When is it time to create an Ebay store? What are the advantages?

[*FluffyDuckee*]

I usually just list a few things at a time on Ebay.  IE at the most 15 items.

I am planning on listing a lot more.  I am wondering what the advantages are to having an Ebay store.  This should be balanced against the fact that I am not a long term volume seller.  I am selling stock I have on hand and at this stage see a life of only around 3 months for a store.

So far, I have established that a store can contain items for 30 days as a BIN and this is a lower fee that listing BINs outside of a store.  I have heard the disadvantage is that listings do not appear in searches.  Is this correct?

In most cases I wish to use action with a start price of the minimum I will accept for the item.  I have established that the first month store fees for a basic store is free and $20 per month after this.  

Does anyone know how auctions work in a store?  
Would using an auction format negate the advantage of a store?
How easy is it to close the store down at the end of say 3 months?
Does a store gives any other advantages?
Is there any cost saving doing auctions within a store?
I have quite a lot of new items as well as second hand,  should the new items be BINs with Best Offer?.

Incidently I have found that BIN if used with a Best Offer seems to work well for many categories of new items.  People know how much a new item is worth and many seem to love to haggle.  This is because the worth is less subjective and obvious.

[ernest_price]

Incidently I have found that BIN if used with a Best Offer seems to work well for many categories of new items.  People know how much a new item is worth and many seem to love to haggle.  This is because the worth is less subjective and obvious.

I agree with your comment on Best Offer. It's crazy, but for many buyers half the listed price = bargain.

Late last year I had 2 similar items at $300 each BIN. On pure BIN I was getting no sale but quite a few "would you take $100, $150 for it? - I'll be around in 30 minutes to collect" messages on both items.

So I put one up to $600 with Best Offer also included, left the other at $300. I fairly quickly sold the Best Offer one for $290 with offers of $200-$290. The $300 one kept getting offers of $100-$150. Eventually did the same Best Offer with the second one and sold it for well over $300. These items were definitely worth the price the buyers paid so I don't feel *too* dirty

Sort of makes up for the DSR 3.0 stars I got on postage cost for items I was selling with free postage at the time

[*CountessA*]

That is quite an insight, Ernest!

I don't bargain like that, but of course I need to stop thinking as though other people buy as I do. They don't. Clearly they want, as you've said, a perception of an incredible bargain. Half-price must have a wonderful fascination for them. Your strategy makes sense.

[*FluffyDuckee*]

OK, I have opened a store and found out the following:


PROS:
You can list for a much longer time at only 40c no matter what the BIN price. 
No cost for galley or photos. 
You can create categories for searching and your page will appear a little more professional. 
You can sit on things until they sell as you can list for 30 days for the 40c. 
A BIN for $250 in a store with 6 photos and gallery would still cost .40 to list.  Outside of a store it would cost $4.24 for the same listing and would be limited to only a 10 day listing at the most.


CONS:
You are limited to only BINs at the cheaper listing price of 40c.
Auctions are limited to the same costs as auctions outside of a store, but you do still get photos for free. 
The final value fees on BIN that have sold are much higher, but this is a balance between the fact you can effectively list it till someone decides to buy cheaply. 
The basic store costs $20 per month on top, so if you don't sell you have an expense for nothing.

Does anyone else know of any other PROS/CONS or helpful comments/observations to add to this list.

[*CountessA*]

Fluffy, are you looking at a Basic Store or a Premium Store?

The basic ($15.95 per month) means you can manage 250 listings per day. I'm not sure about the differences between Selling Manager, and Selling Manager Pro - but I understand you get Selling Manager with the basic store. From what I've heard, Selling Manager Pro is better and offers more options...

[*CountessA*]

Fluffy, I thought you might be interested in the forthcoming changes that will include the new fee structure for stores. This is from http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y210/m02/abu0256/s02

Three-quarters of eBay sellers surveyed by AuctionBytes said that new fees coming at the end of March would result in increased monthly fees. Close to half (45%) of sellers said eBay's decision to do away with Stores Inventory Format would have a negative impact on their business, and over one-third (34%) said their sell-through rate would decline as a result of the elimination of the Stores Inventory format. Only 7% said the opportunity to list up to 100 auctions a month for free for items with a starting price of under $1 would have a positive impact on their business.

AuctionBytes conducted the survey to determine how eBay sellers viewed upcoming changes to eBay's fee structure and changes to Stores. We also asked respondents what, if any, action they would take as a result of the changes.

