Susan wrote in to respond to the letter from Jay regarding his negative feedback problem:
"Jay states that he knows the NPB received his emails as they did not bounce back. This is a common misconception that really should be cleared up. Emails do get "lost in cyberspace" and never get delivered or bounced back,... As an eBay seller who does not want to incur improper negative feedback, but will leave negative feedback when it is warranted, I make every possible attempt to contact a buyer before canceling a sale and giving negative feedback. To do this, you simply must take the time and effort to telephone the NPB and ask what the problem is before you cancel the sale. Any seller can get the mailing address and phone number of a registered eBay user who has won a bid on their auction. I telephone all NPBs before I cancel the sale and leave negative feedback,..."
Another reader, Donna, writes in part, "I think it is important for sellers to leave negative feedback so others can know when there are problem bidders. Had Jay checked the buyer's feedback and seen the other negatives before the auction ended, he may have chosen to block the bidder from his auctions and saved himself the hassle. If sellers do not post negative feedback, the "rotten apples" will continue to cause problems."
Hi,
I have tried it twice and never sold anything on the store I found it just a waste of my money did nothing for me with the items I sell. If you sell new merchandise and the same items then it might work but I do not think the store is for the average ebay seller.
Al
---
Hi,
I was lucky enough to attend the eBay convention this year here in my home town and met one of the eBay reps that dealt with Stores. We made great friends and she persuaded me to set up my own store. I use an outside management company to store, launch and sell all my items, and they have their own storefront, but are in the midst of a program update, so I went for it.
It takes me an extra step every time I launch auctions by having to go back in and revise each auction into the proper store categories, because I want to do it right. Otherwise it leaves everything in an "other" category.
Do I think it's worth it? "You had better believe it." I sell character collectibles, and there's huge competition, just from other businesses in my town selling some of the same items I do. I can actually state for a fact that my business has at least grown by 1/3 since opening the store. I believe it gives the customer a larger choice of merchandise, some stuff I always have stays in my store, and that which I get in and out, shows up when I launch auctions. It's also brought me a lot of repeat buyers that just go to my store, and some very loyal followers.
I'm very pleased with the few extra dollars monthly to keep the store open, it's well made up for it, and this has only been since May of this year.
Hope it helps you.
Marianne
---
Ina,
I am an E-Bay store owner and I must say it has done wonders to increase my business that is until...E-Bay decided to suspend my account! One day I received an email from E-Bay stating that I was selling copyrighted merchandise. Gee how would they know have they purchased from me? But their philosophy is that you are guilty until proven innocent. Of course telling you what items they are referring to may just make it too easy for you to figure out, so they just don't! So they suspend my account, remove every listing I have, send an email to all my previous customers telling them they do not have to honor their bids and inform them we have been shut down! Great PR for us.. thanks E-Bay,...We had a 100% positive feedback rating (still do), but now many customers are thinking, gee what happened, are they legit or not? We did have a few customers that were so angry with E-Bay that they wrote letters on our behalf. We even received emails from fellow store owners saying that E-Bay did the same thing to them. They also permanently remove your items so in order to get your listings back, you have to go in and re-list every single item. It took us over three months to get all listings back up...We are opening a new off E-Bay store and when it's ready...Ta Ta E-Bay!
---
Robin wrote: I use my store primarily to list multiples of items I have to sell. I also use it as a source to send my customers to when they are looking for merchandise. For example, if my auction states that there is matching accessories and they email me to find out where they are - I send them to my store. This helps to save me on listing fees, because if I can get them to purchase from my store - then I don't have to pay to relist the actual auction until its time runs out.
Overall I like the experience of the eBay store. My one wish is that in the final 24-or 12- or even 2 hours of the items listing that it be included with all auction listings - not just in stores (like a regular fixed price listing). This way it was not a total waste to have listed the item at all.
As far as driving traffic directly into my store, I haven't had as much success... but I am still trying. The only way the store listings appear to be truly successful is to have a matching auction item for every store item - but listing fees can get quite expensive.
The eBay store also can be handy for sellers to monitor merchandise that is available for sale - because you can search your store listings by either auction or store format in each of the available store categories. This allows me to see if I need to duplicate any auctions to place in either format.
As a buyer, I enjoy when a seller has a store. I try to shop frequently from sellers that I trust - so their having a store allows me to browse more easily to find what I am looking for. I also like that the store format provides a search tool - so if I find a seller has some items that like - but I want to look for something more specific and don't want to have to search through lots of listings - I can simply search all the items in their particular store.
I think having a store makes a seller more appear more committed and reputable (although I have dealt with some less than reputable ones, too).
---
Hi,
I love your column and wanted to share my experiences with eBay stores. We began using eBay in 1998 as an outlet for our brick and mortar Pawn Shop business. We have had excellent success with the eBay auction format and are currently Power Sellers. When stores were introduced we decided to open an eBay store also. My sales in the eBay store had always been lackluster (at best) but I attributed it to the fact that all of my items are different making cross-sales unlikely.
When I purchased a large set of Tiara glassware last month I was finally able to put the store to the test. I placed 1/2 of the Tiara items in eBay auctions and 1/2 of the Tiara items in my eBay store. I then cross-referenced every auction to my store and also included a paragraph at the top of each auction directing potential Tiara buyers to my eBay store. At the end of 10 days, every auction item sold and only 1 store item sold. My store prices were equal to or less than my reserves on the auction items. I also included counters on my auction and store ads. Each auction item had 35+ hits, my store counters showed between 0 and 4 hits. I relisted the remaining Tiara on eBay auctions and every piece sold. I closed my store. I am sure stores are great for persons selling similar items month after month (ie camera lenses), but for my type of sales, they were a waste of time and money.
Sincerely,
Michelle
