I have never thought about writing a guide and putting in words what I think of my store and about the ebay as a whole experience, so here it is. I opened an Ebay store in Oct 2006. One of the benefits is that you are able to sell items as Store Inventory itnes and you only pay 6 cents for the listing insert instead of the high Ebay fees for auctions and Buy it Now listings. In my case, I usually place my new items in my store as Buy it Now listings and what I don't sell within 7 days of the insertion date, I relist it as Store inventory. That way I reduce the cost of my monthly Ebay fees (6 cents per month instead of 75 cents for 7 days assuming the listing is $9.99 or less and has gallery, it can't beat that). One strategy is that I wait until Ebay sends special offers like 10 cents insertion fees or Free gallery, to put more items in my store. That way my store started to grow slowly and I was able to manage last year without affecting my day full time job.

Another benefit is that a store owner can have sales in the store. For example, right now I have a 10% off sale going on my store for the month of January, and helps to move some of the items that are hard to sell. About 40% of my sales are from store inventory items. In general, I find fun in creating this virtual store, interact with customers (95% of them are extremelly nice making the online selling experience so worthwhile) and it's a great feeling of accomplishment. I try my best to make please my customer as much I can...if they ask me to wrap it up as a gift, I do. It only takes a few minutes of my time and it might make a huge difference in the feedback and in the customer's perspective of my store and purchasing online. By now, I know all employees from my local post office and they know me by my name. It's nice to chit chat with them while I send my packages.

On the other hand, I must agree that customers sometimes are hard to satisfy, so if you want to provide customer satisfaction you will have to have a balance between what is right price and good service. Some customers want items practically free, low shipping costs (the ideal shipping cost would be FREE) and fast service. Not to forget that there is always the "bitter" customer you can give him/her the world and this person would still gives a neutral or even worst a nasty feedback . So, be mentally prepared for that and be smart in always providing evidence like delivery confirmation so the customer won't send you an email in the future accusing that the item was never received and threating that negative feedback will be given if money is not refunded. Offer insurance! I had lost mail and one package was returned and it arrived empty since it was caught in the post office's sorting machine (that's what I was told). can you imagine if these events happen to you on the regular basis, and how this could affect your busines? with high Ebays fees it's enough to make a profit and it's hard enough to break even. So, I would recommend to always offer insurance...there are already so many other factors that can contribute to the transaction to go wrong, so don't let delivery confirmation or no insurance offer to be one of these factors.

The other side of this business is about dedication. I usually spend about 10-15 hours per week or more working on my store/business. That's time away from my love ones that many wouldn't sacrify to have a store. From my life experience, I believe that sucess comes with sacrifice, dedication and persistance. if the person is not ready to devote some time, then this is not the right business! I hope this review helps! it's my first one, so bare with me and check out my store.

Patty -  Best Deal's Corner Store