The e-commerce industry has seen significant growth since the pandemic. Instead of visiting physical retail stores, many consumers would rather make purchases online from the convenience of their homes.
eBay is one of the leading platforms that has ensured the unstoppable growth of the e-commerce sector. The platform provides primary income for thousands of people worldwide, with a market capitalization of over 23bn USD and over 130million active buyers.
As a seller on eBay, you may wonder: Is the eBay store subscription worth it? Well, read this blog post carefully to find out.
- What is an ebay store subscription
- Benefits of an ebay store subscription
- Cons of an ebay store subscription
- How to upgrade
- How to downgrade
What Is eBay Store Subscription?
eBay store subscriptions are easy-to-setup channels provided on the eBay platform for product promotion and expanding your eBay business.
According to the eBay site: By subscribing to an eBay store, you may collect all your listings in one branded area. Additionally, store subscriptions provide you access to more tools for managing your online store, lower costs, and more free monthly listings.
Even if you have no prior web design knowledge, setting up your online selling presence is simple with the all-inclusive eBay store package.
Each store subscription includes new cross-selling and marketing features and robust traffic and sales reporting. The best part is that fixed-price store inventory listing fees are small, offering the chance for higher profit margins than standard eBay listings.
On the other hand, customers can link directly to your polished eBay store using your personal, custom URL address. Store subscriptions also come with your search engine, which lets customers exclusively look for products in your store, keeping them from visiting other vendors but rather continuing their shopping with you.
In other words, opening an eBay store gives you a prominent spot on the marketplace where customers may find the numerous products you have to sell. In addition, it gives you an online presence without requiring you to invest time and energy in sophisticated web design to develop your store.
Benefits of eBay Store Subscription
There are compelling factors and features to enjoy when you opt for an eBay store subscription. Aside from the lower cost and more free listings you get to enjoy, an eBay store subscription gives you access to more management and marketing tools that can help you stand out from the competition.
This section will explore some critical criteria and benefits you should consider before subscribing to an eBay store.
Effective Product Categorization
You can make as many categories with your products as you like on the eBay store. Customers can more easily navigate your online store with the aid of product categorization, commonly referred to as product taxonomy.
By building a virtual, digital aisle that directs clients to the item they want to buy, this method imitates the sensation of being in a physical store. One would assume that any e-commerce platform would prefer this structure. However, that’s not the case with many other platforms.
Nobody operates an online store purely for the fun of it. So since your income depends on selling your products, you must ensure the best conditions to maximize profit. Besides, customers require a simple, aesthetically pleasing shopping experience with reliable store navigation to make a purchase. All of that is possible if your products are well categorized.
Personalized URL
You can choose a unique URL for your store with the eBay store subscription. Your store’s URL allows customers a quick and easy way to find it without having to search all over eBay.
Making your name known in the marketplace is simpler with your personalized URL. On the other hand, if you don’t have one, there’s always another more straightforward eBay store waiting to whisk away your customers.
Consider a scenario where a client learns about you from a friend or comes across one of your social media posts or ads. These are fantastic chances for conversion if they can access your store by simply entering your URL, which leads them straight to you.
Even the finest lead generation strategies cannot convince customers to travel great distances to find you. Therefore, an eBay store subscription gives you a chance for more conversion.
Better Customer Retention & Conversions
You may improve your customer retention with an eBay store. When you set up a store with unique things on offer, your clients will remember it and “come back to you” the next time they need that product.
More customers get drawn to buy new items when you include exclusive products in your eBay store and give compelling offers using the promotions manager. This will help with increasing sales.
Also, providing outstanding customer service, personalizing your customers’ buying experiences, and automating specific processes can improve your sales if you have a store on eBay.
Better Product Visibility and Credibility
Getting an eBay store subscription means you are in for the long haul and not going away anytime soon. That alone can be enough to build trust in customers who fear getting scammed.
Also, an eBay store makes your products more visible with easy searches and navigation. Customers can easily find your products when you subscribe to the eBay store.
You can learn how to get more traffic on ebay with our simple guide
Lower fees (Depending on category)
One of the major advantages of an eBay store is the potential to get some additional discounts on the fees you pay. The portion of the transaction that eBay keeps after an item sells is known as the final value charge.
