New BC seller needs help

[thejvlstore]

My products are coming in next week and I am ready to start listing. They are from China ( I got a friend to bring lots of the products back for me free of charge or custom fees etc.

These items are really small, 48cm in length but they can curl up and fit into the envelope. 

Problem right now is I have to compete with China sellers who list them for $3 ( free shipping ) United states sellers $4 (free shipping) 

What price should I list mine at to compete with these guys? I live in BC, Canada. Say if I charge $4 ( free shipping ) How much will I get dinged on fees? My investment is around 30 cents for 1 product. According to canada post its $1.85 for the postage stamp for international ( worst case scenario place to send ) . Envelope money lets assume ( $.20 per ) So my profit would be around $1.25 after ebay fees. Are my calculations correct here? 

To all you pro sellers out there, where do i buy envelopes and postage stamps for cheap ( besides the discount postage.ca ) because I'm just starting out don't wanna make huge $100 investments into stamps right now. Easiest would be going to canada post office I assume? 

Also should I setup ebay store or just go without one? 

Lots of questions, I know I should just get into it but I don't have the product yet, didnt take any pics yet, so want some answers before then. Any tips for starters would be very helpful to a BC seller ( probably worst place in the world to sell ). Thanks !

[pierrelebel]

"I got a friend to bring lots of the products back for me free of charge or custom fees etc"

IMO - Smuggling to avoid paying taxes is NOT a good idea when you start a new business venture.

Taxes have to be paid.  It is a fact of life in business. The problems created by smuggling during an eventual tax audit are not worth the few tax dollars avoided today.

[pierrelebel]

PS - and if you think smuggling and tax evasion is OK - do not post the information on public discussion boards for the world to see (including CRA).  Keep the information to yourself.

[i*m-still-here]

P************* ....... not to be contentious or pick a fight or anything like that........

This is a genuine question about your post.

How did you go from:

""""  I got a friend to bring lots of the products back for me free of charge or custom fees etc. """"

to the conclusion that this person is smuggling?

I read it differently than you did.

What I read is that a friend travelled to China and is bringing back a lot of penny items duty free as we are allowed to do.

There is no indication in the Original Post that there is any intent to exceed the allowed  limit.

That might be the case............... but it sure isn't the conclusion I'd draw based on the information provided.

What am I missing?

[thejvlstore]

Thanks for information and its not really smuggling, hes paying the taxes ifs applicable, I just assume right now its free of charge because I doubt they will ask for such products. 

All that aside, can you help with my other questions? Would appreciate alot. 

[i*m-still-here]

Thanks for information and its not really smuggling, hes paying the taxes ifs applicable, I just assume right now its free of charge because I doubt they will ask for such products. 

All that aside, can you help with my other questions? Would appreciate alot. 

The items aren't even here yet and you might be in for a surprise.

What you are saying is that you don't antiquate that there will extra charges and that you are planning your ebay business based on that.

Anyway, selling items from China will be challenging.

I looked into some stuff from India a while ago and concluded that it wouldn't work for all the obvious reasons.

[dipmicro]

IMO - Smuggling to avoid paying taxes is NOT a good idea when you start a new business venture.

Why jump into conclusion? The OP does not want to spend $100 on stamps, so I doubt there is more than $100 in product of $0.30/ea 🙂 Personal exemption is $800 for each traveler.

http://www.crossbordershopping.ca/duty-tax-import-guide/personal-exemptions

thejvlstore, you have no chance to compete with China on light sub-$10 items internationally because they pay $0.20 for shipping. Focus on Canada customers, if China seller sells this for $3, you offer it for $6, saves you headaches with certain group of buyers. There is whole army of buyers on Ebay who won't touch China seller.

[pierrelebel]

dipmicro -

Goods brought in for commercial use or for another person do not qualify as a personal exemption and are subject to full duties.

[thejvlstore]

dipmicro, thanks for suggestion. So let me rephrase this, sell same product for higher price but slap a small canada flag on my posting picture because some people don't trust china sellers, only north american sellers? 

[i*m-still-here]

P************ this is not personal.  I would say the same to anyone who posted as you did....:).

Since you don't know all the details and what is involved it's probably not a good idea to jump to conclusions.

Sure, I think we are all aware that 
""" Goods brought in for commercial use or for another person do not qualify as a personal exemption and are subject to full duties."""

However, no wrong has been done and an innocent poster simply stated what his plans are and believes there will no duty.

Perhaps so.  Perhaps not.

Making false accusations, which yours could well be, on a public forum is a far worse sin than posting that one does not anticipate that there will be duty on his items.

Who knows what that means?

I don't.  I'd require a lot more information to draw any conclusions of wrong doing.

IMO that is.

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Your math is about right. Throw in the cost of supplies, computer expenses, etc, you should lose money on every sale. Your COGS (cost of good sold) is way too high. You are not even counting your labour.

You are going to need to sell a hundred widgets a day to make the money starting to make sense. Enjoy yer carpal tunnel syndrome.

Cheap supplies is relative to your other costs. Your costs are too high, so, you will never find cheap supplies. My costs are very low, so, supplies costs have no impact on me. You are better off just buying what you need, where you can find it, with convenience in mind. Spending a dollar to save a dime makes no sense.

