Another Big eBay Seller Opens Up Shop at Yahoo Stores!

The migration continues, as another large seller has opened up their website using Yahoo's Merchant Solutions; commonly know as Yahoo Stores.

eBay Seller Inflatable Madness is a "Top 30" eBay seller with over 200,000 Positive Feedback. I spoke with Kevin Harmon, Owner of Inflatable Madness and he said "We've been looking at our options for a website for awhile now and Yahoo proved to be the best fit. It is just another element in our multi-channel selling strategy" Kevin will also be blogging about the movies and anything else he can thin of so check out the Inflatable Madness blog as well.

The website will concentrate on Selling DVD's for now and provides a great selection at some unbeatable prices. Check it out at: http://www.inflatablemadnessdvd.com

Inflatable Madness joins two other large eBay Sellers at Yahoo Stores: eForcity and Rock Bottom Golf among others.

Follow-Up to The Case For Yahoo Stores Over eBay Stores

I've been asked several times, since I posted my comparison of Yahoo Stores to eBay Stores, why I didn't compare Yahoo Stores to eBay's Pro Stores instead. The reason is simple, with the reduction in visibility of eBay Stores on eBay.com, store sellers are now forced to market to buyers directly. eBay's preferred method for that is Auctions but most sellers consider Auctions as costly advertising for their stores.

eBay stores are now in the same place as Yahoo Stores and for that matter Pro Stores, in regards to exposure, they have to spend additional money and effort to get buyers to their stores. Yahoo Stores require the seller to spend additional money and effort to bring buyers to their stores as well but that is factored into the pricing. With eBay stores you get charged too much for the exposure they currently provide and seller still needs to spend additional dollars or effort on advertising/exposure.

Yahoo Stores offers some great promotional incentives that eBay Stores do not offer and with Yahoo Stores you own the customer not the marketplace.

The Case For Yahoo Stores Over eBay Stores!

In addition to the uncertainty about eBay Stores/Shops, my recent comparison between Yahoo Stores and eBay Stores was eye-opening.

For my example, I looked at a basic online store with listings of 200 items a month, with a product mix of 150 items under $25 and 50 Items over and made the assumption that the store sold $1,000 in merchandise in a month. If your numbers are greater than this, the savings begins to grow substantially.

Here is the Google Spreadsheet with my comparison, as well as room for you to input your existing eBay Store/Shop Listings and monthly GMV. This will allow you to calculate if there will be a savings by switching to Yahoo Stores. Please plug in your own monthly numbers into the green fields in the spreadsheet. (The spreadsheet refers to US pricing only)

In addition to the cost savings there are also promotional benefits that make moving to Yahoo Stores attractive.

Promotional
With eBay stores you get limited exposure in search on eBay.com and often have to pay for Auction listings as advertising for your store items. There are no additional promotional benefits to having an eBay Store/Shop. You still have to do most of the marketing to get buyers to your store. You also have to contend with the competition on the eBay marketplace.

With Yahoo Stores you get the following: (As of May 11th 2007)

• $50 credit towards Google AdWords (In effect paying for your Store Setup Fee)
• No PayPal fees for 6 months with PayPal Express setup
• 1 Month Free at Shopping.com
• $50 Credit for ShopZilla.com
• 20% off of your Yahoo Listings

But, you will still have to spend some of your savings on other marketing efforts but the offers above give you a head start to see what works for a discount.

My goal as the Seller Evangelist is to provide you with accurate, unbiased, information so that you can make the correct choice for your business. I do not earn any money from either of these two programs nor am I partial to either. If you are serious about making money online you need to make informed decisions. There may be other WebStores that compare just as favorable but with the information provided here you do have a head start on your research.

Additionally:
It is interesting to note that both PayPal and Shopping.com are eBay owned companies and you get a better promotional deal with Yahoo Stores than you do with eBay Stores.

Also, with a Yahoo store you can still use eBay for Auctions but instead of considering Auctions as advertising (it is difficult to move eBay customers off site) you should sell only the items that will convert well and are profitable. A side benefit is that over time some of these customers may choose to buy directly from your Yahoo Store.

One last benefit:
With Yahoo stores your hosting fees can rise based on the number of additional features and increased sales but your FVF's will decrease allowing you to scale your business.

Check out the Yahoo Store of eBay seller Rock Bottom Golf

Oh and I forgot the best part. You can advertise using Yahoo Sponsored Listings and show up in eBay search. Not a bad deal.

Update: Ina Steiner Interviewed the Director of Yahoo Merchant Solutions in her most recent podcast. Listen in for info about Yahoo Stores.

Just my 5 Cents!