Welcome to this edition of Adam Ginsberg's "Insiders" Newsletter. Each issue is designed to provide you with insights, tips, secrets and overall strategies on how you can build your online auctions business. I'm sure you love this issue! This week will help you determine if you want benefit from having an eBay Store.

eBay Stores: Do you need them? Are they worth the work and investment?

In this newsletter issue the topic is: Why you want an eBay store to make more money on eBay! This is part 1.

As of March 31, 2006 eBay has 247,000
US eBay Stores.

The next issue will conclude eBay Stores Part 1 & 2 with an article showing the mechanics of how to establish and set up a great eBay store.

EBay is the ultimate marketplace. When you consider adding an eBay store to your eBay adventure it enables you to take your business to new heights.

eBay stores feature all your listings: both regular auctions and fixed-price By It Now listings. In addition, you can create long-term and even nonexpiring listings for your store.

An eBay store is not Free. There are a couple of plans, ranging in price from $15.95 to $499.99 a month, depending on the level of service and prominence on eBay you want.

Do you need a store? What do you get when you open an eBay store?

Here's the first benefit of an eBay Store:

• You get your own e-commerce web site right within eBay. Your eBay store has a name and a Web address of its own – http://store.ebay.com/name-of-store - so you can promote your store within eBay and across the Internet.

High Level Tip: You should promote your eBay store offline with business cards, flyers, etc. Online you can promote your store in the signature of your email amongst other places. Top sellers and smart internet marketers create a unique url for advertising purposes related to their eBay store.

Here’s how it works. You go to: http://www.highfivedomains.com and register your domain name (web address) for your new eBay store.

Once you’ve created your account, you’re allowed to “forward and mask” that url.

For example, let’s say Mark has an eBay store named: Discount Ipods. He would then go to http://www.highfivedomains to register a domain name. In this case, he registered the domains: http://mydiscountipodsonlinestore.com

One the url has been purchased, Mark logs into his account (this is very simple to do, by the way) and forwards his domain to his eBay store url. Think of this like forwarding a home phone to a cell phone…the cal rings at its final destination

As well, you can “mask” the forwarded domain. So, here’s what happens. Jane sees the link and clicks on it. The link is: http://www.mydiscountipodsonlinestore.com – she is then taken (redirected) to Marks eBay store. However, in the browser window bar, http://www.mydiscountipodsonlinestore.com

When you set up your eBay store I highly encourage you to create a domain name. It’s inexpensive yet highly effective.

More Benefits of Having an eBay Store:

• When a buyer checks out one of your regular auctions, you can advertise your store right from the auction page. That way, an interested buyer can easily find your goods.

• An eBay store makes it easier for buyers to make multiple purchases from you. Rather than watching and waiting for several auctions to end, they can buy as much as they want all at one time.

• eBay helps store owners with their marketing. The program advertises items from your store on the Bid Confirmation and Purchase Confirmation pages, giving buyers and extra chance to see your goods.

• If you specialize in a particular kind of merchandise, a store is a great way to attract interested buyers. When you change the merchandise often, you keep ‘em coming back.

• A store can save you time. Auctions run out of time after ten days at most, at which point you have to o through all the work of relisting the item (if it didn’t sell). Your store listings can last for 30, 60, 90 or 120 days – or until you cancel the listing.

eBay claims that sellers see a 25 percent increase in sales in the first three months after opening a store – that’s the good news. The bad news is that those buyers have to work pretty hard to find your merchandise. Items sold in eBay Stores don’t always come up in the list of results when a buyer conducts a search. Instead, there’s a link at the bottom of the results page list that says, “See additional Buy It Now items from eBay Store sellers.” Most buyers won’t even notice that link; they’ll just start going through the items on the results list.

Still, a store can be worthwhile if you have a good sized inventory of related products. Buyers shopping for baby booties who find one of your auctions are likely to venture into your store to see what else you have to offer.

So next time we'll talk about how to create your eBay store. in the meantime, eBay has recently announced winners of its Stores Contest.

Here are the winners:

  Touch of Whimsy won for Best Shopping Experience

Check it out: Touch of Whimy Designs eBay Store

  Period Paper won for Best eBay Store Marketing

Check it out: Period Paper eBay Store

  Grapevinehill won for Best Looking Store

Check it out: Grapevinehill eBay Store

  Howlin' Bakery won for Best Success Store

Check it out: Howlin' Moon Bakery eBay Store

Until the next issue...

Knowing No Boundaries

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