Different sellers have diffrent business models. For some, the 50, or 500, whatever, listings a month works for them. With a store, you do not get these offereings. I have a store because it is far more convenient for me to list and forget about it. Far less maintenance for me, but, my widgets might sell in a day, or, might take three months.

Dunno why BC should be a "worst" place to sell from. Every place has advantages and disadvantages. It is what you make it out to be. Heck! I sell, part time, from Churchill Manitoba.

[thejvlstore]

@ inuk:

Thanks for the reply. Well thing is ... there are gonna be variations of products i will be selling.  Imagine buying a whole lot of products of 2000 pcs for $500 . Some I will sell for more $5-6, the more common ones I will sell for $4 . 

You are totally right about spending a dollar to save a dime. I will find the cheapest envelopes available in town and go to local Canada post to see if they can give me some info about selling online here. I will order from discount postage once i get a few sales going. 

So what are the pros and cons of having a ebay store? Is there the 11% ebay fee for both store and nonstore sellers? 

[i*m-still-here]

You didn't say what the items are.

I have bought some amazing OOAK hand carved pieces for $1-$3 form China.

Even though they have  much higher value ($20-$40) reselling them at that price would be a huge challenge because I'm not the only one who knows what they are.

On the other hand, there's a lot of stuff that's obvious junk which would mean that you compete with the $1 stores as well as China.

In any case, I think I'd try to cash on the free listings as much as possible and avoid a store for now.

You've already committed to your "stuff," and perhaps you could use to build up FB and if it works then great.

If not you could sell it off while you figure out something that might work........

but IMO if buying and reselling stuff from China were profitable everyone would be doing it.

[thejvlstore]

Thanks for insight again. I will start with free listings and avoid a store ( monthly fee, no thanks ) 

Yea this isn't the only product I will be selling hopefully for the rest of my ebay career, but it seems like anything that cannnot fit in envelope takes a major hit from canada post shipping costs. 

"but IMO if buying and reselling stuff from China were profitable everyone would be doing it."

You're right, thing is I have employees working in China that can go to wholesale distributors and pick up anything I want and ship it to Canada when I need it while other resellers only have access to online websites and they already taking a huge cut there. 

If i were to buy the same products online , it would cost near double if not more and most likely not as much variations. 

[i*m-still-here]

I hope it works for you................. I had an amazing connection to India..............  Directly to any business we chose to deal with there.

I still do, but everything we toyed with was a dead end once we tossed it around long enough.

 I suspect you're selling some kind of jewelry, and who knows, with a lot of work it might work out for you.

Good Luck.

[vintagenorth]

You quoted using a $1.85 cent stamp for International. These items must be very very small, that price is for an envelope measuring no more than 245mm x 156mm x 5mm and weighing up to 30 gms. That's a regular letter size envelope and 5 mm is approx 3/16 of an inch.

I do hope that works for you.

[Anonymous]

I used to buy a box of 500 legal size envelopes for $6.00 at Superstore many years ago, not sure if they still have them for that price?  I grabbed 10 boxes of 500 envelopes for $2.00 each at flea market about 25 years ago and finally they are gone about 5 years ago.

I bought a box of 500 manila envelopes for 8x10" photos for $8.00 per box which I bought 5 of them at Uline 3 years ago and their price is now nearly double!  I have 3 boxes left.

I still have the Superstore envelopes but not sure if I can find another at low price once I am out of them?  Good luck.

[i*m-still-here]

I wanted to add:  I think the best place for shipping supplies is the Dollar Store and I've heard that some sellers buy stamps here on ebay and get great deals.

If you really hunt there are a few ebay sellers with envelopes which can compete with the Dollar Stores............ but they are  hard to find.

IMO

[bb_cool_stuff]

Dollar stores are great for supplies but i have had issues with their sharpies.

They seem to smudge on my poly envelopes. Oh well, two for a dollar, i get what i pay for.

I just stock up on the Sharpie Brand during the back to school sales, no smudging whatsoever.

Envelopes can be had for a great deal but you have to look carefully. Pay attention to the shipping price.

I buy mine, two hundred at a time, from a supplier in Florida a friendly competitor turned me on to.

[thejvlstore]

"You quoted using a $1.85 cent stamp for International. These items must be very very small, that price is for an envelope measuring no more than 245mm x 156mm x 5mm and weighing up to 30 gms. That's a regular letter size envelope and 5 mm is approx 3/16 of an inch."

I will be selling apparel accessories. The envelope size you listed will definitely fit my products because they can curl up into a ball if necessary. Thanks for the tip.

As for getting envelopes, I totally forgot my local dollar store had these when I walked by several weeks ago. I'll be getting them from there. 

Just a question, when you mail these envelopes out, do you need to print labels or do you write on it yourself? Also, dropping it off at a Canada Post mail box better or directly to their office? 

As for international stamping, I think I'm gonna start off with Canada and US only, but if not enough sales generate, then i will be looking into international asap, even though international sounds like headache ( might lose mail ) and more postage too. Comparing $1.85 to the $1.35 US.