Experienced eBay sellers often ask the question:  "Should I open an eBay store?  What are the advantages and disadvantages?"   There are several advantages to having an eBay store and all experienced sellers who sell on eBay with regularity should consider having one.

MORE MONEY

• It is possible with an eBay store to price items slightly above the average price that the same item would fetch at auction.  All items trade in a range and with an eBay store, it is possible to set your price toward the high end of that range.  If the item does not sell, the price can be lowered, the item can be sent to auction, or the "Best Offer" feature can be added.  However, the average price for an average item in your eBay store can be higher than the average price realized at auction.

• eBay store fees can be substantially less than posting the same items at auction, particularly if your sell through rate is below 100%.  After paying the initial store fee of $15.95 per month (at the time of this writing), listings to the eBay store are just 2 cents per 30 days plus 1 cent for optional gallery and 2 cents for optional subtitle.  By comparison, listing an item to the core site with a fixed price of $500 would cost $4.80 for a 7 day post, plus 35 cents for gallery plus 50 cents for subtitle, plus 40 cents if you want to make that a 10 day listing.  Posting with all these features would cost $6.05 for 10 days.  By comparison, a $500 eBay store item with gallery and subtitle would cost 5 cents a month.  It would take more than 10 years in your eBay store for the posting fee to equal that of a 10 day listing to the core site with the same features.

• Multiples of the same item can be placed in a store listing for the same 2 cents per month posting fee.  If you have 1,000 of the same item costing $10 each, they can be posted in one listing for 2 cents per month.

• Buyers will frequently scan a store owner's other listings and buy multiple items if that person offers free or discounted combined shipping.
  

BROADER SALES

• An eBay store allows a seller to post more obscure items that would not necessarily sell right away in a 7 day format.

• An eBay store allows a seller to post items that would otherwise be too inexpensive to post in a 7 day format.

• With an eBay store, one can sell items which compliment one's existing product line.  For example, supplies, accessories or repair kits.

MORE EFFICIENCY

• Store owners get free access to detailed traffic reports and also to sales reports.  The traffic reports are valid for the entire time the eBay store was open.  One can see all the counter hits a given item received in a given hour, day, week, month, or year.
  

• With traffic reports, a store owner can see what their most popular listings are right now.  They might consider sending those items to the core site either as auctions or fixed price listings, to attract traffic to the other items in their eBay store.

• Store owners don't have to worry about timing the market.  They can write a store listing whenever they have time.  If sales are slow, a store owner can concentrate on posting.  When sales are brisk, a store owner can concentrate on packing and shipping.  This is especially useful for those who sell seasonal items.
  

• Store items can take much less time to write than regular auctions.  An auction will be successful if there are 2 enthusiastic bidders grabbed within 7 days, and it is imperative to include enough keywords and detailed description to ensure the success of the auction.  With a store listing, one only needs to find one person interested in buying at the asking price.  Because of this, certain listings might take 80% to 90% less time to write as a store listing than an auction.  If the potential buyer wants more detail, that can be provided later at their request.
  

• Unsold auction items can easily be placed in one's eBay store. It takes mere seconds, and who knows?  Someone might buy it yet.

• Store items can always be sent to auction / fixed price.  Anticipate heavy holiday sales?  Send a bunch of your store items to the core site.  eBay announces a 10 cent listing day 2 hours in advance?  Send a bunch of store items to the core site.

CROSS PROMOTION

• With an eBay Store, you can always have plenty of items on hand when someone asks the burning question:  "What else does this person have to sell that I might want?"

• Thumbnails of other items you have will appear in all of your listings.  This defaults to 4, but can be changed to 12 by changing your preferences in My eBay.  This serves two functions- first, it gives the impression that you are a "real" seller with lots of interesting items to offer.  Secondly, there's a good possibility that someone will click on one of these thumbnails and buy the darn thing.

• A store owner's keywords show up in major internet search engines.  The titles of your store categories are especially prominent, so make the most of them.

• A store owner can establish themself as a "one stop" source on eBay for certain items. 
  

• A store owner can establish a newsletter and send it to any eBayers who have signed up to receive it.

• A store owner can put Gallery pics on every single one of their listings for 1 cent per listing per 30 days.  This helps immensely when people are searching the seller's other listings, especially if that seller has a lot of listings.
  

There are other reasons for having a store, and there are some drawbacks to having an eBay store as well (for instance, store items are less prominent in most eBay searches).  However, this guide should scratch the surface in answering the burning question "should I open an eBay store?"  In general, I would recommend opening an eBay store if you have at least 100 items to sell which you have a good idea on how to price, are able to ship at least 1 or 2 times per week and want to make more money.  Good luck!