topic Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop in Selling

how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

gizmoclearance — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:08:27 GMT

hi all the ebay shopmasters...

I have been running an eBay store for 6 months now. daily transactions around 60 (the other id). currently a silver powerseller with 100% positve feedback score.

before I started the store, I had been a freelance graphics designer for years. my hourly rate was $55/hr and earned around 90k a year. not too bad but my problem was the rate had not increased at all for 5 years and I have to compete with younger fresh minds. Many senior designers with 15+ years experience earn just a little more that me. 90k was ok but I want more.

So I started selling online and try to beat my old life. at the beginning I just wanted to use my spare time but very soon it turns into full-time because there has been no time left after processing orders, customer support, packaging, product researching and marketing. at the beginning I was doing low value items such as phone cases and soon figured out how little margin the other sellers are operating on ebay.

with any order, besides the efforts put into listing the product, a seller has to answer potential buyer's questions, take orders (with colour option etc) , transfer the address to a printed lable, and then pack with bubble wraps etc. for doing all these I reckon the seller should deserve at least $5 labour fees on each order . no matter how large volume they sell, as long as it's retail they have to go thru this process everytime. but most of my competitors sell the same product for as low as 50c profit per item. I have contacts with the factories I know the bottom cost for the items. So I always wonder.. these sellers (most of them are large seller on ebay, AU based) must got themselves working on really low labour cost.

my daily transaction is around 60+around 20 on my own web store. i am already working over 8 hours a day. so I figure I must profit at least $5 on each item sold in order to bearly make it to an equivalent a full-time job ($400 a day). to be honest I haven't succeeded to profit $300+ a day. with regular refunds to keep my 100% positive I have to make a few losses every now and then.

I have been researching on products that can generate higher margin. got a few good items but once they reach dominant listing position for a while other sellers will discover and start selling them to beat my price down, soon my listing position is replaced by other seller because I am simply not willing to process orders for peanuts.

i am 6 months into ebay I am not sure how the other full-time seller cope with it. with every package I sent I am stressed that this buyer will leave low DSR or even negative feedback. when that happens too often, top-seller status will be lost, as a result listing positions drop then sales decline... I can't go to holidays until the business generates enough profit to cover the cost for hiring other people. with my own store I can stop all google ad campaigns and put up a holiday banner. but on eBay no sales means your top selling products will drop position quickly.

I know i am still new to online business. am I expecting too much?

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

digital*ghost — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:38:52 GMT

I am not even close to being a high volume seller, so there are a few things I can't offer any insightful opinions on, but for what it's worth...

I do know that some of the more successful, and high volume, sellers do what you're starting to do now. That is, look for new products that aren't already flooding the site and can generate a good return. Being able to do that consistently is part of the job for them - when there are a bunch of other sellers listing that product and/or undercutting them, they move on to something else.

Watching what your competitors are doing is only so helpful, IMHO, especially if as a variety goods(?) seller, you have many (i.e. I could imagine trying to stay one step ahead of dozens of other sellers in different categories could get a little tiresome). There's a point I think where you're better off concentrating on highlighting what advantages you have over other sellers (or creating them), as opposed to meeting or overcoming the advantages they have (if that makes sense).

I don't know how competitive the categories you're selling in are, but just about every seller at some point needs to find the right balance between profit margin and turnover. If it were me, working that hard every day for a nett profit that I didn't find worthwhile, in the time between sourcing products with a better margin, I would probably seriously be considering raising my prices a little (in the hopes of easing my workload but achieving approximately same nett gain). Of course, depending on what you're selling, a dollar or two difference could see you disappear off the radar so I know it's not always an option.

In regards to TRS... I understand the impact low DSRs can have on accounts (I take issue with it, personally, but that's an entirely different subject :^O), but at the end of the day you can only control what you do, not what your customers do, so I prefer to focus my energy on everything I am able to control (eg descriptions, photos, communication and post-sale service). Some people have said that their sales were affected by losing TRS, others have said it didn't make a difference, so exactly what it does do is relatively debatable, and may be dependent on how competitive the categories are.

I'm not sure if any of that answers the questions you have, but I hope some of it helps in some way.

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

tropical_scene — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 07:02:59 GMT

Welcome to eBay, where you work around the clock 7 days a week for if you're very lucky, a low weekly wage.

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

lane-ends — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:00:43 GMT

If it sounds to good to be true then it probably is.

Did Ebay sound too good to be true to you before switching careers.?

Remember you are competing in a field were anyone can do it, with no experience, no qualifications needed.

Add in to the mix a whole lot of people just doing it because they enjoy it rather than they wont to mega rich business people.

