Question for experienced ebay sellers....Desperately need your advise.

[raghavhegde2013]

Hi guys,

I sell books on ebay. It is currently a very small business and nothing more than a part-time business for me. I have listed 214 books currently, and sold 5. I opened my ebay shop 3 weeks ago. 40-50% of my books are brand new and rest are used. I operate on a very low margin for my brand new books and higher margin for used books.

My question to experienced ebay sellers is : Is it absolutely necessary to have a basic shop on ebay for a seller ?

It costs me 500 Rupees to have a basic shop... this is in addition to the 214 * 3 = 642 Rupees I pay for listing my books. So I pay around 1050-1100 Rupees per month, basic rent to ebay. Forget all other expenditure such as 6% on sales, 4.5% on paypal - what hurts me is this Rs.1100 I have to pay. Because of that my profits will be no more than 500 - 1000 rupees, which is quite low.

So to cut costs, I am thinking of

1. Closing my ebay shop, and
2. Cancelling Selling Manager

That will save me 500 Rupees per month.

As you can understand, I am new to ebay and I have nobody to advise me.... do you think it is the right decision ? Does it help to have a basic shop on ebay ? Will it affect my sales ? How do people buy books on ebay ? Do they search for it in basic ebay listngs, or do they search in shop listings ? Is it absolutely necessary to have Selling Manager ? It adds 200 Rupees to my monthly expenditure.

Should I cut down on my number of listings or should I cut down on basic shop + selling manager ?

Please advise.

[raghavhegde2013]

Correction to the above post :

" So I pay around 1150-1250 Rupees per month, basic rent to ebay.

[neonexim]

Hello sir,

We can understand your situation in this matter. As you have listed 214 listing, I suggest you to keep the shop open.

With having shop, you can list item as Good Till Cancelled (GTC) and you don't need to relist the item every time it sold.

But for using GTC, you must have minimum 5 feedback. So better you ask your buyer after purchase for feedback. Once you have 5 feedback, you can list multiple quantity with GTC features, hence you don't need to relist item again and again. It will save your item.

Those who have shop on ebay, have lesser fees for listing compare to non shop owner.

I request you to please cancel shop subscription if possible till you have 5 feedback, or you can ask you buyer to leave feedback on prompt basis.

Having shop, also increase your sell for sure.

I have checked your listing and can see that you have mentioned much shipping charges. Please lower it to attarct more customers. You can add shipping cost in item price, like if item A have 30 Rs price + 40 Rs shipping , you can list item A with 60 Rs price + 10 Rs shipping.

Please check other similar seller listing and checkout their item title. Item title and shipping price are most important to appear your item on top in search result page.

[rajelectroniks]

The selling manager is free along with the basic shop so you get a shop and selling manager for 499/- per month which is a good price according to me.

Your calculation for listing fees is also wrong, how have you have calculated 214*3 whereas the listing fee for shop owners is Rs.1/- and non-shop is Rs.2/- only.

I will advice you to read the ebay fees, FVF, paisapay and all other help pages first before you venture out to sell. All the sellers have gone through the same phase and have survived so will you do the same just have some patience and you will do good.
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[raghavhegde2013]

Thank you salus_products and rajelectroniks for the kind words of encouragement.

Raj, I spoke to ebay customer care today...they told me price of listing for store owners is 2 rupees per listing...which is okay.

[sitare_india]

Hello!

Welcome to Ebay community.

As written by you, you wish to sell books. In Ebay, there is no Listing Fees for Books category. You have written about Fees of 214 items X 3, which, I think, is not correct. You can list as many books as you want and there is no listing fee. Only when, it sells, 6% fees are applicalble.

Secondly, as you are new seller, you should not have Basic Shop which involves app. Rs. 600/- monthly. Once a reasonable amount of sale is there then you should incur expenses.

In this way, you will have Zero cost monthly for listing. Only when it sells, Fees will be applibale.

Thanks

[raghavhegde2013]

sitare_jewels,

Sir, After reading your post I called ebay customer care...they told me I will be charged 3 rupees insertion fees every listing, even for books, if I have a basic store......so If I have a basic store and 240 listings, all books, listed for 30 days, I will be charged 499 + 240 * 2 = 979 Rupees.

I checked on the ebay I am really confused now. I checked on ebay website : http://pages.ebay.in/help/account/fees.html

I quote :

"You will be charged a monthly Subscription Fee, based on the subscription level, for opening an eBay Shop. You will also be charged an Insertion Fee in all categories other than Books & Magazines, Movies & Music, Video & Computer Games, Fun Stuff, Services & Real Estate, and Charity."


I am really confused now. It is a simple question. I have 240 books. All listed for 30 days. And I have a basic store. How much will I be charged per month as a basic rent.

After sales, what I have to pay, I dont mind. It is the basic rent or the rent I have to pay regardless of whether my items sell or not - that is what confuses me.

[raghavhegde2013]

Correction to the earlier post :

Sir, After reading your post I called ebay customer care...they told me I will be charged 2 rupees insertion fees every listing, even for books, if I have a basic store......

[raghavhegde2013]

And also, for the month of May-15 to June-15, I was charged 858 Rupees. The amount was charged to me on May-15. I joined ebay on May-12. I had only around 80-100 listings by May 15, and I had opened a basic store on May-12. I asked Customer Care about this 2-3 times....but different people gave different explanations.

[immensechaisma]

raghavhegde2013

Yes, Even i too have the basic store and they charge me Rs 2 for each item.