Absolute Beginners Guide to eBay (4th Edition)

In addition to those fixed-price items offered as part of the traditional eBay auction listings, you can also find fixed-price items for sale in eBay Stores. An eBay Store is an online storefront where eBay merchants can sell their goods without putting them up for auctionand keep them for sale indefinitely, without the typical auction expiration.

You can browse through thousands of different eBay merchants at the eBay Stores page (stores.ebay.com), shown in Figure 9.4. eBay Stores merchants are organized by the same categories as the eBay auction siteAntiques, Art, Books, and so on. You can also search for a specific store or a store selling a certain type of item, or view an alphabetical list of all stores.

Figure 9.4. The home page for eBay Stores.

Tip

You can also access eBay Stores from the regular eBay site. Just click the eBay Stores link in the Specialty Sites box on eBay's main page.

Browsing and Buying in an eBay Store

As you can see in Figure 9.5, the typical eBay Store offers fixed-price merchandise that isn't available for auction on eBay, as well as any auction items the merchant currently has listed. When you access a particular eBay Store, you have access to this entire collection of merchandise; if you tried searching on eBay proper, you wouldn't find the non-auction items the retailer might have for sale.

Figure 9.5. Shopping for fixed-price items at an eBay Store.

Buying an item from an eBay Store is a little like buying from any other online merchant, and a little like winning an item in an eBay auction. On the one hand, you're buying from an actual merchant at a fixed price, and you can always pay by credit card (typically via PayPal). On the other hand, you have all the niceties you have on eBay, including the ability to check the merchant's feedback rating.

After you locate an item you want, you're taken to the "virtual storefront" of the eBay Store that is selling the item. When you're in a specific store, you can purchase the item you were looking at or shop for additional items. Your checkout is handled from within the store.

Searching eBay Stores

When you perform a standard eBay product search, results from eBay Stores appear at the end of the search results. If you want to limit the search results only to merchandise offered via eBay Stores, you have to perform a special search.

Follow these steps:

1.

Click the Advanced Search link at the top of the eBay home page.

2.

When the Find Items page appears, click the Items in Stores link in the left-hand column.

3.

When the Search: Items in Stores page appears, enter one or more keywords in the Enter Keyword or Item Number box.

4.

Define other search parameters, as necessary.

5.

Click the Search button to start the search. eBay displays your results on a separate Items Matching page.

Tip

You can also search eBay Stores from the eBay Stores page; use the Search for Items in Stores section at the top of the page.

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