Ebay Fees and Questions

[gavinedwards150]

Hello,

I am trying to sell a splatoon triple pack amiibo on ebay I had a few questions if someone could double check my math.
I recieved $65.51 from my customer.

The shipping was $10.51,

I paid $44.78 for it after  tax,
And I beleive the combined ebay and paypal fees are $9.17.

Using these numbers I make $1.05.

Does this seem right?

I also did it with a smaller amiibo

Got Paid $40.06.
Paid $17.91.
Shipping was $10.06.
And fees were $5.61.
So $6.48 Profit.

Thanks,.

[tobyshitzu]

I think you are slightly light on the fees.  Ebay's 10% of the gross, plus paypal's 2.9%+.30

[gavinedwards150]

So the fees are actually worse? Ebay is making more off of each sale then I do since they own paypal.

Anyway to get lower fees? Like do the price with shipping included.

[tobyshitzu]

sorry I read that wrong the first time.  I was thinking your shipping line was what the customer paid for shipping. So you do have it right

no it would be the same to add the shipping to the price.

It would become very slightly better if you had enough sales to become top rated (2% of the gross less in fees).  But it still wouldn't be worth selling those.  To make money you need to acquire things very cheaply, or have those gross margins on much more expensive items to offset the high cost of shipping in Canada.

[mr.elmwood]

It's not the fees, it is your lack of markup.

I buy for $5 (five) and sell for $100 (one hundred). A friend of mine gets ALL of his stock for free and he still complains! LOL!!!

You are never going to make money buying to sell as someone has already made the profit.

As Toby says, you need to "acquire".

[mr.elmwood]

Get rid of all of this: "Sorry for the cost, they cost me $18 to buy, $10 to ship and ebay/paypal takes at least $7".

That has nothing to do with anything.

[gavinedwards150]

Whats wrong with letting people know the costs. I know when I first saw how much they were on ebay I was surprised but then after the math it makes sense.

[mr.elmwood]

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@gavinedwards150 wrote:

Whats wrong with letting people know the costs. I know when I first saw how much they were on ebay I was surprised but then after the math it makes sense.

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It is unprofessional.

[rosscd57]

A what?

[reallynicestamps]

You are paying too much for your goods.

You are asking too little for your goods.

The 'best price' that you offer your customer is one that makes both you and your customer happy. If you are not happy with a loonie in profit, then you are not selling at your 'best price'.

These are some sort of collectible toys?

Either you have to buy them at below retail or you have to buy the ones that are hard to find at retail and sell them well above retail.

This used to be easy (remember Beanie Babies?) but with more sophisticated use of the internet, that kind of arbitrage is fast disappearing.

Don't apologize for your prices! Make your customer delighted that she is only paying twice retail (or more).

Heck I'm still proud of scoring my Fruity Oaty Bars lunchbox, used, at only twice retail and get envious looks and fat offers for it at Browncoat Shindigs. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le5XccdOLus

[cumos55]

Profit is based on how much one pays for inventory... not the price buyers pay

[dinomitesales]

For all those wondering, "amiibos" are the new, hot electronic video game toy at the moment. They are first-party manufactured Nintendo character figures that work in conjunction with games produced for the 3DS and Wii U consoles. Similar to Skylanders, or Disney Infinity, if you're familiar with those.

Due to the insane popularity, the rare ones have been selling out almost immediately. The people making money off of these are those that are able to acquire the rare ones at retail, and then sell them at a much higher, marked up price. So those of you commenting that his "cost to acquire" is too high: that's the lowest you can get them unless you're a distributor (and even then, good luck). OPs main issue was that he tried selling one that wasn't worth much more than retail (i.e. not a rare one), so obviously his profit is going to suffer.

I sold a Ness amiibo today (not on eBay, mind you) for $100. I paid $18 for it at retail just a few days prior. You need to know which ones are rare, and how to get them. And, unfortunately, due to the size of these things, shipping really cuts into the profit; I've found much more success flipping them locally. You may want to try that route via Kijiji, OP.

I also agree with the others that you need to re-think your listings. Take out that stuff about the cost - people KNOW what these cost, and it's obvious that you are trying to make a profit (otherwise you wouldn't be selling them on eBay in the first place). Second, take your own pictures - these are collector toys, people want to SEE what they will actually be receiving, not a stock photo. Make your titles longer, you're wasting a lot of space that could be filled with keywords. Add things like "Sealed" "North America", "US Version", "BNIB", "Super Smash Bros.", etc. If these are indeed North American ones, then you're doing yourself a GREAT disservice by not mentioning that - the U.S./N.A. versions sell at a premium compared to the European/Japanese ones. Your stock image for Greninja isn't even correct! That's a photo for the European one, not the North American one you bought at Toys R Us! You probably lost some money on that sale just for that mistake.

[femmefan1946]

This ^ is perfect advice from someone who knows the product.

Common will not appreciate in value any faster than inflation and probably will drop. The hard to find and unusual is the item to offer.

[mr.elmwood]

Young ones like to argue: "Oh! Yeah! Well what do you know!".

Well, Junior, you are talking to decades of selling experience both here and in the real world. Every mistake you are making, or are going to make, we have already made.

Do not listen if you do not want to, um, what is your feedback score again? Some of us, here, have had more sales in a day than you have FB.

Yeah, but, what do we know.