@englishrosegardens wrote:
* Finding a product line that allows for very high profit margins. This is difficult to achieve with a generic product where you are competing with many other sellers. So niche marketing
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I agree with everything you've said except for perhaps one thing. If you have a product that you get a lot of repeat sales of, and that take very little time to pack, low profit margins can work. The big booksellers would work on low profit margins because they work on volume - but it only takes seconds to grab a book and put it in an envelope, whereas some items might take ten minutes to half an hour to pack.
I Know what you are saying and probably half agree. I have a few regular selling items that I just pack in a hard mailer, address and post off. I have them proffesionally made up for a cost of $2.50 and sell them for $15.00. Ebay and Paypal take 16.5% of this leaving me with around $10.00 profit per item sold. This is OK but I am still better off buying something for $5-$10 and selling it for $40.00.
When you work out profit per hour you have to include a lot more than the time it takes to put something in an envelope and address it. If the buyer buys multiple items, pays and then requests combined postage, you have to go into paypal, find the payment if the transaction link is not working, do a partial refund and then message them to let them know, you have done the right thing and refunded. Usually 10 minutes by the time you muck around weighing things for postage cost etc. There are all of the questions to answer. "Does this item suit my particular model." ( stuffed if I know, but I have to research and find out ). "How much is postage to Arabia and what are the different postage options" . "do you have this in red". You get the picture.
You also have to include the time spent sourcing stock. In the case of the items I have proffesionally made I need to drop of blanks with the manufacturer and then drive back to pick them up. There goes an hour. With other stock, I buy it by the pallet load. I have to source it, often interstate, arrange transport ( many phone calls later ) and because I am based in the country, drive to the city to pick it up from the transport depot. There goes 1.5 - 2 days.
Include accounting and tax lodgements, non payer claims, storage and stock control, stocktakes and listing revisions, sourcing packing materials, blocking idiot buyers, assisting new ebay members who dont know basic procedure, recording and following up on tracking numbers , sorting disputes in the resolution centre, taking photos and listing new items, deleting and disposing of non selling listings and revising stock control systems and accounts to allow for the stock loss etc. etc. etc and there is a lot more to $$$$$$ per hour than putting an item in an envelope and addressing it.
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