Once you have reviewed the survey responses, be sure and leave a comment on the AuctionBytes Blog.

Introduction
On January 26, 2010, eBay announced a series of changes impacting sellers. eBay did not make an across-the-board increase or decrease in fees. The impact on a seller's fees depends on his or her volume, format, category and type of item sold - and that was borne out by the responses to the survey. One respondent's comment indicates the uncertainty sellers felt in determining the impact: "I anticipate moving my store items to core will have a positive impact, but only to a very small degree. Probably not enough to offset the fee increase."

With the new eBay Stores pricing, it's much more expensive to list in fixed-price format for low-volume Stores sellers - sellers pay the same $15.95/month subscription fee, but rather than paying as low as 3 cents to list, they must pay a 20-cent insertion fee. However, all listings will appear in Core search results. Sellers can upgrade their store and pay a higher monthly subscription fee - almost $50 - and get insertion fees of 5 cents, but according to eBay, this works best for sellers who list over 250 items per month.

It will also cost non-Stores sellers more to list in Fixed-Price format: 50 cents instead of 35 cents; Final Value fees vary by category, for most categories the FVF increases from 8% to 12%. (And sure enough, category-based fees resulted in media sellers responding differently to survey questions than sellers in clothing, shoes & accessories, for example.)

While sellers are able to compare their costs of listing on eBay under the current and the new fee structure, they can only estimate the impact that "Stores in Core" will have on their sell-through rates, and therefore, on their bottom line. A respondent commented:

"Question 15 is the key to everything. I have enough information to evaluate the cost side of listing in core but have no data related to the result on sales. I know the investment but not the return on it.

"Fees do decrease when comparing core listings to core listings. However when comparing current expenditures to revised expenditures the fees went down for some but go up for many. Given that fees will increase for a number of sellers (even if the fee buys a better listing) eBay's approach to announce the changes as a fee reduction was a blunder that triggered much of the seller angst and animosity."

Overall Results
Over 1,100 eBay sellers responded to the AuctionBytes survey, which collected email addresses and eBay User IDs to qualify respondents.

We asked in which one category respondents most frequently listed, and collectibles and clothing shoes and accessories were the two biggest categories, followed by books, jewelry and watches, toys and hobbies, and home and garden.

    * 63% had eBay Stores, 37% did not;
    * 51% were Top Rated sellers, 49% were not;
    * Of eBay Store owners, 31.9% typically had listed between 1 and 50 items in their store; 10.7% had between 51 - 100; 31.9% had between 101 - 500; 10.2% had between 501 and 1,000; 12.8% had between 1,001 - 5,000; and 2.7% had over 5,000 items typically listed in their eBay Store.
    * Of all respondents who listed auctions, 79.2% typically had between 1 and 50 auctions listed; 12.7% had between 51 - 100; 6.5% had between 101 - 500; 0.5% had between 501 and 1,000; 0.6% had between 1,001 - 5,000; and 0.4% typically had over 5,000 auctions listed.

Survey results for all respondents are reported in the following table.

eBay announced on January 26 that it would change its fee structure at the end of March 2010. Please indicate what impact the changes will have on your business.
Under the new eBay.com fee structure, my monthly eBay fees will go down	11.4%
Under the new eBay.com fee structure, my monthly eBay fees will go up	75.8%
Under the new eBay.com fee structure, my monthly eBay fees will stay the same	5.5%
Don't know	7.2%
As part of its changes to its fee structure, eBay will change fees for auction listings; please indicate the effect on your business.
It will be less expensive for me to sell in the auction format	19.3%
It will be more expensive for me to sell with the auction format	53.1%
There will be no change in my costs of selling in the auction format	10.6%
I don't list in the auction format	17.1%
eBay will offer sellers the opportunity to list up to 100 auctions a month for free for auctions with a starting price under $1 (Final Value Fees will apply). How will this impact you?
Positive impact on my business	7.0%
Negative impact on my business	33.9%
Neutral impact on my business	46.2%
I don't know	12.9%
eBay is changing the fee structure for Store subscribers, please indicate the effect these changes will have on your business.
It will be less expensive for me to sell as an eBay Store subscriber	8.8%
It will be more expensive for me to sell as an eBay Store subscriber	54.5%
There will be no change in my costs of selling as an eBay Store subscriber	5.0%
I do not have an eBay Store subscription	31.7%
eBay is doing away with the Store Inventory Format - all fixed-price listings will appear in the core eBay.com search results. Please indicate what kind of impact that will have on your business, regardless of whether you have an eBay Store or not.
Positive impact on my business	25.4%
Negative impact on my business	44.5%
Neutral impact on my business	30.2%
Please indicate the effect you think the elimination of the Stores Inventory format will have on the sell-through rate of your listings, regardless of whether you have an eBay Store or not.
My sell through rate will improve	14.0%
My sell through rate will decline	34.3%
My sell through rate will not change	18.8%
I don't know	32.9%
Do you plan to make any changes to your business due to fee and/or policy changes announced by eBay on January 26, 2010? (Please check all that apply.)
I won't make any changes	14.4%
I will list more items on eBay	12.5%
I will list fewer items on eBay	44.2%
I will open an eBay Store	4.2%
I will close my eBay Store	16.6%
I will upgrade my eBay Store	17.4%
I will downgrade my eBay Store	2.2%
I will stop selling on eBay	15.0%
Is eBay's new pricing structure easier to understand?
Easier to understand	11.3%
Harder to understand	48.7%
About the same	40.0%

