Ebay

[starlight32]

Do you think traders make a profit on e-bay?

If they do it must be a very low margin?

 

Before you say no-one would do it if they were'nt making money I personally think a lot of traders who operate marketing outside of e-bay only use it to promote their market in another area.

 

Yes ok selling bits and pieces no problem if you are just an individual getting rid of unwanated items- you get what you get and that is fair enough like a boot sale.

However, looking closely at items you buy when you break it down with all the costings I just can't see how businesses make any money.

 

My son has just sold some bits some pieces for me again, and quite frankly no-one can complain at the market exposure it gives but honestly the fees are just way too high in my opinion, and it certainly takes the shine of what you sell.

 

Fair enough if you are an e-bay trader your base costs are low but this must even out to a high overhead with selling costs incurred- Paypal,final value fee, listing fees etc.

 

PW Business Dragons give us your view?

Edited May 8, 2008 by starlight32

[Dunkield]

My view is without it some traders would go out of business, but others use it as a loss leader.

 

How the hell you can expect to get rich selling things that you have to post for 99p I will never know.

But I am glad they do, I wouldn't have a shot counter if they didn't :look:

 

I don't think ebays cost are very high for the exposure they can give you, they are in the volume game, you only have to look at the number items that sell everyday.

[Chard]

My view is without it some traders would go out of business, but others use it as a loss leader.

 

How the hell you can expect to get rich selling things that you have to post for 99p I will never know.

But I am glad they do, I wouldn't have a shot counter if they didn't :look:

 

I don't think ebays cost are very high for the exposure they can give you, they are in the volume game, you only have to look at the number items that sell everyday.

 

Customer pays the postage costs, which are often inflated to cover Ebay/PayPal fees, more often than not. That tends to take care of those overheads, so it just comes down to their actual margins. These can be slim, but with no other overheads and possibly high volume of sales, it can get prfitable, I'm sure.

[19_Ferrets]

when i buy items - and i have paid MORE than what the postage really is, i ask for a refund as the postage price is incorrect. simple as.

 

That makes my purchases a tad cheaper :look:

[Poacher]

the cost are a bit high to the average trader, however i should imagine that they have reduced fees for shops/powersellers etc. :look:

[Dunkield]

Customer pays the postage costs, which are often inflated to cover Ebay/PayPal fees, more often than not. That tends to take care of those overheads, so it just comes down to their actual margins. These can be slim, but with no other overheads and possibly high volume of sales, it can get prfitable, I'm sure.

I can't remember that actual postage on that item, but it was about £1.

For that money he he had to wrap it, take it down the PO and then pay for the postage.

Rather him than me.

 

"This time next Rodders, we'll be mill-yun-aires" springs to mind :look:

[jimdfish]

My old man is a power seller selling stamps on there. He makes quite a tidy sum I can tell you.

he thing with him is though as he buys sacks of charity stamps he can save the unfranked ones and use them for postage.

JDF

[Chard]

when i buy items - and i have paid MORE than what the postage really is, i ask for a refund as the postage price is incorrect. simple as.

 

That makes my purchases a tad cheaper

 

 

You wouldn't get much change out of me :look:

 

Postage costs are intended to cover all that stuff that StuartP just mentioned, packing, farting about at the Post Office. Jiffy bags cost an arm and a leg - it isn't just the stamp :look:

[Chard]

"This time next Rodders, we'll be mill-yun-aires" springs to mind :look:

 

He who dares wins, Rodders. Mange tout, mange tout. :look:

[malkiserow]

The inland revenue is now all over ebay looking for traders who do not declare income. So it was a tax dodge for some but that will end for high turnover traders.

 

Considering the market access the costs are not so bad (yes I hate paying them too) but compared to the local rag the prices you get are likely to far more than offset the higher costs.

 

Overall I'm pleased with ebay albeit there are some items I would never buy on ebay and sometimes you will get stung on a dodgy purchase. I had some phone unlocking software lately which does not work.... but for £2 it was worth the punt.

