I've never bothered with an ebay store because there are certain times of the year when ebay is so slow it's not worth bothering with. I've just started listing again and I've sold a few things, but nothing to get excited over. I only do fixed price now. When ebay first started, auctions were amazing. Now, with about a trillion items for sale on the site, you can list a valuable item for $9.99 and end up selling it for that because the listing is buried. I might just be getting old and lazy, but I mostly sell in a brick and mortar store now. People can examine an item before they buy it and there's no shipping involved.

i thought when you did a search for an item all results will show up unless you yourself narrowed the search results based on the options they provide.

but are you saying you have to do different searches for items on the regular listings v the items on people's own market place ?

do free shipping in US? I am thinking of trying it again since I have to get rid of some things. That or Etsy. Don't know which is better really.

I have a mixed bag of stuff - old books, vintage toys, misc. such as miniature items, vintage clothing, etc.. They have to be vintage (they determine 20 yrs. as vintage, which is easy.) There are stores on there selling an assortment such as I have - wonder if it possible to email some of those people and ask how fast their things sell.

I will bet they are informative and will help.