3. Be prepared to ship.

Make sure you’re stocked up on bubblewrap, poly mailers, labels, tape, boxes, priority boxes and mailers and that your items are organized so you can easily find them when it’s time to ship them out.  The quicker you can get your items in the mail, the happier your customers will be.

4. Stay organized.

During this time of year, things can get a little bit crazy with parties, shopping, programs and then your online sales on top of it all.  Staying organized and on top the items you’ve sold online will help reduce your stress level this holiday season.  I like to eliminate all unnecessary stress and stay ahead of the game.  If I’m running behind and unorganized, I don’t feel a sense of accomplishment.

5. Take a deep breath.

Enjoy it while you can.  The chaos will be over soon, but so will all of the fun times and holiday events with your friends and loved ones.  This is the season that I work for all year long, not only on eBay, but also with my piano students, and this year, I’m moving to a new house right in the middle of it all.  I plan to take it all one day at a time and enjoy every moment of the season.

This is What it’s All About

Moving day is approaching quickly and once again, I am so thankful that I have the opportunity that I have to make money selling online.

Last month, I bought my bed completely out of funds that I earned from my online stores.

This month, I’m saving toward purchasing a brand new front end loading washer and dryer set, completely out of funds that buyers have deposited into my PayPal account.

There’s no way that I could be able to afford making both of these purchases back to back (even if I scrimped and saved) without my online stores.

It’s fun to have extra money to go out to dinner, or go shopping, but truly, this is why I eBay, this is what it’s all about.  All of that hard work is really paying off now, and I’ll be able to enjoy my new bed and washer & dryer set for many years to come.

I would love to hear how selling online has enriched your family’s life!

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