Buyers' mentality these day?

[774553]

Warning, this is a rant.

It has come to my attention that it seems that it is increasingly hard to earn a decent net profit* on used items. It appears that buyers like to offer prices that only covers or barely cover the shipping cost, which leave me with nothing or negative balance.

Also does no one realise what the seller had to pay for those items which they are selling? To illustrate that, let use the following example:

I sell games most of the time. Now, when I bought them new in the shop, it cost $100 to $150. Or if they need to be imported, I went to Play Asia and paid for $150 to $200 (not including Shipping). Now, say that I want to make a bundle of them old games (bought from both places), would you not say is fair to price them around $500? Unfortunately, as of today, some idiot offer me $20 for them and call me a troll.

So my question here is, is the idea of trying to get half back from what I paid for is nothing but a fantasy?

Also, base on the formula logic below, it is easier to archive a net profit with a negative value and impossible to archive a positive value, even just for as little as $5 (net profit).   

*in case you don't know what net profit mean. Net profit = selling price - price that the seller had paid - shipping cost

[davidc4430]

oh wouldnt it be luverly to have $50,000 to buy a new car and not care it would be worth half as much in 6 months and in a matter of years its worth more as scrap. ok, nuff dreamin.

[247newdeals]

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@samjess54 wrote:

So my question here is, is the idea of trying to get half back from what I paid for is nothing but a fantasy?

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I do think trying to get back 50% is a fantasy - I don't know anything about computer games but I would think "getting back" even 20-25% on a "new never used ", much less a used item, would be an ask. Unless of course it has a collectible value etc. 

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No it is not a fantasy if you find someone who is looking for these games and is willing to pay that but that is very unlikely to happen on Ebay (not impossible but unlikely) I just did a search and I could buy all the games you have in the $345 for about $100 if they sold for $345 you can bet I would be buying every game that is for sale and making bundles up. 

Bundling a game lowers the price as someone may want say 6 of the game but to get them they have to pay for the other 2 I would only bundle stuff I wanted to get rid of Cheap. Your prices are very high for ebay so finding a buyer will be very hard.If you want 50% of the original price best bet is try to sell to friends who you know are into these games

[debonnairefashions]

Maybe you should try Facebook as someone suggested earlier, but doesn't mean they would pay more than buying off eBay.

Hey, would like to get more for what I am selling on eBay, unfortunately with today's prices it is not going to happen. They would choose to buy from someone else who is offering what the buyer wants to pay.

if you want to sell on eBay, do your research. What is the item selling for and what did it sold for? The price you come to is what a buyer is prepared to pay for it. If that is not what you want to sell it for, then wait and sell it at another time when it is worth more. In 6-12 months the selling price may dropped have further and obviously with ebays fees not worth selling. 

[774553]

No 345 is not half of 300, but I am talking about the net profit here. which is the amount left after the purchased price and shipping cost. Probably around 100.

[774553]

Again, net profit: so you example of selling your car for 12k, you would actually earn  a profit of 2k not 12k.

[imastawka]

I think you're missing the point that you don't make profit

on items you have bought for your own enjoyment.

You just try and recoup some of the cost, so the initial outley

isn't quite so much

If you want profit, then you should only buy with that in mind

[774553]

Come on, all PS3 games are world wide compatible, just the matter of fact of understanding Japanese.

[774553]

Thanks for bring that up. And for your information, I didn't get upset based on that. I get upset because:
1. If you ship your item using the cheapest form of shipping (the one that doesn't comes with a shipping ID). It like you have shipped, but couldn't prove it.
2. I ship her items as soon as I got back, then the complaint came, got refunded, now she got the items for free.
3. Overall, felt like seller have no say in any matters.

[book-of-hezekiah]

It's a tough gig here sometimes. The one who offered $20 was wrong to call you names.

Net profit vs. Minimising losses can take a bit of work.

I am guilty of "being a savvy seller" which really means charging too much. I do much as you did looking here, there and everywhere to compare prices, then I would charge the highest price plus postage. I would forget that just because the item was worth something to someone somewhere it wouldn't be worth the same everywhere then wonder why my item doesn't sell. I still need to think twice before I list.

There are different ways of enticing buyers to pay higher prices and making them think they got a bargain. I usually use combined postage discounts.

I hope things get better for you.

[foxercase]

I just got some headphones from China from Xiaomi for under $5. I am amazed how the sound quality is much better than my $200 headphones and this company is well known for making well built quality for ridiculously low prices.

If all companies followed this example the whole world would be screwed because we would simply not keep up with them.

It always increases the buyers expectations for a lower price....