What Actions Sellers Will Take
The survey asked sellers, "Do you plan to make any changes to your business due to fee and/or policy changes announced by eBay on January 26, 2010?" The overall results of this question are posted above; we decided to also break down this answer by type of eBay Store they have, if any.

Do you plan to make any changes to your business due to fee and/or policy changes announced by eBay on January 26, 2010?
(Please check all that apply.)

	I have an Anchor eBay Store    (0.7%)	I have a Premium eBay Store    (11.4%)	I have a Basic eBay Store    (51.3%)	I do not currently have an eBay Store    (36.6%)
I won't make any changes	20.0%	25.3%	7.9%	21.2%
I will list more items on eBay	40.0%	36.8%	11.3%	6.5%
I will list fewer items on eBay	20.0%	28.7%	43.3%	50.5%
I will open an eBay Store	0.0%	1.1%	0.9%	10.2%
I will close my eBay Store	0.0%	3.4%	30.5%	N/A
I will upgrade my eBay store	0.0%	19.5%	28.7%	N/A
I will downgrade my eBay Store	0.0%	2.3%	2.9%	N/A
I will stop selling on eBay	20.0%	5.7%	12.0%	22.2%

Note that currently, eBay charges different Insertion fees and Final Value fees for Store Inventory Format, and also charges sellers a monthly subscription fee to have a Store ($299.95/month for an Anchor Store; $49.95/month for a Premium Store; and $15.95/month for a Basic Store), which entitles them to various features, such as email marketing. The Store subscription fees are not changing, but the Insertion and Final Value fees will change, depending on the level of Store subscription.

It's interesting to note that 40% of Anchor Stores (which made up less than 1% of all respondents) said they intended to list more, and 36.8% of Premium Stores said they would list more, but only 11.3% of Basic Stores and 6.5% of non-Store owners said they would list more on eBay as a result of the changes.

Survey Results - Tell Us What You'd Like to See
In tomorrow's issue of AuctionBytes Newsflash, we break down the results by Top Rated Sellers, GMV and category. We know there are lots of ways to slice and dice the data, so let us know on the AuctionBytes Blog what you'd like to see, and we'll post more data there as well.

Comments: What Sellers Had to Say about Changes to their Business
We allowed respondents to leave a comment for the question, "Do you plan to make any changes to your business due to fee and/or policy changes announced by eBay on January 26, 2010." Here is a sampling of the comments left:

As a REDOL/consignment seller, we may have to adjust our fee structure for our sellers.

Parts compatibility will be a huge boost to my business.

I Don't Know What To Do Yet-Very depressed over it all.

I will keep my basic store and stop using all the fixed price listings I do to draw in business. This is where I will save a lot of money.

I will start work on opening an independent e-store.

I will decrease my sales and find other ways and places to sell than on eBay.

I will increase my "Handling Charge" to pass increase on to buyers.

Not sure. Want to see the changes in effect before a decision is made.

I will take advantage of the 100 free auctions to use as a marketing tool to drive business to my private website.

I just upgraded my eBay store from Basic to Premium.I will give it a couple month if I my sales don't pick up I will close my store and quit eBay. I am a 11 year seller on eBay.

I'll be changing my product line.

Don't understand the changes yet.

I will charge more.

Will continue to grow my off ebay business. I don't trust ebay to invest in growing there.

I will only list low end items after March, nothing over $50.00.

I will open a second account to take advantage of the non store seller cap on auciton FVF as many of the items I sell are north of $2k, this will save me significantly and more than offset the increase to a premium store.

