I have been asked to list items for sale, what commission should I charge?

[happyroo_bunji]

Hi everyone

I've been approached by someone who has their own ebay account, to list items they want to sell. This person has almost non existent computer skills. What sort of commission fee would be the average?

I'm only dealing with the computer side of things, eg listing, answering questions etc. The taking of photos, packing and posting would be handled by the owner of the items.

[maranock]

Good listings can take time so I would go with an hourly fee rather than commision, at least until you have a good idea of the time and work required. Treat it like you are a VA and charge accordingly. 

[happyroo_bunji]

Thanks for the reply maranock. Would you possibly know what the hourly fee for a VA is?

[shoppingbag*]

I would be careful. If you are selling second hand goods on behalf of someone else, you need a second-hand traders licence. You may find yourself falling into trouble with the ATO. Why not teach them how to do it themselves. There is plenty of help on eBay. If they already have an eBay account they must know something about computers.

[kopenhagen5]

Keep in mind you may list many items and then nothing sells.

If it's for a friend you would probably help them out but if it's someone you don't know well it can get complicated.

PayPal payments, feedback etc, returns, it's usually not always straight forward.

[chameleon54]

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@happyroo_bunji wrote:

Hi everyone

I've been approached by someone who has their own ebay account, to list items they want to sell. This person has almost non existent computer skills. What sort of commission fee would be the average?

I'm only dealing with the computer side of things, eg listing, answering questions etc. The taking of photos, packing and posting would be handled by the owner of the items.

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If the other party can take the photos and upload them to the listing and use ebay systems to organise addressing and mailing items they are halfway there. If they cant even do this, there is going to be a lot of extra work for you, writing addresses on paper, matching addresses to items etc.

If two items are similar there are going to be mistakes, things sent to the wrong person etc. It sounds like a recipe for a lot of errors and frustration to me.

I had a similar arrangement with some-one once. They where a stay at home mum who did everything from photos to listing to packing the items. We split the proceeds 50 / 50. Average sale price was around $30 per listing.

If I am listing items myself I usually need to get a minimum of around $7.00 per item ( if the item does not cost me anything )  to make wages. This is for single items. For multiples of the same thing it is a completely different story. It depends on what you value your time at, but I would expect to pay someone wages of around $ 22 - 25 per hour, working from home for that service.

[happyroo_bunji]

That is something I'm worried about.

[happyroo_bunji]

Apparently someone many years ago set  up an account for this man.

I am leaning towards asking for an hourly rate. 

[davewil1964]

You could always take them on consignment.

List, pack, post yourself.

When they sell, give him an agreed percentage of profits.

[happyroo_bunji]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

You could always take them on consignment.

List, pack, post yourself.

When they sell, give him an agreed percentage of profits.

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The more I think about it,  the less interested in it I become. It sounds like more trouble than it's worth