After you have sold a number of items on eBay via auctions (maybe just stuff that cluttered up your garage), you might be considering having your own store on eBay.

Stores have certain advantages: you can choose the name (as long as it is not taken yet), set the store's theme, obtain a permanent URL that you can use in advertising it, and list items very cheaply as store inventory (for data on the currrent fee structure, see http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/storefees.html). Furthermore, you also gain access to certain tools, such as Traffic Reports or the HTML Builder.

There are also drawbacks in owning a store. First, there is a monthly fee (currently $15.99 for a basic store), and while store inventory items now appear in the main search, they do on less prominent positions, so you will still have to run a number of auctions and include a link in them to drive traffic to your store.

Therefore, you should not expect hordes of buyers to beat a path to your eBay store the moment you open it.

Here are a few tips to help the new or prospective owner of an eBay store:

1. Select a specific theme for your store, whether it be used books, vintage cameras or hand-crafted tea caddies. I have seen stores that sell anything from DVDs to used children's clothes to garden furniture, but never could remember them for long.

2. Choose your store name carefully. "Tom's Corner" is much less memorable than "Tom's Vintage Postcards".

3. Think carefully about the structure of your store categories. I have actually come across stores that list "Category 1", "Category 2" etc. in their navigation menu, which is hardly helpful.

4. Prepare your photos and descriptions beforehand and then stock your store quickly. It is no fun for buyers to find a store that sells only 1 or 2 items.

5. Spend some time on the eBay stores discussion forum (http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jspa?forumID=21). You might not understand everything, and you probably should first "lurk" without posting questions, but this is the place to go with any of your questions. There are many knowledgeable and friendly people there!