You can compare standard eBay fees and eBay store fees to see the differences.
While you are paying the subscription fees, some categories will end up saving you a lot of money in the long run. You do need to be aware that the discounts may only come in specific store plans, choosing a starter store may not give you these benefits. Y
Cons of eBay Store Subscription
Everything good also has some drawbacks. An eBay store subscription is not an exemption from that rule. You must assess the advantages and disadvantages of opening an eBay store, just like any other business decision.
Consider these drawbacks of eBay stores to determine if the feature will benefit you before opening an eBay store for your small business.
The URL Is Only Subdomain
You receive a subdomain URL with an eBay store and don’t control the domain name. If you ever decided to expand your business outside of eBay, this would be a problem because you can’t transfer that domain name to another hosting company.
You would need to update any external sources pointing to your eBay store and re-establish any inbound links you had.
Setting Up an eBay Store Subscription
Before setting up an eBay subscription store, you must first understand that you need an eBay business account.
If you already have a personal account, you must convert it to a business account. Otherwise, ensure to set up a business account. After that, you may go ahead and open an eBay store.
When you do that, it’s not difficult to open a store yourself. Just follow these simple steps to set up your eBay store:
- Sign into your eBay account.
- Under the “Account” tab, select “Subscriptions.” under “Selling”
- Click “Choose a store” and select the ebay store plan you would like (starter, basic etc.)
- Click “Select and Review” then submit your order.
Choosing the Type of eBay Store Subscription
Five distinct store subscription options are available on eBay. So you must ensure that your chosen subscription package is appropriate for your listing volume.
For example, if you have between 100 to 150 listings each month, you’d be wasting money by selecting a Premium store. After weighing your number of listings and sales as well as the profit you are currently getting, you can choose the most suitable subscription.
Although a store gives you a good opportunity, you must ensure that your investment is worthwhile and aids you in achieving your goals rather than draining your bank account.
The different types of store subscriptions include:
- Starter: $7.95 monthly and $4.95/month yearly for a subscription with 250 free auction listings each month in particular categories and free action ads in a few categories.
- Basic: $27.95 monthly and $21.95/month yearly for a subscription with 10,000 fixed-price listings each month, 250 free auction postings in particular categories, decreased final value fees, and free Terapeak Insights tool subscription.
- Premium: $74.95 monthly and $59.95/month yearly for subscription with 500 monthly free auction ads in specific categories, along with 10,000 monthly fixed-price listings, decreased final value fees, and free Terapeak Insights tool subscription.
- Anchor: $349.95 monthly and $299.95/month yearly for subscription with 25,000 fixed-price listings each month, 1,000 free auction postings each month in a few categories, focused customer service, decreased final value fees, and free Terapeak Insights tool subscription
- Enterprise: Only $2,999.95 for a yearly subscription with 100,000 fixed-price postings per month, 2,500 free auction postings in particular categories, committed customer service, decreased final value fees, and free Terapeak Insights tool subscription.
How to Upgrade an eBay Store
If you want to upgrade your eBay store to a higher plan, simply go to “My eBay,” select “Account,” and then “Subscriptions.” To upgrade your eBay store, click “Change Level” on the subscriptions page.
How to Downgrade Your eBay store
An “early termination” penalty cost, which depends on the number of months left in the commitment, is incurred when a seller downgrades or cancels a yearly subscription. The store service agreement provides the charge schedule for the remaining months and subscription level.
When eBay has changed the store fees or incentives significantly over the years, as they did with the most recent seller updates, they often exclude sellers from the early termination fee if they downgrade their subscription before some defined period after the announcement.
However, you can downgrade your plan anytime by opening a case or contacting the eBay Customer Services team.
It is advisable to call to downgrade as you near the end of your calendar month, so eBay staff can make sure you are charged the correct plan pricing on your subsequent eBay store subscription.
Bottom Line
With an eBay store subscription, you may quickly attract more buyers thanks to eBay’s access to tools like “Promotions Manager,” which provide unique features to draw in new customers and increase traffic to your store.
Nonetheless, after all we’ve discussed, is an eBay store subscription worth it for you? Ultimately, the answer to this question depends on the number of items you sell and what you hope to achieve. Ensure to carefully weigh the pros and cons to see what is best for your online business.