how much ebay income do you make?

marie-20

My profits are also around 30 - 40% - unfortunately my market is a tad flooded however I've got a few new things to try.

I'm also going to try and sell outside of Ebay - i.e. locally - that way I'll have a higher margin as I'll have no fees to pay.

I just need time to get out of the house and advertise but that is a little difficult at the mo which is why I don't expect much until next year.

:cool:

mikey72

terra_ferma wrote: »

This is one of the reasons why making a decent profit on ebay is so hard nowadays, there are many people who are happy to work for very little money, and their target is earning NMW.
There are so many sellers whose profit margins are very low, maybe they are hobbyist, bored pensioners or stay-at-home mums, or unemployed/disabled people who want to supplement their benefits.
There are many people who are not used to valuing their time much, maybe not used to earning a good wage, so as long as they make a little money they are fine.

Unfortunately this mentality brings margins down for everyone, great for buyers, but not for sellers.
That's why I looked for a niche market where I don't have to compete with people selling at tiny margins.

Price isn't always the driver though.
Looking for an item today, asked a simple question about part of a description, I got a sarky answer, so I finished up paying more (about 10 to 15%) with the next seller who had described it properly in the first place
Customer service wins every time.

olias

Funnily enough I was going to say something similar. I find a lot of the small businesses selers like those described by terra_ferma have really poor listings - bad photos, poor descriptions, ridiculous terms and conditions, annoying listings with weird colours and fonts etc. I try to make my listings, shop and my service as professional as possible, and judging by my sales since I started and the feedback I have to date, it seems to work well.

Olias

soolin

I agree that some sellers go out of their way to put buyers off. I sell a lot of highly breakable items and a while ago I came across a seller selling something I had just bought a stock of but the items were going unsold and I thought I'd made a terrible mistake and wasted my money.

However I checked out their listings and it was a business registered as a private account and with bold red large font warnings about how this stuff was glass and how surprise surprise it sometimes broke..then he went off on a rant about how unreasonable buyers were for expecting their goods to arrive in one piece, He explained that he wraps as well as he can but *** Royal Mail and even *** couriers obviously used his items for a football and it wasn't his fault and buyers had to agree that if it was broken on arrival it was their fault and if they were reasonable he would assist them in making a claim against the courier..it was really funny.

He just went on and on about *** buyers who get refunds on broken items which made them scammers and now he reports them all to ebay and no one is allowed to leave him a neg because he's had ENOUGH.

So I liste dmy items at a much higher price than his unsold ones and sold my entire stock.

breadlinebetty

All the sellers I know on eBay (both private and business) say that sales are down dramatically, and they're not earning anywhere near what they earnt before. I think the big eBay money-making days are over.....:(

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

There are plenty of buyers on eBay, the main issue is increased competition, especially from companies who list in vast quantities. Our business does alright out of eBay but the 'mega listers' are lapping up the sales and we have to decide to expand (which will ultimately lower the service) or stay as we are hoping buyers choose service over price.

We're aiming for something in the middle but the plan is to make as much as possible now and stick it in the bank as if eBay moves our cat over to catalogue based and promotes solely on price, like Amazon or Play do, we are finished. The only saving grace would be the government closing the VAT loophole.

topsy73

Hi

this is a very interesting post....I have sold on ebay for a number of years mainly personal items but at times I bought wholesale and did ok. I never made the sort of monthly money being talked about here though.

I am possibly looking at losing my job and am looking for different avenues to go down to supplement my income.

What sort of things do people sell? I have always gone down the plus-sized clothes route finding this a good seller.

Does anyone have a list of good wholesalers?

Thanks for any helpful reponses.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

You won't get any (smart) people offering you supplier details.

The theory is some people are uncomfortable to ask for plus sized clothes in shops so are more likely to shop online, but clothes can be very problematic, lots of returns either due to not fitting or being worn once for an event and then returned.

Best advice is to pick something you know, if you have a hobby for example, and go from there. With a bit of work you can very easily find suppliers but don't waste your money buying wholesale lists.

hermum

ludovico wrote: »

You won't get any (smart) people offering you supplier details.

The theory is some people are uncomfortable to ask for plus sized clothes in shops so are more likely to shop online, but clothes can be very problematic, lots of returns either due to not fitting or being worn once for an event and then returned.

Best advice is to pick something you know, if you have a hobby for example, and go from there. With a bit of work you can very easily find suppliers but don't waste your money buying wholesale lists.

I'm not too sure how that theory works. Or who came up with the theory.
Do the people who are uncomfortable asking for plus size clothing in shops, stay at home all the time. If you need large clothes most people can see that you're fat.

I will agree with the, nobody will hand over their suppliers.
Start with something you know.

terra_ferma

Plus sizes in an area where you see people selling at very low margins, on one hand small/medium seller buying from the same sources and some selling at ridiculously low mark-ups, on the other manufacturers themselves selling directly on ebay (in some cases competing directly with they own customers who buy from them to resell online).
There are now some very big sellers who supply major retailers and also sell directly on ebay and low prices.
I tried a few bits but margins are too low, I now stick with selling only my own stuff on my personal account...

Unless you really know what you are doing, you may end up making very little money.