In the past few articles, I have been over how to manage and work within the eBay platform. Today I will talk about the benefits of having an eBay store, managing your store and how to close your eBay store should you decide it is not working for you.
Setting Up your eBay Store
As you may be aware by now, you need an eBay account to set up a store subscription on the eBay platform. You will also need to have an automatic payment method on file. Before you choose your subscription level, it is a good idea to have a rough idea of the features you would like your store to have. For example, when I opened my store, I had an idea of how many items I would be listing each month. I didn’t open a store way above my targeted number figuring if I needed more, I could always upgrade at any time.
The different tiers available for eBay stores are Starter, Basic, Premium, Anchor and Enterprise. They all offer different listing numbers and fees.
Setting up the desired subscription is easy to do. Simply click on “Store Subscription” in your seller hub and choose the level you want.
Next, you need to choose a store name. I personally chose my store name with the intent of making it as simple as possible. It always makes sense to have the name be whatever you are selling in the store. If you are selling necklaces from the Caribbean, I would name the store “Caribbean Necklaces” or something simple. eBay creates a URL with the store name, so you’ll want it to be easily distinguishable in the search engines and you’ll want it to depict what the store is selling. It would make no sense to use the name “Ocean Blue” for example, even if the Caribbean does have some nice blue oceans.
Once you have subscribed and named your store, you can now personalize it. eBay allows you to choose a design and you can add your business logo to it. It allows you to organize your inventory and set up specific sales categories. You can even save templates for your listings so that each time you list, the work is half done already.
Before you go live, look at a preview and make sure everything is to your liking. Check for spelling and aesthetics. Once you are happy with the look, your store is ready to go live and you are ready to publish your first listings.
Managing Your eBay Store
There are a few tips and tricks I would recommend for running and managing your eBay store.
The first one is, if you are on vacation or need time away for any other reason, make sure your store reflects that. You don’t want someone buying something and expecting prompt delivery if you are on the other side of the world enjoying a nice vacation. Unless there is someone managing your inventory and sales in your absence, it is important that you tell your customers of your absence.
You can easily do this on the eBay platform and once you do, the message will be displayed on your storefront for the duration of your time away.
To schedule your time away:
- Go to your Time Away Settings.
- Choose Schedule time away.
- Click Allow item sales while you are away or Pause item sales while you are gone.
- Enter a Start date and End date for your time away.
- If you allow item sales, your time away can be up to 15 days
- If you pause item sales, your time away can be up to up to 30 days
- Click Apply.
I personally schedule my time away to start a day before my time off to accommodate any last day orders. I end it a day later than my return date to accommodate processing all the pending orders. I find this gives me the peace of mind I need to catch up on my sales and it allows me to have excellent customer service for all my listings.
Another option for your time away is to set up an automatic response that will be sent to anyone who messages you on the eBay platform during your time away. The option to do this is in your Time Away Settings.
- Click on Automatic Response.
- Select Message when on time away.
- Put in the Start date and End date for your time away message.
- Type your message in the box.
- Select Apply.
Changing your store name or subscription
I don’t advise changing your store name once it is opened and established. If you do, every buyer that has you bookmarked will lose history. Search engines will also see you as a new store so if you have a ranking, it will be gone.
If you must change the store name, it can be done, however, the new name cannot be similar to another eBay users name or a misleadingly similar name to any other store name. It also cannot have the work eBay or anything misleadingly like it in the name.
eBay takes its role in protecting intellectual rights seriously. Before you rename your store, I would advise that you read about eBay’s policy on intellectual rights and on using eBay’s intellectual property.
If you want to change your store’s subscription, you can do that on the “My Subscriptions” page. On the same page, you can change your billing cycle either from monthly to yearly or vice versa.
Closing an eBay Store
If you decide you want to close your eBay store, you can easily do this. Before you take this action though, I would suggest you consider why you are closing it. If your business needs have changed, it might be a better choice to change your subscription level or if you are taking time off, a better option might be to schedule time away like we discussed above.
If you decide closing is the way to go, it is a simple process. Here’s how to close your eBay Store:
- Go to your Subscriptions Page.
- Find your Store subscription and choose Cancel subscription.
- Any add-ons you have purchased such as Selling Manager Pro will be cancelled when you cancel your store subscription.
Once your store is cancelled, all your auction style listings will remain active until they are finished either because their end date is reached, or the item is sold.
Your eBay store settings will remain saved for 30 days after cancellation just in case you change your mind.
Conclusion
As we change and grow, sometimes our eBay store needs change with us. eBay is a great platform that allows you to change and work with your current needs with little hassle or fuss.