When you create an eBay Store, you have to pay an additional monthly fee to eBay, and this is on top of the insertion fees and Final Value Fees you already have to pay. But you get some additional advantages that other sellers don’t enjoy:
- You pay only pennies for small Gallery photos, instead of the 35-cent fee charged to auction sellers.
- You get a place to promote your business and develop an identity through a name and logo.
- You get your fixed-price store sales included in keyword searches on Google and other search engines.
- You get the chance to do cross-promoting.
Cross-promoting is the practice of presenting shoppers with additional purchasing options even as they are browsing or preparing to make a purchase from you. In an eBay Store, this takes the form of the “See More Great Items From This Seller” box that is familiar to many eBay members “We have an eBay Anchored Store, so we can include the See More Great Items feature on an unlimited number of listings,” says Smith. “We do this sort of cross-promotion in our item listings and on our web site at checkout as well. It’s like tapping a customer on the shoulder and saying, ‘Would you like to buy something else?’
“Cross-promotions and other tools for encouraging repeat business are essential,” he adds. “At least 25 percent of our transactions include multiple item purchases; 25 percent of our business is repeat business. On eBay, you’re always into the new customer that’s what eBay does, just the way the marketplace works. Everyone is new, basically. We get a lot of repeat business within the same transaction. Sometimes people will buy up to 20 different items. We get wholesale buyers who buy in large quantity from us, and they will sell in their retail store or at the local flea market.”
“Cross-promotions and other tools for encouraging repeat business are essential,” he adds. “At least 25 percent of our transactions include multiple item purchases; 25 percent of our business is repeat business. On eBay, you’re always into the new customer that’s what eBay does, just the way the marketplace works. Everyone is new, basically. We get a lot of repeat business within the same transaction. Sometimes people will buy up to 20 different items. We get wholesale buyers who buy in large quantity from us, and they will sell in their retail store or at the local flea market.”
