Question
Ok, I set mine up and I'm a newbie. Anyone want to kick around ideas? I'm seeing lots of complaints on the ebay board with regards to lack of orders etc.
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My store is 65% of my total eBay business - although September was a strong month, October has been slower.
There are several informative threads on the eBay Stores Discussion Board about store setup, search engine optimization, cross-promotion that can help you get off to a good start.
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Here's some of the links to ck out...if you're using one or opening one or just have some spare time.
http://pages.ebay.com/storefronts/storeinventory.html
http://pages.ebay.com/community/chat...Name=CMDV:ICIN
http://pages.ebay.com/community/chat...Name=CMDV:ICIN
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Most people who complain about poor sales aren't really doing anything proactive to drive customers to their store and encouraging them to buy.
You really need to step up the quality of your listing and have clear buyer friendly policies.
Always have a selection of your items at auction at anyone time to drive ppl to your store.
You really need to "think" like a store when opening an ebay store.
I love the x merchandising tools as well as the traffic reports
I have a featured store btw
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My store is approximately 25 to 35% of my sales volume. It pays for itself quite nicely and gives me a place to park slow moving items.
Maintenance in my case is a breeze so all in all I think it's a great deal. I can't believe I'm actually saying that about an eBay product but it's true.
Try linking each one of your auctions to your store and see how that works. Works for me.
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2thepointe, Very cool. Aside from the store it appears that one has to run auctions as well to drive traffic to the stores or those reports seem a bit miffy. Does the site stats reflect people watching those items as well?
I'm just thinking that the store is great for as you say, parking items, but the auctions seem to be a great place for the faster pace in life.
I'm still doing the store though, as I think it's a great place to park items while I get my site up.
Best of luck to all for the season ahead..
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It really depends on what you sell as to which strategy works. I sell a line of products so every day I'll list a sampling at auction. Not all of them will sell at auction and I expect that. Consider the auction fees as being advertising. I also change the items up for auction on a regular basis to attract different buyers. I think my methods work well as I outsell my competitors ( who sell at lower prices btw) 10:1
I having my store designed by pixclinics soon as well
The traffic reports are great to find how ppl are finding your items.
I need to use some more of my keyword money soon
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is when I sell store items that I have not been advertisting like items via auction.
I cut back listing my doll sweaters due to backlog of orders, and yet continued to sell more from my store without even trying.
Its a nice problem to have but I"m going to be for awhile getting caught up.
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The good news is that I am getting sales from the site. The bad news is trying to maninulate the store to my advantage and getting savy along the way... I'll pump up more auctions to draw more traffic.
Kat... great news! Keep up the sales.
2thepointe, (dumb question), How do you buy keywords?
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The keywords thing is hard to explain easily but its a simple process but the best way to learn is to type keywords in the ebay help system. If your a powerseller you get so many free if you have a featured store you get xxx amount free