NA » Anyone on here ever have or think about opening an eBay store?

Anyone on here ever have or think about opening an eBay store?

Mar 2, 2007 at 3:58:33 PM

(AKA BLACKBOXY) < Wiz's Mom >

Posts: 10660 - Joined: 12/29/2006

Washington

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Just curious if anyone has ever or is currently running an eBay store. I was looking at it, thought it might be fun way to sell off doubles. Also good excuse to buy lots for 1 or 2 things and resell rest...

They charge minimum of $15.95 a month on top of normal fees for the damn store though so I don't really know if it is worth it.

Please LMK on your thoughts!
~E~

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I HAVE IT ALL NOW NES WISE! Unless you come across a Canadian DK JR MATH... if so I'm a Buyer!
USA GG set (Including all variants): COMPLETE! Set includes 244 / 257 Sealed/NEW!
Euro GG set (Including all variants): Missing 9 boxes, 9 books, 9 carts.
Japan GG set: COMPLETE! 196/196
Brazil GG set: Have 61/68. Need 5 boxes, 7 books, 3 carts.
GG Pirate Total: 68 different & Counting, Including Car Licence!
GG Prototypes: 4

Edited: 03/02/2007 at 03:59 PM by Braveheart69

Mar 2, 2007 at 4:04:19 PM

JordanMacNamara (22)

(Jordan MacNamara) < Eggplant Wizard >

Posts: 470 - Joined: 10/18/2006

Quebec

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I think justabum and burnambill have stores,but I might be wrong.
I have lots of stuff to sell but because I`m from canada,the shipping would eat all my profits(shipping 1 game costs me around 5$to the US and 7$ within canada).

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Mar 2, 2007 at 6:10:42 PM

dangevin (219)

(Dan Langevin) < Wiz's Mom >

Posts: 12131 - Joined: 08/17/2006

Pennsylvania

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http://stores.ebay.com/Head-Ga...5008992QQftidZ2QQtZkm

Store final value fees are expensive, 10%. But listing fees and gallery is cheap. The breakeven is about $10, if what your listing is between $10 and $15 it's a wash, if it's less than $10 it's cheaper to sell from a store, and if it's more than $15 it's better to auction it off. Problem is you get more exposure (4x more) for the price you pay in stores, since the listing lasts for a month. So for wierd items like complete games that won't sell every week except to resellers looking to make a buck off of your misfortune, I put them up in the store too.

The store fee is worth it, it keeps track of your sales, organizes it in a nice home screen and sends payment reminders after a week. It's a great deal for global exposure.

I've broken even with my NES collecting thusfar by selling my doubles and the extras I get from lots at my store. That means I've covered store, listing and final value fees, paypal fees, the cost of goods I sold AND the cost of goods I kept. I'm very picky about my purchases though, but so long as you keep track of your cash out versus cash in (i.e. just do all your buying and selling from the same Paypal account) you're fine.

Take good pictures, keep your shipping costs low, and clean your carts before you take the pictures. Offer a return policy and a guarantee, clean the connectors well and make sure in the policy to exclude guarantees on games to be played on clone systems. Check your messages daily, don't ship any less than every three days, and I can't think about anything else off the top of my head. Good luck, it's a good way to go, and BTW I use my store stock as my trading list as well. It's perfect, a picture and full description along with a complete live stock of my extras, that sells every once in a while too. Good deal.

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Mar 2, 2007 at 6:31:01 PM

Braveheart69 (222)

(AKA BLACKBOXY) < Wiz's Mom >

Posts: 10660 - Joined: 12/29/2006

Washington

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Thanks for all the advice. What I was thinking is that instead of SosaFan and RetrgoGameSpot, etc always buying my lots and splitting them up and making money I could just not be so lazy anymore and sell them as singles or smaller lots myself. Also I thought it might help me mint up some of my stuff as I would get to check stuff I bought against my stuff more often. Most of my stuff is now mint anyways as I have been doing seemingly nothing but upgrading for about the last year as I can't find any NTSC stuff I need anymore so I wouldn't be keeping very much stuff. Also all the extra stuff I would buy might help me pry something out of the hands of one of you that probably have the few remaining things I need. LOL!

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Mar 2, 2007 at 9:18:15 PM

magoo8301 (14)

(Andrew Scharlow) < Crack Trooper >

Posts: 153 - Joined: 02/08/2007

Illinois

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I have a store Nintendo Depot. It works okay as long as you have auctions running to get exposure to your other items.

