Running an ebay business

You can also buy a USB cable of some sort for like $1 including postage from China/HK on ebay

they do it to either/both build up feedback on low cost items so they can sell other items at low margin high volume.

as for profits, at $1 I was shocked the first time to see if they can make a profit too,

to send something in an envelope in australia costs like 10c for a envelope, 70c-$1 for postage, plus 10c for ebay fees, and I believe they charge you 30c per transaction + a % to accept a paypal payment (not sure if this has changed or its waived for huge sellers)

but from HK/China since cost of living there is much lower, I wouldnt be surprised if the break down went like this

30c for cable
5c envelope
20c for postage
30c for paypal
10c for ebay fees
4c for listing fees
total 90c, profit 10c/%

so probably reasonable for their standards, terrible for ours
 
I just bought a USB adaptor off eBay, $2.77 including postage. Even if they cost the supplier nothing, I'm hard pushed to see how anyone can make money doing this.

They would make 0.80 cents to $1 profit using standard postage.

Presuming this is from an Australian seller operating out of Australia, they have a medium sized store & enough turnover to get a discount off of Paypal.
Ebay fees would be $0.22
Paypal fees would be $0.36
Postage would be $1.40
Total fees: $1.98

So, presuming they fell of the back of a truck & he didn't have to pay for the item, he would make a whopping $0.79 for each one.

I'm betting they are a Chinese seller with a much reduced ebay fee structure and nice cheap postage.
 
You can also buy a USB cable of some sort for like $1 including postage from China/HK on ebay

they do it to either/both build up feedback on low cost items so they can sell other items at low margin high volume.

as for profits, at $1 I was shocked the first time to see if they can make a profit too,

to send something in an envelope in australia costs like 10c for a envelope, 70c-$1 for postage, plus 10c for ebay fees, and I believe they charge you 30c per transaction + a % to accept a paypal payment (not sure if this has changed or its waived for huge sellers)

but from HK/China since cost of living there is much lower, I wouldnt be surprised if the break down went like this

30c for cable
5c envelope
20c for postage
30c for paypal
10c for ebay fees
4c for listing fees
total 90c, profit 10c/%

so probably reasonable for their standards, terrible for ours

I can only quote AU fees.
Listing fees with eBay = $0.0 (so long as you stay within your quota)
Final Value fees eBay = 7%-9% depending on what store you have & the category it's listed under
Paypal fees = $0.30 plus 2.4% (2% if Business over certain turnover)

Ebay now charge a final value fee on the postage as well.
 
Do your research and then some more !

I am in the midst of shutting up shop for a number of reasons. With me the exchange rate has been a big factor.
It takes more time than you would think to 'manage' especially if you have more than one product.
Having said that, its fun and very addictive -so be warned !
 
I can't understand why anyone would bother with selling something for a 5 cent profit although seeing the prices of some items I have no doubt it happens. Hubby recently bought some replacement buttons for his car remote and they were $1.75 and free postage. I don't know how much profit there is in that but even if it's a dollar - what a hassle! So much effort for little gain.
 
I can't understand why anyone would bother with selling something for a 5 cent profit although seeing the prices of some items I have no doubt it happens. Hubby recently bought some replacement buttons for his car remote and they were $1.75 and free postage. I don't know how much profit there is in that but even if it's a dollar - what a hassle! So much effort for little gain.

The hardest part about eBay is finding the right products to sell. Although I did not set out to have my products on eBay, that came about by default when I tentatively listed a couple of items & it just 'worked'. It seems that "everybody" sells some items. You really need to find product that is hard to source, but is in demand, so you have few to no competitors.
 
I have just made some online purchases and the postage structure was interesting:

China Mail 12-14 days $0.00

DHL 7-10 days $7.00

UPS 7-10 days $8.50

Perhaps the Chinese Government is subsiding postal costs on their end?
 
I did read some complaining about the agreed international postal arrangements that allow the UK (places like book depository) to send inbound mail at a much much cheaper rate than we pay out bound... how can anybody compete with book depository for example?!
 
I can't understand why anyone would bother with selling something for a 5 cent profit although seeing the prices of some items I have no doubt it happens. Hubby recently bought some replacement buttons for his car remote and they were $1.75 and free postage. I don't know how much profit there is in that but even if it's a dollar - what a hassle! So much effort for little gain.

if youve already got a system setup where its automated, 5cent profit is still not much but in voilume it may not be something to sneeze at

5c to us is worth less then 5c in China
 
if youve already got a system setup where its automated, 5cent profit is still not much but in voilume it may not be something to sneeze at

5c to us is worth less then 5c in China

it is the ultimate form of free enterprise and the reason why it is such a good place to buy, prices are cut to the bone. tho I did make a complaint to the ACCC that when you sort by "lowest price and postage" it actually gives misleading results, ebay manipulate the results depending on their secret formula (most likely amount of fees paid!). It's a serious case of misleading and deceptive conduct on a grand scale.
 
I just bought four bra extensions/expanders. They are $6 in bra shops here and I bought four for $1 with free postage, coming from China.

Amazing! What profit can they be making on that?
 
Of The Vultures, have you considered something else? Depending on what your job is now, maybe you can set yourself up as a work from home contractor. You can work for outsourcers, so you don't need to find your clients and the money is pretty decent, but lumpy.

Just another perspective.
 
I just bought four bra extensions/expanders. They are $6 in bra shops here and I bought four for $1 with free postage, coming from China.

Amazing! What profit can they be making on that?

It's for that very reason I don't buy retail any more--the mark up is too high. If I can, I buy directly from overseas and use Ebay.
 
I was an ebay seller to for a few years, long time ago. I think it's harder these days to sell for profit on ebay. Their feedback rating is tricky. If your rating is less than your competitor's, your item will be displayed below your competitor. I think with small baby and another child, it might be too much hassle, especially if the older child is at school. The timing of your item (auction) is also crucial. And with feedback system, you only need one grumpy buyer to spoil the business.
 
is it not better to set up a website and do some killer marketing

ebay is *****.

my rating went to 97% and I basically have been banned for life. I had 500 products and had decent sales.
 
If some of you have been following my other threads about the nasty cow of a customer I've been dealing with, I'd just like to note here that she slammed me with three negative feedback's. Now, I can take that, as I had NONE at all, but one simple call to ebay, as they had been kept informed every step of the way with the situation, and I've had all three of them removed.

I think this is one thing that some sellers don't realise, is that you can get the feedback removed under certain circumstances.
 
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