 

cheers

Malk

[Cranfield]

One thing that is slowly strangling a lot of Internet purchases, is the postage/delivery costs.

The price may be slightly cheaper than the High Street, but start adding P&P and its no longer a bargain.

 

It also amuses me when I am shopping around how the basic price of so many things on eBay, are more expensive than either the High Street, or larger Internet Seller sites, like Screwfix, Play.com, Amazon, etc.,

[Ice]

People are not selling at massive margines on ebay, much less that they would be opperating at from a counter, however ebay gives people the unlimited audience in which they wish to target, therefore an increased number of sales.

 

So if there is an increase in sales, then effectivly the turn around time for the item should decrease which in turn increases profitability, a sort of production line.

 

So the way these sellers will look at it is.

 

One item takes "X" amount of time to sort, @ a profit of £0.20 and they sell only one, then it can be taken as a loss.

 

However if they could sell 100 and sort 100 in one hour, i.e take 100 to the post rather that just the one, effectivly the second is free, with a profit of £19.80 if you count the 100 into the same system @£0.20 each.

 

Dont start shooting holes in this system, as it does work, just sit and think about it before you post against it.

[ferretman]

my mum dose e-bay for were she works and thay are making 5000 a month.

[tiercel]

I was an eBay power seller, sadly no longer. With the recent FVF hike the fees are now 7.5%. At the moment I am selling Items for £10 on buy it now. They cost me £1.50 to list 5 and each item has a FVF of 75p as most people who use BIN want the item quickly, they pay by paypal that adds another 76p to the cost of selling the items. I end up paying £1.81 fees on every item so roughly an eighteen percent charge. That is quite high.

 

TC

[Ice]

my mum dose e-bay for were she works and thay are making 5000 a month.

 

 

Id imagen what you are trying to say is, they are turning over £5000 a month :look:

[Cranfield]

Anyone tried selling on eBid ?

 

I have bought a few things off there.

[Ice]

Anyone tried selling on eBid ?

 

I have bought a few things off there.

 

Negative, didnt even know it existed

[Highlander]

Traders apart, I guess most of the people selling stuff on there reckon getting something for their old trash is better than throwing it away AND let's face it the odd bargain does turn up.

[al4x]

I've had plenty of bargains on there and exposure is great. You can find almost anything you could want to buy on there which is a plus point and from a business perspective its a lot cheaper than owning a shop, pay pal fees are a *** but then my credit card machine I have certainly isn't cheap to receive money

[Chard]

Anyone tried selling on eBid ?

 

I have bought a few things off there.

 

 

I've only bought things on Ebid. Shotgun chokes (Beretta) brand new at half the price - Ebid doesn't have Ebay's silly rules on gun parts :look:

 

I wouldn't feel very confident of a sale, if I was a seller on Ebid. Doesn't seem to be much stuff for sale, so i don't think it attracts many buyers.

 

I think they do "no selling fee" deals most of the time, to try and attract sellers- I think there's one on now

[Dunkield]

One thing that is slowly strangling a lot of Internet purchases, is the postage/delivery costs.

Tell me about it.

I shop arround for my new waders, £2.50 P&P fantastic.

They were too big, so it cost me £8.50 to send them back!

[InGen]

?? i was a trader on ebay for 3 years i made 100% markup on my products so the margins are massive if you know how to do it right. once your a powerseller everyting in cost goes down the fees for listing price are slashed by about 60%.

[Blackbart]

I sell on e-bay and do quite well out of it,a few people on here have bought stuff off me(some people use the same name for everything :look: )But a friend of mine has actually packed his quite well payed job in and now sells on e-bay full time,he specialises in silver with a sideline in cornish ware pottery with a bit of vintage kitchenalia thrown in.He sources all his gear from auctions and has a turnover of well over £100,000 a year almost exclusively from e-bay sales.Yes he pays wads of cash to e-bay,pay pal,gordon brown etc but he has been doing it for 4 year now and seems happy.So it can work for some people.