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My auctions- http://www.chasethechuckwagon.com/sites/magoo8301/

Mar 2, 2007 at 10:58:38 PM

wrldstrman (107)

(doug prickett) < Master Higgins >

Posts: 8001 - Joined: 08/18/2006

West Virginia

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When you open a ebay store do you need a small business license and are you required to pay state sales tax on all items sold...Myself I dont but stuff from ebay stores If there was a way to eliminate them from all searches I would..

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Old aunts used to come up to me at weddings, poking me in the ribs and cackling, telling me, "You're next." They stopped after I started doing the same thing to them at funerals.

Mar 2, 2007 at 11:08:28 PM

NationalGameDepot (279)

(Dr. NGD) < Bonk >

Posts: 15286 - Joined: 08/16/2006

Tennessee

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I buy a lot from ebay stores. You can find good deals sometimes. Plus when you variant hunt, they have good BIN's many times on cheaper games. I have thought about opening a store also, but seems to expensive IMO...unless you sale a lot of stuff, which I don't anymore.
~~NGD

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Proud replier of post #1000 in the infamous Joel thread

Mar 2, 2007 at 11:26:42 PM

EVIL OVERLORD
Dain (226)

(Dain Anderson) < Founder >

Posts: 12134 - Joined: 08/14/2006

North Carolina

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All this talk about ebay stores, and the fact that I have piles of crap sitting around, I decided to open mine back up for a few months to try and weed out some of the extras I have. Before anyone points out the obvious, I realize a lot of the prices are high. But then again, isn't that the premise behind quickie marts too?

Anything in my store is for trade as well. I like dangevin's idea that it's a way to keep your trade list up-to-date.

I also buy a lot from stores, especially for variations. With a store, you can more often than not buy a bunch from a seller that you need and save on shipping.

http://stores.ebay.com/Nintendo-Age-Store

-Dain

Mar 3, 2007 at 1:29:43 AM

burnambill333 (0)

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(Nicholas Morgan) < King Solomon >

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I had a store but closed it. The main reason I closed it is because I didn't have large quantities of the same items. Sure I always have duplicate games for sale, but they're different. Stores are great if you have an inventory consisting of large quantities of the same item. Plus if you run a store you have to sit on items for a long time. I have very limited space and like to clear everything out in a 7 day auction.....not wait months for somebody to buy the item.

Another reason I closed it is because I think the fees are too high. $15.95 for the basic store + 10% FVF charged for each item sold + PayPal fees + $0.10 per listing every 30 days. That's around 15% of MY money when it's all said and done, which is too much.

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Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!

Mar 3, 2007 at 2:00:09 AM

Braveheart69 (222)

(AKA BLACKBOXY) < Wiz's Mom >

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Was hoping that the whole store thing would bring a different type of fun to the hobby too. Sometimes can go through definite frustration mode when I only see something NTSC I don't have every month or so and then get sniped ...ahem Nick... at least this would be a chance to filter through some new stuff look for variations, upgrade, etc.

Still don't know about the fees though... I guess if I sell smaller stuff in the store and do auctions for the bigger/nicer stuff it could workout.

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Mar 3, 2007 at 4:23:24 AM

wrldstrman (107)

(doug prickett) < Master Higgins >

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West Virginia

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I must be missing all the good deals all i see in most ebay stores is way over price stuff the sellers let sit for years.

Mar 3, 2007 at 4:50:18 AM

magoo8301 (14)

(Andrew Scharlow) < Crack Trooper >

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Illinois

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Originally posted by: wrldstrman

I must be missing all the good deals all i see in most ebay stores is way over price stuff the sellers let sit for years.

You must be. ive sold 250 + CIB nes games and 200 carts through my ebay store. ive only had it a few months.
I actually just about ran outta stuff and finally have some more inventory.

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My auctions- http://www.chasethechuckwagon.com/sites/magoo8301/

Mar 3, 2007 at 6:45:52 AM

EVIL OVERLORD
Dain (226)

(Dain Anderson) < Founder >

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I think running a store can be very fun, but only if you set things up to keep it maintainable. For example, the first time I opened a store (over a year ago), I priced my items too low, trying to beat all the fellow store prices. It worked, but it worked TOO well -- I was out of inventory after after about 2 weeks. This time around, I've tried to price my items at a "middle" level -- not the cheapest, not the most expensive. Who knows if I'll sell anything, but a small trickle of sales is really what I'm after this time around. Last time it became a second job, and too much work.

