To EBAY or not to EBAY?

An Ebay store can be a way to reduce the initial listing fees($0.10 per listing regardless of value), but you are still going to get dinged for the final value fees(about the same as regular 7-day auction listings). And the items you list in an Ebay store don't always come up when a buyer does an Ebay item search, unless you spring for Ebay's top tier store program, which has a fairly hefty monthly fee to do that. But once you do list an item in the store, it stays up for 30 days and automatically relists itself if it doesn't sell.

I have set up a bottom tier store for the items I market on Ebay for Layson's with good success. I keep stock current and will send certain items to 7-day auction if they've been around too long, and it also helps to broaden my exposure to other buyers who normally wouldn't be aware I even had an Ebay store. The store format also allows my customers to subscribe to an automatic e-newsletter notifying them when new listings are added if they wish.

So far, it has worked well. But you're still going to have to answer all those questions from potential buyers......whether or not the info is listed in plain sight in the description.

Good Luck! with the Ebay store, maybe you and/or some of your students might get a little extra cirricular real world economics 101 out of the experience. After all, this is fast becoming the American way to do business.