Setting Up Your Store on eBay

Before you can set up an eBay store, you must have a seller’s account, and either be ID Verified
or have a feedback score of 20 or above. Here’s how to create a store:
1. Go to eBay Stores (http://stores.ebay.com/). There’s an eBay Stores link on the home
page (top left).
2. Click the Open a Store button.
3. You may be asked to log into your seller account. On the next page, click the Open Your
eBay Store button.

You can customize your store later. An easy option in this regard is to select one of the Easily
Customizable themes.

4. Select a theme—the layout and color scheme. Note that some themes
have Color scheme drop-down list boxes below them, allowing you to select different
colors. You can click the links at the top left to select different groups of styles. Click the
Continue button when you’ve selected one.

Read the rules about store names (click naming your Store). The URL of the store will be
based on the name you provide, so you may want to include a few keywords for the search
engines to read. You can base it on your company name, but adding keywords may help.

5. On the following page, enter a Store name and Store description.
6. You should also provide a logo. eBay lets you use a generic or Predefined logo, but
you shouldn’t use this more than temporarily when you set up the store. Your logo is
too important—it appears at the top of every page in most layouts, and in the Check
Out These Stores area at the top of your category if you choose to buy that position. So, have a designer create an image that is 310-pixels wide and 90-pixels
high, and then upload it to your store. You want your logo to be a sales piece, because
if you buy a placement in the Check Out These Stores area, the logo will be displayed
there.
7. Click the Continue button to see the Review & Subscribe page.
8. Select the subscription level for the store (click the benefits of each subscription level
link to learn more).
■ Basic store $19.95/month, the cheapest store; you may want to select this to begin.
■ Featured store $49.95/month
■ Anchor store $499.95/month
9. Click the Start My Subscription Now button and your store will be built.
10. You can now customize your store. Click the Customize Your Store button or go to My
eBay to see the new options that have been added.

Customizing Your Store
You’ve only half-finished your store. You now need to finish the customization. Enter the My
eBay page and look for the My Subscriptions box on the left side. Click the Manage Your Store
link and the Manage Your Store box appears.

From here, you can customize your store by completing various tasks shown in the following:

Store Builder
Edit the basic information you entered when you created the store.
Change your listing layout.
Change the header style; if you have a Featured or Anchor store, you
can make the eBay header at the top of your store smaller.
Add custom pages, and change the navigation.
Organize listings into custom categories.
Add product-promotion boxes to the store.

Custom Listing
Header Create a custom header for your listing pages—add a logo, include
links from the header to particular categories, and incorporate a storesearch
box.

Customize Cross-promotion display
Set up your cross-promotions box, which appears on the product pages

Change Store Subscription
Switch from one store type to another (Basic, Featured, Anchor).

Custom Invoice/Checkout
Add a logo and custom message to your checkout pages and invoice
e-mail.

Customize Keywords for Search Engines
Edit your category pages’ TITLE tags and DESCRIPTION and
KEYWORDS metatags to help your ranking in the search engines.
See Chapter 26 for more information.

Change vacation settings
If you’re running a one-person operation and going on vacation, you
can turn off your store.