Small time seller

[ardy01]

Hi all, I don't sell much on eBay but buy a fair bit. I just sold a Nikon Camera and separately a lens.

Didn't think too much about it until I added up the ebay costs and paypal costs.

I was surprised to put it mildly, the total % cost for sale was nearly 14%  - 10.9% ebay fees and 2.6% paypal fees.

My thought is how the hell do you guys make a dollar here?

Also won't be selling here again, I sold a bit about 8 years ago and don't remember it being this $$$ painful.

Good luck to all you sellers - you have gained my respect.

[gutterpunkz05]

We manage to survive , by taking all costs into account before setting prices.

Combined ebay/paypal fees are pretty good, considering most traditional auction houses, will cost you 22% +/-

[padi*0409]

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@gutterpunkz05 wrote:

Combined ebay/paypal fees are pretty good, considering most traditional auction houses, will cost you 22% +/-

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In addition many auction houses charge a "buyers premium" that goes directly to the auction house.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyer%27s_premium

[kopenhagen5]

The lens sold for 750, next time you know to list it for 850. No fees.

[chameleon54]

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@ardy01 wrote:

Hi all, I don't sell much on eBay but buy a fair bit. I just sold a Nikon Camera and separately a lens.

Didn't think too much about it until I added up the ebay costs and paypal costs.

I was surprised to put it mildly, the total % cost for sale was nearly 14%  - 10.9% ebay fees and 2.6% paypal fees.

My thought is how the hell do you guys make a dollar here?

Also won't be selling here again, I sold a bit about 8 years ago and don't remember it being this $$$ painful.

Good luck to all you sellers - you have gained my respect.

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I make a dollar by buying stock in bulk at discounted prices, mainly when businesses close down, and then selling the items individually at premium prices. This gives me mark ups of 500-1000% which allows plenty of room to absorb ebay fees, dead stock, INR claims and any other stumbling blocks that come along.

Another thing I concentrate on is simply churning as much stock as I can in the shortest time possible. This requires simple systems that can be replicated easily. Things such as standardised listing templates, standardised postage systems, good storage systems allowing timely retrieval of items etc.

Probably the most important thing is to sell stuff that buyers actually want. Individual items that not many other sellers stock ensures you are not competing in a race to the bottom. There is still very good money to be made on ebay and at the moment my sales are increasing due to improved international sales due to the low Aussie dollar.

[bimberiretrosystems]

Just wait in five months time when your buyer breaks the lens and gets a refund through paypal-will make you even more angry-thats if they don't scam you before the item reaches them.

better off selling on facebook (like i have done) - no paypal, no fees, no dsr's, no silly feedback, no paypal scammers and six month reurns - almost a no brainer.  I did an experiment a number of months ago before i stopped selling here. Listed a macbook on ebay - over almost three weeks - got about 110 views - item did not sell, on fbook got 254 views in three hours - with stats  like that guess where it sold-posted with direct deposit to WA.

I don't know how people here do it either - never used to be rubbish like this years ago - i guess using this place is old fashioned and an old fashioned way to sell - these days with own website and places like fbook people have better ways to sell.

Just spoke to an individual who has tons of collectible cards and wanted to sell them online - guess where he listed them, not here-sold a few hours later for way more than he expected.

Unfortunately this place has not kept up with the times and can't compete with the biggest social media platform contrary what industry websites say (cash for comments anyone?)

[ardy01]

Hi Kopen: unfortunately the lens would not sell for 850, I had it listed for 820 for a couple of months and offers were in the 600's.

regards

Ardy

[ardy01]

Chameleon: Had a look and was surprised that nothing was listed. I assume you do this for some money on the side?

[ardy01]

Hi Gutterpunk: I thought about this and what you say is true but ebay is not an auction house it is a market place to my mind.

They do not have people to pick the stuff up, phtograph it, display it and pack it up. They pay an auctioneer, bookeeper to handle the money, experts to ID stuff. That's off the top of my head from going to a few auctions.

I imagined ebay fees would be around 5% tops.

[lyndal1838]

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@ardy01 wrote:

Chameleon: Had a look and was surprised that nothing was listed. I assume you do this for some money on the side?

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It is obvious that you are vry new to the boards or you would know that chameleon has more than one selling account.....he is probably one of the larger sellers on these boards.

Ebay may not be his only income now but it has been in the past and he is very successful.   If any advice he gives is applicable to you, you could do a lot worse than follow it.

Most of the responders on the boards have more than one ebay account and often the accounts used on the boards are posting accounts.  Don't let the numbers showing here fool you.