Walk into a room with 50 people everyone of them is capable of competing with you for sales on on Ebay, I bet non of them is capable of competing with you for work as a graphic artist.

By the way sellers dont "deserve" anything for their efforts, its not a PAYE job, there is no right to profit. Profit needs to won, its not handed out for turning up for work, thats the challange of running a business.

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

cathy1971 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:17:29 GMT

It is very hard to suggest ways to improve and make more profit uIt we don't know what you are selling and who your competitors are. Your I'd shows no items selling so I pursue it is just a posting I'd.

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

thesoulyearns — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:45:56 GMT

You've put alot of professional thought into this and it seems to be slowly working. You're doing much better than alot of others on here.

See if you can streamline anything. You say listing takes effort... maybe get a template and try to pre-fill as much as you can. There must be a way to make it faster, though you seem to already do all of the basic tricks.

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

annies_fancy_dress — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:59:43 GMT

Stop b!tching, I'd love to making 60 sales a day.

Sounds like heaven to me!

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

cq_tech — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:41:33 GMT

Quite the contrary, it sounds like hell! I don't believe there are enough hours in the day to physically handle a 60-sale-a-day workload unless you employed somebody to help with packing & posting, which would defeat the purpose of working so hard anyway. 🙂

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

e_purchasing — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 03:17:14 GMT

Mate there are people struggling to earn $400 per week and you are complaining about $300 per day. All I can say is that you are a nob.

The average wage in Australia is $69K, you were earning $90K and you are whining because you now earn $110K?

Why not stop and consider you are posting to an audience that is likely to be less fortunate than yourself and count your blessings for what you have?

If I could reach through the screen, I would grab you by the scruff and slap you silly.

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

gizmoclearance — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:05:03 GMT

nothing wrong with not willing to be average..

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

alanawent3133 — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:11:14 GMT

You are doing very well

What is your store?

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

boomct — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:22:15 GMT

Mate there are people struggling to earn $400 per week and you are complaining about $300 per day. All I can say is that you are a nob.

The average wage in Australia is $69K, you were earning $90K and you are whining because you now earn $110K?

Why not stop and consider you are posting to an audience that is likely to be less fortunate than yourself and count your blessings for what you have?

If I could reach through the screen, I would grab you by the scruff and slap you silly.

Ah the almost obligatory criticism of the OP that tends to dominate these boards. I was waiting for it . . . A simple 'yes, you are expecting too much' quoting the figures you did would have been much more helpful than calling the OP a nob and saying that you'd slap him silly if you could. Especially since the initial post is both polite and intelligently put.

Sheesh.

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

gizmoclearance — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:30:41 GMT

thanks for the valuable input guys.

Actually I enjoy marketing, designing the product page and some coding. Finally the skills I learnt from my uni degrees and work experience can be used for myself - without bosses and clients telling me what they like to see.

the reason I made a switch is I have some old uni classmates who failed to get employment but made a fortune by selling online. I was also inspired by a story from my TAX account friend about an uni student client had been making 100k+/month online.

I understand this is a free market if you are not happy with the profit you can move on or leave. I am taking down a few best-selling but low margin items from my shop so I can spend more time investigating other opportunities.

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

littlefrench — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 04:40:47 GMT

This is a wind up or the OP would be asking on the PS board plus no idea of what they are selling

I think they just like big noting themselves

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

mic-s-korea — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 05:13:43 GMT

If the OP is serious. The most obvious answer is to look into wholesale, rather than individual items.

Ebay could also think about policing and expanding its wholesale categories. The area I am interested in buying from is flooded with a couple of sellers in China who are listing masses of individual items in a w/s dedicated category.

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

quartzangel — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:54:17 GMT

Ebay I think is very hard work , but fun , stop bitching I agree ,

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

extra-keen — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 22:42:09 GMT

I come from a design/photograph background, and left it, not because of the $s, but because I was just plain over it all, always doing design for someone else, etc etc.

I earn a lot less here on ebay, I work a lot more hours, but do you know... I am working from home, I am a lot happier, I have a lot more time for my family, it costs a lot less to run the vehicle!... I can choose the times for coming and going.

Will never go back to working in the city, with the travel, stress etc.

I do drive a school bus though to supplement my ebay income - and love that too. Why didn't I do this years and years ago?

By the way OP, sounds like you are doing pretty well on ebay, so keep doing what you are doing if you are enjoying it and making some $s.

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

alan1o — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 22:52:54 GMT

The OP and their BS are long gone ]:)

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

aston-ss_martini — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 11:01:26 GMT

Correct!

Re: how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

howie696 — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 11:42:35 GMT

What a strange thread ?:|