Selling at 99p

mummychicken

I am new to ebay and interested in selling childrens clothes but a friend has said it's not worth the bother as if I sold items for a £1 I would only make 30pence after ebay and paypal costs.

Is this correct ? Should I then sell things at 99 pence for the free listings ?

I have some nice childrens clothes to sell that are in good condition, surely 99p is unfair.

RainbowDrops

Listing at 99p is a gamble.
If you don't want them to sell so low, list them at the lowest price you would be happy to sell at.
There are sometimes free listing weekends where you can start at a price you would be happy to sell at.
Personally, as a private seller, I don't think it's worth my time & effort selling for any less than £5.

campdave

mummychicken wrote: »

surely 99p is unfair.

Don't list at 99p then. It's up to you to set the price. If you want more than 99p, list it for more than that.

Flyonthewall

Listing at 99p as a private seller there are no insertion fees, only final value fees (unless you sell hundreds at once). Free listing days allow you to list at any price with no insertion fees but you still have final value fees.

If you don't want to sell at 99p and don't want to pay more in fees wait until free listing days and start them at the price you want for them. If they don't sell you can always relist or try again on the next free listing at a slightly lower price.

At 99p you'd have 3.4% plus 20p Paypal fees and 10% final value ebay fees. So you'd make more like 65p before taking postage costs into consideration. Final value fees are charged on postage too so the exact amount you'd make would depend on the postage you charge.

mrcol1000

99p is a risk but I have items that I have tried to sell buy it now for £20 and not sold. Start at 99p and they sell for £35. It only takes two people to really want something to get a decent price. Unfortunately I have also lost money when things have sold for 99p.

It comes down to how many people you think would be interested in your item. If they are used children's clothes then unless they are good brands I doubt you will make much more than 99p on most of them. You may be better of selling them in bigger lots for more money.

repeatoffender

I agree with mrcol ebayers want stuff for nothing and unless you're prepared to sell it for 99p then I would not bother. Search for the type of items you want to sell and then look at the completed listings and you can see that there is the odd surprise but for every item that sells for a good price there will be umpteen that do not.

Your friend is nearly right. There is a calculator - if you google ecal ebay it comes up. This shows you how fees eat into your profit and if you try to make profit on the postage buyers can easily mark you down on the star ratings.

Also consider the time it takes to wash, iron, photograph, upload, list, describe, pack and post each item. It is a lot of effort for 70p profit.

ebay have free listing weekends regularly - you could try making outfits and listing them at a higher price or make up bundles as suggested earlier. remember to check your bundle weight and size so that you do not under price p&p.

Poppie68

My daughter sells her baby clothes on facebook..she puts them in bundles..obviously all set price and has sold bundles between the prices of £10 and £60..no hassle and the buyer collects.

anotheruser

But then some items, like a phone or laptop, you can start at 99p as you know they will sell for well over that price.

Flyonthewall

anotheruser wrote: »

But then some items, like a phone or laptop, you can start at 99p as you know they will sell for well over that price.

You can never know that. I've seen them end stupidly low plenty of times or even not sell at all. You assume they'll go for more and you can take that risk you can't possibly know for sure with any item.