Guest Author - Maria Thompson

To open a store on eBay, you'll need to visit the Store Builder. From there you will need to fill in some general information to get your store started.

- The first step is to enter your store's name. Your custom store's web site address will be created from your store name. So for example, if you name your store Maria's Discount Mart, your URL would be: http://www.eBayStores.com/mariasdiscountmart.

- Next, you will need to enter your payment information. This information will also be used to give buyers information on where to mail payments.

- Enter your store description. This will appear on your store's Homepage.

- Enter your store's catagories. You are give up to 11 different catagories. For example, if you plan on selling baby items, you could give baby clothes as one catagory and then baby toys as another.

- You have two different store options. The Basic Store is $9.95 a month. With this choice, your store will appear on the subcategory pages where you have items listed. The Featured Store is $49.95 a month. With this choice, your store will rotate through the Featured section on both the Stores Directory page and the Top Level Category pages where you have items listed.

- Next, you will enter your payment methods, ship to locations, shipping costs, sales tax and return policy.

Now the fun part...

- You get to choose your stores color scheme and graphic. You can choose one of eBay's predesigned graphics or upload your own logo.

Save your changes and publish.

Open a storefront on eBay.com now!