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Do I need an eBay store subscription?

Do I need an eBay store subscription?

Listing items on eBay using XpressLister has the same requirements as listing products manually directly on eBay except that it’s much faster to list items and keep them updated.

eBay Account Requirements

To list on eBay you just need an eBay account in good standing with Seller account enabled.

Reasons to consider a store

Although a store subscription is not required, it can often be a good idea.

The store subscriptions vary between regional eBay sites. Using eBay Australia as an example (data from eBay Store Packages in June 2015):

  No Store Basic Store Featured Store Anchor Store
Monthly subscription fee n/a $19.95 $49.95 $499.95
Monthly free Fixed Price listings 40 200 500 Unlimited
Fixed Price insertion fee $1.50 (under $100) 
$3.50 (over $100)
$0.50 $0.20 Free
Final value fee 9.9% 8% 7% 6%
Listing duration 10 days GTC* GTC* GTC*

*GTC = Good Till Cancelled

Example Scenarios

  No Store Basic Store Featured Store Anchor Store Conclusion
10 products / $1000 per month eBay Sales No store fee
No listing fees 
$99 final value fees 
$99 total cost
$19.95 store fee
No listing fees 
$80 final value fees 
$99.95 total cost
$49.95 store fee 
No listing fees
$70 final value fees 
$119.95 total cost
$499.95 store fee 
No listing fees 
$60 final value fees
$559.95 total cost
No Store is marginally cheaper than  
Basic Store but even a slight increase 
in sales will make Basic Store the best 
option.
250 products* / $1000 per month eBay Sales 
* Assuming all products under $100
No store fee
$1065listing fees *1
$99 final value fees 
$1164 total cost 
$19.95 store fee 
$25.00 listing fees *2 
$80 final value fees 
$124.95 total cost
$49.95 store fee
No listing fees 
$70 final value fees 
$119.95 total cost 
$499.95 store fee 
No listing fees 
$60 final value fees
$559.95 total cost
Featured Store is the best option. 
No Store is by far the most expensive. 
If you have more than 12 products
at least a Basic Store is usually vital
250 products* / $5000 per month eBay Sales 
* Assuming all products over $100
No store fee
$2485listing fees *3
$495 final value fees 
$2980 total cost
$19.95 store fee 
$25.00 listing fees *4 
$400 final value fees 
$444.95 total cost
$49.95 store fee
No listing fees 
$350 final value fees 
$399.95 total cost
$499.95 store fee 
No listing fees 
$300 final value fees
$799.95 total cost
Featured Store is the best option. 
No Store is by far the most expensive. 
If you have more than 12 products
at least a Basic Store is usually vital
2000 products* / $5000 per month eBay Sales 
* Assuming all products over $100
No store fee
$20860listing fees *5
$495 final value fees 
$23840 total cost
$19.95 store fee 
$900 listing fees *6
$400 final value fees 
$1319.95 total cost
$49.95 store fee 
$750 listing fees *7
$350 final value fees 
$1189.90 total cost
$499.95 store fee
No listing fees 
$300 final value fees 
$799.95 total cost
Anchor Store is the best option 
because the listing fees on the 
lower store packages are higher 
than the Anchor Store subscription fee 
when listing 1500 items or more. 

Listing fee calculations

*1 10 day listing duration means each item is listed 3 times a month (on average), so 250 items is 750 listings. Deduct the 40 free that’s 710 at $1.50 giving us the result of $1065 
*2 GTC gets counted as a listing once a month. 250 listings. Deduct the 200 free that’s 50 at $0.50 giving us the result of $25 
*3 10 day listing duration means each item is listed 3 times a month (on average), so 250 items is 750 listings. Deduct the 40 free that’s 710 at $3.50 giving us the result of $2485 
*4 GTC gets counted as a listing once a month. 250 listings. Deduct the 200 free that’s 50 at $0.50 giving us the result of $25 
*5 10 day listing duration means each item is listed 3 times a month (on average), so 2000 items is 6000 listings. Deduct the 40 free that’s 5960 at $3.50 giving us the result of $20860 
*6 GTC gets counted as a listing once a month. 2000 listings. Deduct the 200 free that’s 1800 at $0.50 giving us the result of $900 
*7 GTC gets counted as a listing once a month. 2000 listings. Deduct the 500 free that’s 1500 at $0.50 giving us the result of $750

You can use eBay’s Fee Illustrator (Australia) to run your own calculations.

Conclusion

A store subscription can make the difference between an eBay business being viable or not. Some of the example scenarios listed above had higher fees than sales if the correct store wasn’t selected.

Either listing counts because of the listing fees or sales volume because of the reduced Final Value fee can justify the cost of a store subscription.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your circumstances. It is important that you do your own research.