Explore other options for ecommerce including other selling on other sites and opening my own ecommerce store and website.

I may have to increase the dollar amounts of my opening bids to cover the increase in Final Value Fees.

I will probably list fewer auction style listings and more fixed price listings due to the fixed price insertion fee being lower than auction insertion fees, and fixed price listings will be searchable in the core search. I may also list more items starting at 99 cents.

Comments: What Sellers Had to Say Overall
We also offered sellers the opportunity to leave a general comment at the end of the survey. A sampling follows.

My biggest concern is for all the free auctions under a dollar. I am afraid it will bring in a lot of junk and flood the market over those of us who sell quality items.

The more or less expensive question is deceptive since I will pay slightly more - but get core exposure. I pay extra for core exposure now - and everything else goes into store inventory. On 3/30 everything will be in core - which means it's a value proposition. I pay a little more, but get a lot more for my money. Which is more expensive - $50 with almost everything hidden in stores, or $60 with everything in core? I can buy a hamburger for $3, or a sirloin steak for $4 - which is the better deal?

I think they did a fairly decent job of communicating the changes to the sellers - it just wasn't what a lot of sellers wanted to hear...so this resulted in a huge backlash from the sellers negatively affected by this fee change. Right now, I'm a low-volume seller and I still like Ebay - that's not to say I agree with everything they've done, BUT no other site has traffic and exposure that it does. One of the first things I learned as a seller on Ebay was...you either learn to adjust or you die. You learn to take the changes and adjust your business to them...or you quit and move on. It will never be the same as it was in the "good old days". Those days are long past and sellers need to focus on the here and now and plan accordingly. Sure, Ebay's fee structure benefits them...just like a seller is going to model (hopefully) their business around what brings them in the most revenue. After all, what seller ISN'T in it to make money? It's not personal, it's just business. Good luck to everyone!

If sales increase with items in core, I don't mind paying more basic fees.

Fees may go up a little but should be offset to the positive with everything being in core

I anticipate moving my store items to core will have a positive impact, but only to a very small degree. Probably not enough to offset the fee increase.

ebay is definitely looking to get rid of hobby & small sellers. ebay is walking away from it's roots. It's not the ebay I have enjoyed for 10 yrs, even with some of the past changes. ebay isn't ebay anymore.

I like the changes as they will lower my costs somewhat and increase visibility of many of my 2,700+ store listings. However, as usual, eBay did a terrible job in announcing the changes with misleading headlines and a definite lack of candor.

Outraged that ebay try to spin this as a fee decrease, when in fact this will be a major increase for 90% of sellers.

[cueperkins]

ebay is definitely looking to get rid of hobby & small sellers. ebay is walking away from it's roots. It's not the ebay I have enjoyed for 10 yrs, even with some of the past changes. ebay isn't ebay anymore.

Exactly !!!!!

I sold on Ebay for nearly 8 years before the changes, and instantly, I could see that it was not going to assist me as a collector with increased fees, being forced to offer poopal or "go away", and having to compete with zillions of Asian sellers...crikey my searches these days have so many things removed it gets tedious....I search for Sterling Silver for instance, then Australia only, then I have to filter by -swarovski -pandora -new -plated, etc etc etc... and then and only then will I find anything I'm really looking for....so even buying these days is a drag....because collectibles are getting fewer and being hidden by Ebay's in your face search engine.

Many of the comments made by sellers about stitching buyers for the fees, is happening around the board....I email sellers ahead of time these days about their postage charges, advising that I use Bank Deposit..you'd be amazed how many reduce their postage when they know that.....Similarly, the majority of listings state that the seller PREFERS BANK DEPOSIT....not Poopal.  

I am at a point of despising ebay these days, and you'd be surprised how many people comment to the negative whenever Ebay is raised in conversation generally....Once upon a time it was a marketplace that allowed rural Aussies the opportunity to buy goods that are not available in their region and sell their surplus....and then that access was extorted from them, pay to stay, Poopal or nothing.  So to hell with them.

Ever since, Ebay has become a spam strip mall, and their collectors marketplace has all but vanished....I don't actually think they'll ever get the original Ebayer's (who helped Ebay grow to the point where it was too big for it's corporate boots) to return to Ebay now.....If you list anything worth anything these days on ebay, all you can expect is the lowest price....no more competition over collectibles because most of the buyers have given up looking...lol.  

