How does a eBay seller make a profit when selling on eBay, if eBay charges high final value fees?

[hofer_william]

How can a Small eBay Seller make a profit if ebay and paypal charge the **bleep** out of you with their ridiculously high final value fees?

I can sell my item for a high price because no one will buy it. so i have to list it a low price but if it sells. ebay and paypal charges the **bleep** out of me which leaves me with nothing. in fact i loss money.

Let me know on your opinion? Please....

[brandeentertainment]

When I started I felt the same way but when you look at the big picture the fees a very acceptable ..

You are giving ebay roughly 10% and there are giving you exposure that first of all no other site can give you and second of all would cost you 100's of Thousands or more in marketing to expose your item to millions of people ..

The answer is by low sell high .. Many things are not meant to sell online specifically Low priced big bulky items..

Cheers and have fun

[mr.elmwood]

Not everything is meant for selling on ebay. There are a lot of things I could lose money on, but, I choose not to go that route.

ebay gives me worldwide exposure to a hundred million plus people. Where else are you going to get that.

Put an ad, paid for, in the local paper and see how you do. Put a card up at the grocery store. Ad on Kijiji. What? None of those work yet you complain about ebay?

[cumos55]

Making a profit depends on

(1) What you are selling

(2) Finding a source of low priced inventory

(3) the price at which you sell.... Not too low... and not TOO high

(3) Having a wide range of prices for your inventory..... depending specifically on value of inventory  and not a deliberately inflated price for the same inventory

I sell what I sell because I find my inventory at a reasonably low price....more an average price for all purchases of inventory....  as opposed to a specific purchase price for every book I sell....

I have bought some books at about $10 each... but I know they will sell at a very good price... a profitable price.

I have a specific strategy to price what I sell... and my buyers buy what I list.....

The low priced items  ... in the range up to $35 sell at a relatively constant basis

and then I will sell books at $95 to $195 each.

My low priced books pay the bills  and keep that profit coming in on a steady basis..

It is my high priced books that contribute significantly to my profit.

Many sellers are afraid to price something at a relatively high price, for fear it will not sell.....  and many times  you have to wait for a  buyer.... for that high priced item.

Sometimes one gets the impression that if certain items are priced too low they will not sell..... 

The perception in many instances is price in relation to perceived value....  A higher priced item is "perceived " to have a higher real value.... within certain limits for the category of item priced. .

Price it right and the buyers will buy.

There are certain strategies to selling on eBay...   It helps to have a high feedback... as that shows experience..... The tone of your feedback also helps....

A good profit is dependent on listing thousands of items,  at a wide range of prices....  buyer acceptable prices

I see many sellers sell low on a continuous basis....  and they wonder why they cannot do better....

and many times in my major category for listings ... I see someone sell a book for $25... seller is happy... but then what would they say  if they followed my listing of the same book and see it sell for $125

Selling is like a game... knowing the rules is one thing... knowing how to play the system of selling to advantage  is something one learns how to do.....

Each seller has to have a strategy specific to what each  seller sells on eBay....

One also finds many sellers who come to eBay... do well and then sales die.....  One has to work the listings... constantly adding new inventory,  adding new categories of inventory complementary to the first category....working eBay to advantage..

Knowing when to dump old inventory is also a critical decision... It may sell better at some later date....

[hofer_william]

you stated that one seller sells the book for $25 will you sell it for $125.00. They way i look at a buyer will search eBay for the book and then both listings will come up. I would assume the buyer would buy the lower priced book. Correct me if i am wrong. BTW. Great advice.. 🙂

[cumos55]

The other seller's book sold for $25 at auction....  after the lower priced book sells... the higher priced book is the only one on eBay...

My book sold two months later  for $125 at a fixed price.... sometimes the time is longer than two months  and the second buyer knows nothing of the first sale at $25

on eBay  there is an auction price,  and then there is a fixed price.

Many times a book sells  at a very low auction price......  Starting at 99 cents... Definitely a mistake on the part of this seller

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Yet I do know of a seller (who also sells books) who does well listing at  auction at a most reasonable and relatively high price... but not necessarily as high as my fixed price.  Seller also lists at a fixed price 

Sometimes this seller comes close to my fixed price... but is still somewhat lower  because this seller wants to sell quickly and yet get a good price.    Pricing is very important for this seller because this seller might only have 100 listings on eBay... compared to my total of over 3500 books...  and with 85 % of my books on one specific topic.

What this seller does is bounce his somewhat lower price  off my listing for the same book, which is higher priced....both books eventually sell....  and there have been situations where my higher priced book sells first.

This seller has been observant...... and knows what I do.

It appears that what this seller does is in relation to what I do....

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There are people who sell at auction on eBay... and do very well  because of many years of experience....

[pierrelebel]

Over 40 years ago I learned the first rule of business:

"He who buys right... sells right"

In other words, your profit is determined by how well you buy since your selling price is generally determine by the marketplace.

As far as eBay and PayPal fees are concerned, they are generally much lower than you would pay if you set up a shop somewhere.  The fees are part of your cost of doing business and should average between 8% to 15% depending on what you sell.

If you are left with "nothing" or "lose money", then your cost was too high and the item was not meant to be sold by mail (that is what eBay and similar sites are all about: mail order business".  You need high margins or huge volume.

Good Luck

[reallynicestamps]

Price is not the only consideration for buyers.

Trustworthiness of the seller is just as important, which is why high feedback sellers can do better than newbies. The buyer can see that the experienced seller has satisfied many customers.

Even bad feedback is useful to the seller. The potential buyer can review the bad FB and decide if there is an actual problem (like slow shipping or poor packing) or if the problem is with a buyer off her meds.

Shipping cost is a factor, although the experienced buyer has learned that the total cost is more important than the asking price. Here is a reprint of something I use too often

 Free Shipping is an advertising gimmick and one that works very well.
Which is cheapest:
A $5 item with $10 shipping
A $10 item with $5 shipping
A $15 item with Free Shipping.
The wise shopper purchases based on total price, not broken down by category.
And customers love to see that word "free".
Couple that with the perception that the more expensive the item, the better it must be, and that $15 item with Free shipping will sell faster and more often that the others at identical cost. (And the slowest will be the cheap $5 item with "gouging' shipping, which will also get lower DSRs for high shipping cost.)

Note that the seller pays the same fees on all three items, with the exception of fees on international shipping as pierre points out.

Title is all important. If you can't get the customer to open your listing, you cannot get the sale. We get 80 free keystrokes to sell our products.

Presentation also makes sales. Not just using pretty borders and interior pictures, but

-friendly Terms of Sale,

-more information about the product than about your arguments with eBay and earlier buyers,

- grammatical and properly spelled listings. Poor grammar and spelling tell scammers that you are either sloppy or not too bright. An easy mark.

- easy to read descriptions, not multiple fonts, green lettering on a blue background, hard to read fonts, etc.

- and including the important information in your listing. For Clothing, not just sizes but also measurements, for books the publisher and date, for cellphones the model number , for vintage items the approximate date of manufacture.

Oh, I get it! I'm good. Best thing for everybody. [Desperate grin] I'm right there with you.- Niska's Henchman