How To Open An eBay Store [Step-By-Step Guide]

Opening an eBay store is an excellent portal into the world of ecommerce. As one of the simplest, no-fuss selling platforms available, eBay is full of possibilities, and open to anyone.

eBay has been around for a good while - since 1995, to be precise - and has positioned itself as a ‘selling partner’ in the ecommerce space. The platform is designed for sellers, whether you’re selling unwanted items, or scaling a full-time ecommerce business.

If you’re ready to open an eBay store, our step by step guide will have you on your way in no time.

Learn how to manage your eBay accounting the right way

Accounting for eBay sales comes with a unique set of challanges and opportunities. Discover the key challenges sellers face, the taxes and fees, and a free setup checklist.

Download our free guide

Why Sell on eBay?

Maybe you’re an expert in high-end sneakers, stamps, or antiques. Perhaps you discovered a useful product overseas that isn’t sold in your country yet and imported it for sale. Or perhaps you’re just trying to sell items from your home.

Whatever your motivation, eBay allows you to reach a global audience that is looking for what you’re selling.

eBay is like using Google, but specifically for buying things. You can find just about anything on eBay: new, second-hand, rare, unique, random nick-nacks - you name it and there’s a potential market for it on eBay.

8 Benefits of Selling on eBay

1. Gain access to a worldwide marketplace

eBay has millions of visitors globally. Selling an item that appeals to customers in Germany, but you’re in the USA? eBay keeps you visible, and minimizes the challenges of selling internationally. The eBay Global Shipping Program also simplifies international shipping for sellers.

2. Fixed-price listings and auction listings

eBay gives you flexibility, and the auction feature provides an opportunity to get more for your item if it’s highly sought-after.

3. Established and trusted global customer base

With over 25 years in the ecommerce space, eBay has a winning formula that protects buyers and sellers. Selling with eBay offers a level of security and authority that an unknown ecommerce store may not.

4. The eBay Affiliate Program

You can leverage affiliate marketers to link to your products and promote them to their followers via their own channels, attracting more business to your store.

5. More categories

eBay offers more options to customize your listing than many other platforms. Tailoring your listings ensures that it’s easier for the right people (with the highest likelihood of conversion) to find you.

6. Simple and fast to set up a store

eBay is one of the easiest (and quickest) seller platforms available to set up and get selling.

7. Quick access to funds

eBay doesn’t hold your funds in escrow, so you have less potential for cash flow issues. This means additional fees, like the cost of shipping, don’t have to come out of your pocket to be reimbursed at a later date.

8. Reasonable fees

You’re selling online to make some money, right? High fees cut into your profit margins. eBay’s seller fees are highly competitive when compared with other ecommerce marketplaces.

How Much Does It Cost to Sell on eBay?

Once you’ve decided to set up an eBay store, you need to sit down and crunch some numbers to decide on the optimal subscription level for your business. This will determine how much it is going to cost to open your eBay store, as well as your costs to sell on eBay.

Average costs to sell on eBay

To give you an overview, at the time of writing this article, a basic account on an annual subscription costs $21.95USD per month. This provides you with 250 free auction listings and 350 free fixed-price listings per month. Additional listings usually cost $0.35USD each.

There are a range of subscription tiers, priced between $4.95USD per month and $2999.95USD per month, catering to everyone from hobby sellers to large enterprises. Most of these enjoy a discount for paying annually, rather than monthly.

In most cases, you’ll pay a final value fee of 10% of the final sale price.

However, the fees for different categories may vary, the final fees can vary based on your subscription tier, and you can also purchase listing upgrades.

How to calculate your eBay fees

If you want to know exactly how much your eBay store will cost, eBay has a helpful tool to get you some more specific answers.

You can also use this method to review your subscription tier and decide when to upgrade or downgrade as needed.

What to consider:

• The volume of sales.
• Average sales value.
• Postage costs.
• The number of active listings.
• Your intentions: is it a hobby, or do you want to grow?

Once you have this information, plug it into eBay’s Fee Illustrator tool. This will help you select the best subscription tier for you. The fees for these as outlined above are also broken down here.

eBay business account costs

In the US, these fees are the same as for a private seller account. However, in the UK, should you have a business seller account these fees may vary.

Of course, the exact costs monthly beyond this fee will depend on how much you sell and the percentage of these final fees that you pay to eBay.

How to Open an eBay Store in 4 Steps

Now that you know the ‘why’ and ‘how much’, let’s get to the ‘how to’.

1. Set up your seller account

First thing’s first, if you don’t already have one, you’ll need to set up an eBay Seller Account.

Tip: If you’re setting up your store to run as a full-time, money-making enterprise, we suggest signing up for a business account. It’s possible to change a personal account to a business account through your account settings later on.

2. Choose your subscription

Once you’ve logged in, go to the ‘Account’ tab, then select ‘Subscription’ from the column on the left-hand side.

Next up, review which level of subscription you wish to sign up for. There are varying levels to suit your needs, and you can upgrade or downgrade at any time.

3. Confirm your subscription level

Once you’ve selected your subscription type and terms, click ‘Submit’.

4. Choose a name for your store

From this, eBay will create a unique URL. If you’re unsure what to name your store, eBay offers some guidelines.

Congratulations, your store is now live and ready for you to add your listings!

Get More From Your eBay Store

To make the most out of your store, you can take some additional steps.

Personalize your store

Make your store stand out. Choose a store design and upload your logo by following these steps:

1. Log in to My eBay and under the Account tab, click on ‘Manage My Store’.
2. Click on ‘Display Settings’ under Store Design in the left navigation.
3. Under Theme and Display, click on ‘Change’ next to Item Display Settings.
4. Scroll down to ‘Sort Order’ and choose your preference from the drop-down menu.
5. Click ‘Save Settings’.

When personalizing your store, you should also include a description of your store, using appropriate keywords. This helps Google index your store, making it more likely that customers will find your products.

Organize your inventory

Organize your store and make it easy to navigate for both you and buyers. You can do this by adding categories and subcategories.

You’re able to update, modify or tweak your account settings, personalization, and categories at any time via ‘Manage My Store’.

A2X for eBay Keeps Your eBay Accounting in Check

Ensuring your accounting is expertly handled frees you up to spend time growing your eBay store.

One of the greatest challenges of any seller is to keep on top of taxes (both sales and income tax) and your eBay Managed Payments sales and fees. Reconciling all of this manually can take hours, but with A2X it’s completely automated.

Your accounting is done for you - even while you sleep.

Once you’ve opened your eBay store, keep your accounting as streamlined and stress-free as possible.

Sign-up today to try A2X for free.

Your books will never look better.

Also on the blog:

• The A2X eBay Accounting Hub
• eBay Sales Tax: Everything You Need to Know
• The Ultimate Guide to eBay VAT
• eBay Managed Payments: Everything You Need to Know
• The Best eBay Accounting Software for Sellers
• eBay Bookkeeping Made Simple with A2X