topic Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss? in Selling

Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

tinmanausoz — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 07:06:23 GMT

Ebay takes my profit. Australia Post takes my cost price. Centrelink takes 50%. The tax man wants his cut and the buyers want it all for free. Seriously?

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

shoptilludroptara — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 07:08:57 GMT

i only sell on here to fund my buying on here

lol

tara

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

crowsman53 — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 07:17:22 GMT

Who was it that said

Life Wasn't Meant To Be Easy.....????? Malcolm Fraser

Thats Life......???? Darren Hinch

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

davewil1964 — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 07:33:53 GMT

Refer my answer on your other ~~whinge~~ thread.

Did you research your market before you started selling? Read the buying boards to gauge the level of distrust towards newbie sellers? Dip your toes in the water before opening a shop? No?

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

billexploited — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 07:59:42 GMT

It all depends on what your selling and how are you selling I know people that buy from op shops or markets just to try make a profit will make a loss

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

springyzone — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 08:02:33 GMT

You might need to put your prices up. Buyers would like to get it as cheaply as possible, that is very true. We all love a bargain. But I will let you in to a secret. If we really want it, we will pay for it, even if it costs a little bit more than some other cheaper looking items.

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

davewil1964 — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 08:02:48 GMT

Numbers?

That's the sort of place I get my stock from. I don't make a lot of money, but I certainly don't sell at a loss.

It's amazing how many relatively rare books turn up in Lifeline or Op shops for less than market value.

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

digital*ghost — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 08:33:35 GMT

@kerryvonhoffshaw wrote:
Ebay takes my profit. Australia Post takes my cost price. Centrelink takes 50%. The tax man wants his cut and the buyers want it all for free. Seriously?

As others have mentioned, there's actually quite a bit of time and work involved in creating / building a successful eBay store; it's rare (especially these days) for someone to be able to find long-term (or even short term) success straight away with a couple of niche items, particularly the kind where a lot of people probably have established retailers they already purchase from.

Selling a few items at a loss is quite a common technique, and you have to effectively view it as advertising (that is, offering the opportunity for an item below cost/market value vs paying money for an ad somewhere, to try and bring traffic to your store). I'm not saying everyone needs to have loss leaders, but that it can ultimately work in your favour if you try it.

If the standard prices you are charging are not covering your costs (and IMHO it is better to look at profit/loss from an overall point of view rather than on a per item basis), then as others have suggested you may need to rethink your prices, or perhaps just some of them.

I also agree that utilising the 40 free while you establish yourself is probably a good idea - your gallery images look great, but I think your listings would also benefit from a little re-organising of the description. I personally prefer a 14 point font for descriptions, with the item being sold very clearly stated. While it's great to have the info you've included re: white sable brushes, there's three different brushes shown in the first listing I looked at, and some buyers may be unsure of whether they're getting one or three brushes, and/or in which size. Some may go ahead and assume the listing is for all three and be disppointed when they receive their item and find out they don't - it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 08:59:49 GMT

I buy from markets and op shops etc and I can tell you that I don't make a loss - quite the opposite in fact.

I dont understand why you would tell Centrelink and the Tax man that you are selling on Ebay not unless you are making a fortune?

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

davewil1964 — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 09:30:06 GMT

It might have something to do with the fact that Centrelink AND the ATO require people to declare every cent they earn. The penalties are, I believe, quite hefty, so only a mug would think that selling online, in full view of the world, would not attract attention from the relevant authorities.

However, unless times have changed, most Centrelink payments have a threshold, after which it is a 40c in the dollar reduction of benefits and the tax free threshold is about $18k a year, which also allows a significant margin over any benefits. Especially disability pensions. They have around $70 per week before benifits are reduced, on the above lines, and are exempt from income tax as far as the threshold is concerned.

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

harley_babes_hoard — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 11:51:38 GMT

wow I would be a little concerned if I was you saying what you have on a open forum. Someone might dob you in.

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 01:38:05 GMT

LOL For what? I was just expressing an opinion.

@harley_babes_hoard wrote:
wow I would be a little concerned if I was you saying what you have on a open forum. Someone might dob you in.

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

zelly888 — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 04:09:57 GMT

The fact that your opinion is incorrect and it looks like you are not declaring your income as by law everyone that sells on Ebay needs to declare their income to either ATO or Centerlink.

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

zelly888 — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 04:13:04 GMT

And say no more as I don't give a xxxx

Can't remember who said this?

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

zenremix777 — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 04:33:06 GMT

@kerryvonhoffshaw wrote:
Ebay takes my profit. Australia Post takes my cost price. Centrelink takes 50%. The tax man wants his cut and the buyers want it all for free. Seriously?

Something that helps is knowing the fees that eBay and PayPal are taking. There are websites where you type in the item price, postage and whatnot and then it shows you the fees. So then you can list your item at a price that you're happy with once the fees come into the equation. For AusPost, just keep a reminder of what your packaging and post costs prior to listing. Once it's all factored in, you should hopefully make more informed start prices where you can have a good end result. Some people want things for cheap but alot of people are happy to pay the market value if the product deserves it. Just hang in there and have respect for your product too, don't be tempted to start things too low all the time, as sometimes a low auction price won't pay off.

I've lost way more than I've ever made on here. 95% or so have sold at a loss. That's my own fault. It's just about trying to learn from the losses and make more informed selling/re-selling practices. It's not easy but eBay is a huge marketplace.

Re: Selling on Ebay Profit or Loss?

zelly888 — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 04:37:44 GMT

5% profit wow how do you survive?