What You Need to Know About ProStores
by Jenifer
Marketing Manager, eBay Stores

As some sellers look to scale and expand their online businesses, they might decide to look for solutions outside of the eBay marketplace. To give sellers more choices, at eBay Live! 2005, we announced the launch of ProStores, a new online store-building solution. ProStores is a complete e-commerce Web storefront solution, independent of the eBay marketplace. ProStores makes it simple and affordable to create your Web store – customized with its own branding, categories and unique Internet address.

In this month's The Selling Edge column, I would like to explain the primary differences between selling through eBay Stores and selling through ProStores. By the end of this article, I hope you will have enough information about each product so that you can determine which product best applies to your business and how each one may help you grow your sales online.

• Full e-commerce capabilities, including shopping cart – ProStores offers a shopping cart, which makes it easy for your buyers to browse around your ProStores Web store, adding items to their cart.
• Completely customizable design – You can use design templates or create your own unique design that extends your brand online. ProStores also offers design services to help you customize your store the way you want it.
• Easy setup and maintenance – ProStores has a comprehensive set of step-by-step “wizards” to help you create and maintain your ProStores web store. It includes wizards for adding items or pictures, for billing, email, shipping, calculating sales tax – even for issuing credits.
• Search engines – ProStores owners in the Business tier and above (more about tiers later in this article) have the added convenience of being able to submit their product information to popular search engines and directories like Shopping.com, Yahoo! Shopping™, Shopzilla™, and Froogle™.
• Technical support – People with ProStores Web stores in the Business tier and above also have 24x7 access to toll-free phone technical support.

ProStores Tiers & Fees
There are four subscription tiers available within ProStores: Express, Business, Advanced and Enterprise. These different tiers can help businesses of virtually any size market their online business.

Essentially ProStores owners pay two types of fees:

• Monthly Subscription Fee – This varies from $6.95 to $249.95, depending on the ProStores tier.
• Monthly Successful Transaction Fee – This is calculated as a percentage of the sales price of items sold in your store.

Current eBay Stores subscribers receive a 30% discount off the monthly ProStores subscription fee. If you sign up for a ProStores Web store now, you'll receive a one month free trial subscription. And if you sign up by October 3, 2005, you'll pay no successful transaction fees until January 1, 2006.

Check out the ProStores Fees page for more information on fees and promotional pricing.

Here's a chart to help you choose the right ProStores tier for your needs:

ProStores Tier	Monthly Subscription Fee	Reduced Monthly Fee for eBay Store Subscribers	Successful Transaction Fee
Express A low cost e-commerce solution for people who want to sell a limited number of different products online.	$6.95	$4.85	1.50%
Business This may be the right solution for small businesses just starting out online.	$29.95	$20.95	0.50%
Advanced Designed for small-to-medium sized retail or service businesses that want to grow sales and streamline operations with advanced merchandising, promotion, inventory management, and payment features.	$74.95	$54.45	0.50%
Enterprise For medium or enterprise-sized businesses that want to integrate online sales with existing back-end solutions.	$249.95	$174.95	0.50%

Tell me about eBay Stores
eBay Stores offers a permanent place on eBay to build your brand, acquire new customers, and drive repeat purchases. With an eBay Store, you have a variety of tools and services you need to create and promote your own storefront to eBay shoppers.

eBay Stores feature highlights:

• Built-in access to eBay shoppers
• Reduced selling costs through Store Inventory Format
• Marketing & Merchandising tools such as custom listing header and email newsletters
• Dedicated toll-free phone support

eBay Stores Tiers & Fees*
Within eBay Stores we offer 3 different tiers: Basic, Featured and Anchor. There is a monthly subscription fee charged to all merchants who purchase an eBay Store.

* Insertion fees also apply and vary based on closing price and listing format. For more information, please visit the eBay Stores Fees page.

ProStores, eBay Stores or both – which one is right for me?
Both eBay Stores and ProStores have distinct advantages, depending on the current level of your business and your strategy for its future expansion. There are also trade-offs in terms of tapping into the vast eBay marketplace versus pursuing buyers outside of it.

If you are just starting out, eBay Stores is a great way to build your own brand on eBay and have immediate access to millions of shoppers. If you're looking to build your brand beyond eBay, then ProStores is a fast, easy and affordable solution. However, if you are a current eBay seller thinking about growing your business through an additional online sales channel, then having both an eBay Store and ProStores web store could be the right solutions for your business.

Below is a side-by-side comparison of eBay Stores and ProStores:

* Please note that a dedicated domain name is included in the monthly subscription price only for Business tier and above.

Depending on your business goals, eBay Stores and ProStores may be right for you.  To learn more about specific features and functionality, please visit:  http://stores.ebay.com and http://www.prostores.com.