Tools to Make Managing
Your eBay Store Easier
by Jenifer
Marketing Manager, eBay Stores

Did you know that eBay Stores subscribers ™have access to several tools as part of their eBay Store subscription? These tools can save you lots of time and increase your efficiency of doing business on eBay. And you can also use these tools to manage and optimize your very own unique destination on eBay.

In this month's column I want to highlight some of the cool tools and features you get with your Stores subscription, and how you can use them to take your eBay Store to the next level.

These tools include:

• Selling Manager/Selling Manager Pro
• Enhanced Inventory Management
• HTML Builder
• Vacation Hold

With these tools, running an eBay Store has never been easier!

Selling Manager/Selling Manager Pro
If you are a seller with a Basic eBay Store, you now get a free subscription to Selling Manager, eBay's online sales management tool that helps you track and manage your sales in bulk, right from My eBay.

If you have a Featured Store or an Anchor Store you get a free subscription to Selling Manager Pro, a more advanced tool that combines multiple item listing, automation and smart sales management in My eBay.

Both Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro have unique features that make it easier for Stores sellers to manage their listings in bulk as well as automate their listings, emails, and feedback processes.

Here are some ways these cool tools can help you manage your Stores better:

With Selling Manager you can:

• Use customizable email templates to save you time corresponding with buyers
• Send email and feedback in bulk
• Print shipping labels and invoices in bulk
• Track your sales more easily in My eBay

• Inventory management capabilities, such as getting alerts when you're out of stock
• Reporting capability, such as monthly sales reports of all your eBay sales activity
• More automated features such as auto email, auto feedback, and auto re-list

Enhanced Store Inventory Management
With this capability, you can now quickly edit multiple listings at once and automatically send Store Inventory format listings to Auction or Fixed Price format. Online Auction and Fixed Price listings appear in regular eBay searches and categories, so they're a powerful way to bring buyers to your eBay Store—especially when you display your Store's visual branding, insert Store links in the item description, and cross-promote your Store Inventory items.

The Send to Online Auction and Send to Fixed Price features in My eBay let you create listings in these formats directly from Store Inventory listings.

Here's how it works. If you want to update the Buy It Now price of your Store Inventory Format items, for example, you can do so by taking the following steps:

1. Go to My eBay and in the Items I'm Selling view, select "Store Inventory" from the Format drop-down menu and click Go. Only your Store Inventory listings will be shown in the list (Selling Manager Pro users can do this by going to the Active Listings view and clicking the "Show: Store Items" link)
2. Select the listings you want to edit by clicking the checkbox next to each listing
3. Click on the Edit Item button at the top of the view
4. On the Edit Item page, edit the fields for each listing as needed, and click Submit. Your changes will take effect immediately

HTML Builder
This tool allows you to create links to your eBay Store. And you don't need to have any knowledge of HTML to use it! We've made the process of building links and simple item/category layouts easier for you. HTML Builder is a tool that can help you easily generate HTML code with graphical and text links to all of your listings or Store inventory items. You can also use this tool to create categories and custom pages to use in your eBay Store.

Here are some ways in which you can improve your eBay Store, using HTML Builder:

• Create simple text or picture links to your listings, Store pages or Stores searches
• Create a layout with multiple links to your listings, Store pages or Store searches
• Create dynamically updated links to your current Store listings

Vacation Hold
You no longer have to worry about who's minding the store when you're on vacation. With the Vacation Hold feature, you have a few options to help manage and run your business while you are away:

• Make your Store Inventory listings unavailable
• Display a vacation message in your listings
• Display a vacation message in your Store

You can decide which of these options you want to go with, depending on your understanding of your buyers' expectations, the level of service you will be able to provide while on vacation, and the length of time you will be away.

You can use any or all three of these options at the same time. Just remember to follow these steps in between checking your airplane tickets or making sure you packed your swimsuit:

• Go to My eBay and click on the “Manage My Store” link in the My Subscriptions box
• On the Manage My Store page, click the “Store vacation settings” link
• On the settings page, choose the vacation options you want. Click on the option “Turn vacation settings On”
• Click the Save Settings button for your vacation settings to take effect

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