@chameleon54 wrote:
You are offering " free postage ". Is that with ebay printed labels as others have suggested ? If so it is quite possible your total fees could be 30% of turnover. My ebay fees plus separate postage costs ( that I pay direct to Australia Post ) would be in the vicinity of 30% of turnover.
The secret to making money on ebay is to find products that have mark ups of several hundred percent or more so that most of what is left after selling and postage costs is profit. If your mark up is only 50% you are going to struggle unless you are regularly selling items valued in the Hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Basically on low profit margins, ( less than 100% mark up ) on low to medium value items ( less than $100 ) the maths often doesn't add up once you place a reasonable value on your time.
Obviously people are loving the OPs items, as she has sold 210 in the last 2 months. Which is fantastic! I am wondering though whether she is buying at retail prices, which means she can't mark the price up very much. On average, I get around 1,000%. A few things I don't get much more than cost price, and a few other things I have actually taken a loss of (literally) a few dollars, just to get rid of them. It's not really a loss because I make much more on the other items which covers it.
My line isn't niche like yours, but doesn't compare to clothing and cds/dvds either. I do compete with Chinese sellers, and some Indian sellers, but I don't sell for low prices to actually compete with them. My prices are higher than theirs. Does it cost me buyers? Probably, but I also have buyers who much prefer to by local because they will get it quickly, and if there is an issue, they know it will be dealt with easily. They are not having to worry about sending something back overseas (I've only ever had 2 returns, both were change of mind, they simply didn't like it when they saw it in front of them).
THe OP doesn't have any listings live now. I'm guessing she's probably setting up her new store.
