What's the secret of super cheap parcel rate from some big-time sellers?

[gizmoclearance]

for instance

Eastlake Electronics

http://stores.ebay.com.au/af2018?

Many of their items are over 2cm in height which costs at least $5 for bulk parcel rate. I believe the cheapest rate is from Austpost and there is no tracking or signature for this pricing

But these sellers can still sell items for $5.xx or $6.xx

such as

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dual-Port-USB-Car-Charger-2x-Data-Cable-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-SIII-i9300-i9305-/190832386021?pt=AU_MobilePhoneAccessories&hash=item2c6e7f1fe5

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dock-Cradle-Charger-Adapter-Stand-Holder-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-4G-S-III-3-i9305-/400409629352?pt=AU_MobilePhoneAccessories&hash=item5d3a4612a8

these items are not "strategic" listings that aimed to attract buyers for associated products. because most of their listings are like this.

if they paid $5 for parcel rate ( Dimension: 81x56x23.5mm for the 2nd item above), Ebay final value fee plus paypal say $1, that leaves only $3 for the product itself... I know stuff from China can be dirt cheap but $3 imported that's impossible.  and they still want to make money right?  50c for packing products and customer service? what kind of sweatshop is that?

I am really curious how these sellers can manage to get shipping so cheap.

any ideas?

[*new2vintage]

Maybe they subsidise the costs or hold an account with Aus Post and receive discounts.

[8uy5elldude]

It's not the postage that's cheap, it's the items they are selling.

I used to own 4 mobile phone stores and so it was cost affective for me to import phone accessories (chargers, car chargers, headset's etc) from China, I would buy 500 to a 1000 of each item and they were ridiculously cheap e,g, headset's for Nokia's 0.23c each, car chargers 0.36c each and these were landed prices! I'm guessing they are paying similar prices.  

[gizmoclearance]

$5 is  around the discounted price

$0.23 each.. how to they sustain a business with that kind of quality..

[kustomizer99]

Sadly, much of our economy runs on Chinese slave labor.

[Anonymous]

Thats right. You have to understand that the slave labour rates in China are virtually zero. The cost of plastics etc is the same. Take a look at the Chinese skyline. They are churning out cheap product in vast numbers at virtually zero cost and paying the workers the same. So $0.50 profit here and there per item is a great profit when you multiply it by millions. Ebay has seen this and thats why they are pushing the cheap Asian market above small Australian sellers. If they can push us out of the way altogether...all the better.