Once upon a time, you could search for various collectibles and get pages of specific listings including shop listings...then they removed shop listings, and that made things harder for sellers to get their goods out there...then they changed it back, so now shop listings are included...crikey it's like yo yo economics.......with a monkey holding the string...lol  

If ebay had any intelligence whatsoever, they would have left the Auction marketplace alone, and instead of gumtree, opened a retail site for BIN items as a sister site....Retail and collectibles DON'T go together well...and as a result the collectors market is now dead and so is Ebay's previously flourishing sense of community that once was....it ain't now....even the forums aren't worth reading or even visiting....because Ebay have to manipulate the content even there....Venue only?...bullshit !!!  Thug monopoly misusing it's market power?...you bet !!!

[cueperkins]

Summing up whether it's worth opening a shop or not, based on the above....all I can say is.....

It is a foolish man who builds his house upon the sand.....

If you are a serious business person, I'd be saying that you have to be sure that you build your business in a fashion (and in a venue) that enables you to be in charge, not ebay.....

If for instance, you rented a shop in the Real world, you'd have rights...firstly as a tenant.  In that relationship, the owner of the rented building would have buckley's chance of telling you how to run your business.....or in changing the tenancy agreement after the fact.....trying to impose conditions that detract from your business efficiency and profit.......On ebay, you have no such rights at all....they can change the UA without your consultation, they can increase prices and change conditions at their whim.....it's all just too much like building a house upon the sand....Quick Sand.

Forgot to mention...when it comes to the Trade Practices Act, it seems that Ebay can break all the rules....if you are a registered business, then you have certain rights of negotiation against bigger companies trying to bend, stretch and break you with their misuse of market power.....on Ebay world, businesses have no such rights it seems...or Businesses on ebay just don't know their rights or how to exercise them.  

I'd like to see Ebay seriously offering shops (with business owners in particular) being given the rights of every other small business in this country, including a right to negotiation in unfair contract arrangements.  With Ebay, it's their way or the highway....time for regulation to be imposed in my view.

If you are going to open a shop with Ebay, make sure you don't plan on being there for a long time....lol...sooner or later, their constant interference will render your business non viable....JMO.

[*FluffyDuckee*]

Countess, I have opened a basic store and Ebay say this costs $20 per month.   I haven't received a bill yet.  I am also told the first month is free, but am unsure if that will 'work' cause I haven't seen any charges or correspondance re this, I just saw it in the 'help' info.  As part of opening the store, I received Selling Manager Pro for free for a month, but will down grade to plain Selling Manager after the month.

I don't find I use the Selling Manager features.  I don't print labels etc.  I also don't find the listing in advance any different to a non store experience.  For example as far as I can see, I CAN'T save potential listings in bulk and then load up in bulk.  I can and do use turbo lister for that.  Turbo lister used to not work for me, but they recently upgraded it and it works well now.

I am unsure how the future changes will effect me as I have not been notified by Ebay of the effect and the points listed by auctions bytes do not provide details, only blanket statements in most cases.  Possibly the actual auction bytes site will give more detail.  eg

As part of its changes to its fee structure, eBay will change fees for auction listings;  I don't know what this change will be. 

I see no advantage to list auction items within a store for free if they are under a dollar.  Buyers will gobble sellers up and put them out of business.  There are no bidding wars these days.  So often, things I list as auction go for the price I listed.  Eg I listed somethings worth $500 once (and you expect a little less on Ebay).  I had a start price of $49.99.  The first person bid exactly $49.00.  The second person bid more (and you can't tell how much), but effectively it sold for $1 over $49.99.  Many times there is only one bid and one bid only.  If I have listed that for $1, it would have potentialy sold for $1.05.

A couple of times I have listed for .99 start, new genuine stone, solid gold with a diamond and solid gold chain items and they have sold for $9.  Of course they buyer was delighted. 

So you can't list things for $1.  You can't even list things for less than the minumum that you want because people will bid that minumum and not a cent more.

In my case this is not a business, which doesn't of course mean that I am not business like.  I am coming from the point of view of someone who is having an 'upmarket' garage sale and am decluttering my life and getting rid of things that are in many cases new.

Once I have done this, I won't have a store any more.  I am not out to make a profit, just sell things off that are too good to go to an op shop and since I am not working I can do with the money.  The fact that I sell for less (in most cases) that what I paid doesn't worry me too much as long as what I get is reasonable. 

So, even though I sell things for way less than what I paid (many cases 1/4  or less of what I paid) and they are new I am still unable to get a reasonable price on Ebay.   There are times I do OK, and I think once I made some money.  For example I sold a new bracelet for $160 recently and I paid $220.

