how to run an eBay store without feeling like getting yourself a sweatshop

[gizmoclearance]

hi all the ebay shopmasters...

I have been running an eBay store for 6 months now. daily transactions around 60 (the other id). currently a silver powerseller with 100% positve feedback score.

before I started the store, I had been a freelance graphics designer for years. my hourly rate was $55/hr and earned around 90k a year. not too bad but my problem was the rate had not increased at all for 5 years and I have to compete with younger fresh minds. Many senior designers with 15+ years experience earn just a little more that me. 90k was ok but I want more. 

So I started selling online and try to beat my old life. at the beginning I just wanted to use my spare time but very soon it turns into full-time because there has been no time left after processing orders, customer support, packaging, product researching and marketing. at the beginning I was doing low value items such as phone cases and soon figured out how little margin the other sellers are operating on ebay.

with any order, besides the efforts put into listing the product, a seller has to answer potential buyer's questions, take orders (with colour option etc) , transfer the address to a printed lable, and then pack with bubble  wraps etc. for doing all these I reckon  the seller should deserve at least $5 labour fees on each order . no matter how large volume they sell, as long as it's retail they have to go thru this process everytime.  but most of my competitors sell the  same product for as low as 50c profit per item. I have contacts with the factories I know the bottom cost for the items. So I always wonder.. these sellers (most of them are large seller on ebay, AU based) must got themselves working on really low labour cost.

my daily transaction is around 60+around 20 on my own web store. i am already working over 8 hours a day. so I figure I must profit at least $5 on each item sold in order to bearly make it to an equivalent a full-time job ($400 a day).  to be honest I haven't succeeded to profit $300+ a day. with regular refunds to keep my 100% positive I have to make a few losses every now and then.

I have been researching on products that can generate higher margin. got a few good items but once they reach dominant listing position for a while other sellers will discover and  start selling them to beat my price down, soon my listing position is replaced by other seller because I am simply not willing to process orders for peanuts. 

i am 6 months into ebay I am not sure how the other full-time seller cope with it. with every package I sent I am stressed that this buyer will leave low DSR or even negative feedback. when that happens too often, top-seller status will be lost, as a result listing positions drop then sales decline... I can't go to holidays until the business generates enough profit to cover the cost for hiring other people. with my own store I can stop all google ad campaigns and put up a holiday banner. but on eBay no sales means your top selling products will drop position quickly.

I know i am still new to online business. am I expecting too much?

[digital*ghost]

I am not even close to being a high volume seller, so there are a few things I can't offer any insightful opinions on, but for what it's worth...

I do know that some of the more successful, and high volume, sellers do what you're starting to do now. That is, look for new products that aren't already flooding the site and can generate a good return. Being able to do that consistently is part of the job for them - when there are a bunch of other sellers listing that product and/or undercutting them, they move on to something else.

Watching what your competitors are doing is only so helpful, IMHO, especially if as a variety goods(?) seller, you have many (i.e. I could imagine trying to stay one step ahead of dozens of other sellers in different categories could get a little tiresome). There's a point I think where you're better off concentrating on highlighting what advantages you have over other sellers (or creating them), as opposed to meeting or overcoming the advantages they have (if that makes sense). 

I don't know how competitive the categories you're selling in are, but just about every seller at some point needs to find the right balance between profit margin and turnover. If it were me, working that hard every day for a nett profit that I didn't find worthwhile, in the time between sourcing products with a better margin, I would probably seriously be considering raising my prices a little (in the hopes of easing my workload but achieving approximately same nett gain).  Of course, depending on what you're selling, a dollar or two difference could see you disappear off the radar so I know it's not always an option.

In regards to TRS... I understand the impact low DSRs can have on accounts (I take issue with it, personally, but that's an entirely different subject :^O), but at the end of the day you can only control what you do, not what your customers do, so I prefer to focus my energy on everything I am able to control (eg descriptions, photos, communication and post-sale service). Some people have said that their sales were affected by losing TRS, others have said it didn't make a difference, so exactly what it does do is relatively debatable, and may be dependent on how competitive the categories are.

I'm not sure if any of that answers the questions you have, but I hope some of it helps in some way. 

[tropical_scene]

Welcome to eBay, where you work around the clock 7 days a week for if you're very lucky, a low weekly wage.

[lane-ends]

If it sounds to good to be true then it probably is.

Did Ebay sound too good to be true to you before switching careers.?

Remember you are competing in a field were anyone can do it, with no experience, no qualifications needed.

Add in to the mix a whole lot of people just doing it because they enjoy it rather than they wont to mega rich business people.

Walk into a room with 50 people everyone of them is capable of competing with you for sales on on Ebay, I bet non of them is capable of competing with you for work as a graphic artist.

By the way sellers dont "deserve" anything for their efforts, its not a PAYE job, there is no right to profit. Profit needs to won, its not handed out for turning up for work, thats the challange of running a business.

[cathy1971]

It is very hard to suggest ways to improve and make more profit uIt we don't know what you are selling and who your competitors are.  Your I'd shows no items selling so I pursue it is just a posting I'd.

[thesoulyearns]

You've put alot of professional thought into this and it seems to be slowly working. You're doing much better than alot of others on here.

See if you can streamline anything. You say listing takes effort... maybe get a template and try to pre-fill as much as you can. There must be a way to make it faster, though you seem to already do all of the basic tricks.

[annies_fancy_dress]

Stop b!tching, I'd love to making 60 sales a day.

Sounds like heaven to me!

[cq_tech]

Quite the contrary, it sounds like hell! I don't believe there are enough hours in the day to physically handle a 60-sale-a-day workload unless you employed somebody to help with packing & posting, which would defeat the purpose of working so hard anyway. 🙂

[e_purchasing]

Mate there are people struggling to earn $400 per week and you are complaining about $300 per day. All I can say is that you are a nob.

The average wage in Australia is $69K, you were earning $90K and you are whining because you now earn $110K?

Why not stop and consider you are posting to an audience that is likely to be less fortunate than yourself and count your blessings for what you have?

If I could reach through the screen, I would grab you by the scruff and slap you silly.

[gizmoclearance]

nothing wrong with not willing to be average..