Guys! Memory of just starting your e-bay business. Shares.

[autoparts_expert]

Hi guys,
Remember that, when you just started your e-bay, remember how hard is that, especially when you don't have any feedback in the beginning. How can you deal with it? Exchange feedback? How long took you to exceed the 21 positive feedback. As we know, we can't list more than 10 item when our feedback lower than 21.
Are there any hard time or trick you deal with the beginning business? Let's talk about it.

One more thing is, i saw a lot of e-bay sellers, they sell $5 item with free shipping? I don't get it, can they make any profit? Seriously.

[dipmicro]

One more thing is, i saw a lot of e-bay sellers, they sell $5 item with free shipping? I don't get it, can they make any profit? Seriously.

Can Dolarama make profit ?

They are popping up like cancer, so they must be making some.

[axe_n_gear_music]

Its called volume....either you have to sell a ton of low priced items for a little, or you can sell fewer higher priced items for alot.
Its all in how you choose your products. I like selling some of each....the lower priced stuff you can give free shipping on some, and up your volume (while keeping your DSRs higher), and the higher priced stuff rakes in more dough.
I am going to cut back on the lower priced stuff a little bit in the new year though...too much time spent packaging little crap. Not to mention how much easier it is to handle inventory, etc on the bigger stuff.

AXE

[femmefan1946]

There are some other tricks to running a Dollarama store.

Low rent-- a lot of these stores are in plazas or streets where there are a lot of vacancies. And they come and go. Not out of business, but the landlord found a "better" tenant. Remember most leases include a share of the profits for the landlord.

Low staffing- the classic is the New Canadian family who saved up their money from the cleaning and parking garage jobs and bought the franchise. The whole family works in the store. Or the staff is one cashier and a shelf stocker, both minimum wage students in their first jobs.

And a lot of the stock is end of lines, dead stock, or purchased at Revenue Canada auctions. Below wholesale. (Plus off brand and even counterfeit products.)

Buy low-- sell higher-- watch the pennies.

The guy who runs the Dollarama will put three kids through post graduate studies if he does it right.

[dipmicro]

Dolarama is a chain. Not sure if they are franchise or privately owned, did not care enough to find out.

But they have enough volume to brand their own brands of wares (Durabrand tools, etc). It's all OEM stuff made in China.

I don't think dolarama is making such a small profit they would need to negotiate the rent. It takes ~50-100k just to furnish the 4000 sqft store with shelves and pegboards, the store and pylon signs, they rarely can be reused. It's not that cheap to move the store every 6 months.

Axe got it right, it's the volume. While car dealership with 30 people sells 5-10 cars per day making approx 2-3k on each gross, Dolarama with 10 staff sells 5-10k of $1-$2 items making approx 50-80% in gross profit.

Which business is more lucrative ? Do the math 😉

[canadaspatchking]

Add in the fact that most Dollarama's are _cash only_ businesses and they reduced their costs even further but not paying the credit card companies their cut that most other retailers have to pay.

That roughly 2% fee savings and a steady immediate flow of hard currency from the tills helps alot when you don't have to wait for those CC transfers. Some now have Interac available but those costs are small flat-rate compared to CC fees.

People love the cheap crap from China/Taiwan. How many people will actually bring back something that was broken or doesn't work that they purchased from a Dollarama? Have you ever brought back someone to a dollar store? Answer: Very few do as they realize what they are buying and that savings on the customer service (i.e. headaches) involved in returns. Now if these were eBay buyers buying that $1 item it would be a whole different story now wouldn't it.

[zarzuella]

Hi guys,
Remember that, when you just started your e-bay, remember how hard is that, especially when you don't have any feedback in the beginning. How can you deal with it? Exchange feedback? How long took you to exceed the 21 positive feedback. As we know, we can't list more than 10 item when our feedback lower than 21.
Are there any hard time or trick you deal with the beginning business? Let's talk about it.

I kinda chuckled when I read this. When I started, way back in the mists of time, there were no real rules to speak of; anyone could list stuff for sale, no limits.
My early listings, like most, were text only (I did not have a scanner or digital camera) yet sell-through was 100%. Fees were miniscule, and the community was pretty honorable. Those were the days.

Ann

[ricarmic]

I'm even "older" than Zarzuella, but just by a bit!

I remember the early listings days with no pictures, although I invested in a new state of the art Sony Mavica camera that took digital pictures and put them on 3.5" floppy discs!

Some things were better some were worse in those days, payment was crazy, cash, cheques, MO's (usually the WRONG US domestic one!!), Billpoint, PAYPAL.

I liked the opportunity to be able to buy upgrades, I was able to make them work well for me.

Lots of changes since those days, and like any business situation one has to evolve or dissolve!

THX for the trip down memory lane!