I have found the shop useful, because I have noticed that things do still sell on Ebay, you just need the right buyer to 'need' the item.  (I am selling way more than jewellery).  So having it in a shop means I can list for only 40c for a BIN for a long period of time and just wait.  I allow offers.  If people send me an offer withn 20% of what I want, I accept it.  If they insult me by offering a low offer, I send back a counter offer of close to the BIN price.  Sometimes they know what it is worth and they accept my counter offer.  I used automatically accept or reject offers but now manually check each one because it gives me contact with the buyer.  Many buyers enjoy haggling.

Having said all that, if I was a serious and long term seller I don't think I could make a living and I would be put out of  business by the high expectations of buyers and low cost for items.

[tellomon]

[gr8-expectations]

bumpity bump ...

[*wheels*]

Fluffy, how is your store going?

We are looking at the store option but haven't made a final decision yet. As a trial at selling we listed some things for sale as BIN on eBay, OZtion and The SOC Exchange prior to Christmas and sold 95% of the items. We made NO sales on Oztion and have removed all listings from there. All items sold at a profit, some only a couple of dollars. We now have some more things to sell and are doing the sums to decide whether to open a store.

[*FluffyDuckee*]

Wheelie, I found the biggest advantage to having a store is that you can let something sit until the 'right' buyer comes along who really wants/needs it.  The low listing fee alongs with many pictures and a gallery listing is also great.  You do pay close to 10% FVF, but only if you sell.  The actual BIN listing price is only 40c.  The cost for my store is $19.95 and really to get your money's worth you have to list a certain number of items.  Eg if you list only 20 items in a month, they don't really cost you 40c each, they would cost you $1.40 because of the store cost.  The more items you list, the less this comes down.  

The jury is out on using Best Offer or not.  I have found that something may be listed as a pretty good price for a BIN, with an offer, but most people seem to want to squeeze every last drop of a bargain out of you if you offer best offer, whereas if they want something and there is a BIN with no negotiation, they have to pay that price.

I am inclined to think that perhaps a mixture of the two would be more appropriate.  It also depends on what you are selling.  

[gr8-expectations]

yes your comments on best offer are quite right ducki

[*wheels*]

OK, I've gone and done it. We'll try it for a couple of months and see how it goes.

Now we'll have to spend the weekend listing and then I suppose we can sit back and wait for the money to start rolling in!

 

[gr8-expectations]

congrats wheels, good luck, just remember double cats are good, double the 40 cents, but sub titles (i leanred this the hard way) not so good as they are so exxy, also make sure you use the custom specifics and add plenty of unique fields, it helps with searches and dont do auto renew, is my advice look at each at the end of 30 days on its merits, good til canceled i mean ...

[*smee*]

I also would like to offer some sound advice !

[*wheels*]

I'm waiting, what is your sound advice Mr Smee?

[*smee*]

no no no Wheels I havent got any ....it was just a statement ...its something I would like to be able to do someday 

[*Yibida*]

I also would like to offer some sound advice !

Ya gunna need this then smee....

[*smee*]

oh 'turn it up' Yibster !

[*Yibida*]

Nah there's enough noise coming from the coinee forum !....LOL

[gr8-expectations]

its $19.95 for a basic store AUD

thanks for all the info above countess

[*Brum6y*]

no no no Wheels I havent got any ....it was just a statement ...its something I would like to be able to do someday 

Now.... of all the forehead-slapping, moan inducing, head shaking lines you've come up with Smee - THAT one I have to pay!!

[*Brum6y*]

Just donning my cynical cap for a minute..... to answer the thread title:

When is it time to create an Ebay store?
 - start about 2 years ago and go back in time.

What are the advantages?
 - memories .... (heading for 'folklore' and destined to be 'myth')

[*wheels*]

Newbie store update - it is less than a week and we have already saved more in listing fees than the $19.95 monthly store fee after taking into account the higher fvf's. I do like having 30 day listings, not having to worry about trying to pick the right day to list to get the maximum exposure.

[*FluffyDuckee*]

I agree Wheelie and I also like being able to leave items until the 'right buyer' comes along. 

[gr8-expectations]

the way ebay is at the moment, i am hoping its in this lifetime ... lol

how is job ducky? yur a hard lil canard to catch these days ...

[*FluffyDuckee*]

Good thanks GR8.   

[gr8-expectations]

excellent my dear