Erik,

Having a store allowed me to constantly mint up my carts. Out of all my carts, I have maybe 10 or so that aren't at least an 8 out of 10. Boxes and manuals are a different story, but that's mostly because I sold cart-only. One thing to consider though is that checking each and every game against your existing copy for a "mint up" takes a LOT of time. I would suggest you make a list beforehand of games, boxes, and manuals that need upgrading then just compare them to that list.

-Dain

Mar 3, 2007 at 2:33:42 PM

the_wizard_666 (157)

(The Fat Ninja) < Wiz's Mom >

Posts: 11676 - Joined: 10/12/2006

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Dain, I just bought your CIB Sqoon...It's a bit higher than I wanted to pay, but it's in really nice shape. Just wanted to let you know that payment will be pending on it on Friday when I get my cheque

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"It's always amazing to me how some of the most worthless games from a gaming perspective tend to fetch outrageous amounts of money. But then again, it could be said that something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. I'm curious if the high bidder of the $873.04 Stadium Events (cart-only) realizes that it's nowhere nearly as rare as about 20+ games I can think of that sell for 1/10th that amount? At any rate, I wanted to draw attention to this trend: if people say it's rare, it must be true, and therefore it must be had at any price."
-Dain Anderson, October 14, 2006

Originally posted by: kryptk33p3r

im used to dick jokes i get to see one everytime I pee

Mar 3, 2007 at 3:05:54 PM

EVIL OVERLORD
Dain (226)

(Dain Anderson) < Founder >

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Oh, cool -- I'm really glad it's going to a good home. No worries -- Friday is fine.

-Dain

Mar 3, 2007 at 3:33:37 PM

Braveheart69 (222)

(AKA BLACKBOXY) < Wiz's Mom >

Posts: 10660 - Joined: 12/29/2006

Washington

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I just bought two of your CIB accessories. See what we've started... Don't know if you've already shipped the two HES games I bought... if not you could send all 4 things together. If not no problems.

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Mar 3, 2007 at 5:58:03 PM

burnambill333 (0)

(Nicholas Morgan) < King Solomon >

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New Jersey

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Erik, why don't you open a store for a few months and see how you like it? Like everybody else said the hard part is not listing items, but mainting the store well, and staying organized. If it works for ya then you've got a whole new way of buying and selling your games, and a great way to "Mint-Up" your collection. If it doesn't then just do when I did and close it a few months down the road.

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Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!

Mar 3, 2007 at 6:09:13 PM

EVIL OVERLORD
Dain (226)

(Dain Anderson) < Founder >

Posts: 12134 - Joined: 08/14/2006

North Carolina

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Originally posted by: Braveheart69

I just bought two of your CIB accessories. See what we've started... Don't know if you've already shipped the two HES games I bought... if not you could send all 4 things together. If not no problems.

Awesome! I already shipped your HES games, but no worries -- I'll have those out Monday for you.

-Dain

Mar 3, 2007 at 6:36:29 PM

Braveheart69 (222)

(AKA BLACKBOXY) < Wiz's Mom >

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Washington

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DAIN, thank you!

Nick, I did... I will see what happens with this. Could be interesting. The problem as I am kinda hearing I think will be finding inventory that people want at a good enough price to cover the fees. Since I have a very well paying job it's not like I'm trying to make living at this. I just want to have fun at it, break even or better after fees, and maybe add a few things to my collection here and there from large lots that I would not normally buy as I didn't have an outlet for all the doubles. It is kinda funny though I am having a hard time buying large lots of stuff as all the people with stores who do make a living at this keep outbidding me. I guess I look at the stuff like who would pay more than average of say $5 for this game or whatever and they will just outbid me and list it for enough to make money on it. Sometimes I wonder how long they sit on some of the total crap stuff they end up with that they overpaid for and can't sell. Good thing for me I just sold that large lot of junky (IMO) quality stuff last week so what I have now in "inentory" is all very good or better stuff.

My new store name is: Play It Again Games&Collectibles

Don't have alot in there yet but I have started slow. :-)

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Mar 26, 2007 at 4:50:56 PM

udisi (88)

< King Solomon >

Posts: 3270 - Joined: 11/15/2006

United States

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I just opened my store on Saturday.

http://stores.ebay.com/Cartridge-Classics-Video-Games