Warning to self - ?always use recorded delivery

Brooker_Dave

soolin wrote: »

I make a very nice amount on a £7.99 sale thank you.

I'm glad to hear that, but I can't help thinking there are many on ebay and amazon who really aren't earning much of a living once all the expenses are taken out?

soolin

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

I'm glad to hear that, but I can't help thinking there are many on ebay and amazon who really aren't earning much of a living once all the expenses are taken out?

Sub £2 item, 73p postage, 4.4p for packing and a micro PayPal account plus 15% TRS discount (ok so I admit that the discount is not a lot).

ballisticbrian

I'm glad to hear that, but I can't help thinking there are many on ebay and amazon who really aren't earning much of a living once all the expenses are taken out?

I'll give you one example of this; Sellers of small widgets sell at a loss (loss leader) on the basis that they only make money when someone orders 2+.


I have one or two products lines like this. No one can see how they make money because they haven't twigged the multiple sales thing.


Other non-business sellers or small scale sellers who only have limited supply (or relies on supply that they've spotted in the 99p shop) come along and try to compete by shaving a penny off my loss-leading price.


Then you are left wondering, am I dealing with a school kid or a complete idiot?

soolin

ballisticbrian wrote: »

I'll give you one example of this; Sellers of small widgets sell at a loss (loss leader) on the basis that they only make money when someone orders 2+.


I have one or two products lines like this. No one can see how they make money because they haven't twigged the multiple sales thing.


Other non-business sellers or small scale sellers who only have limited supply (or relies on supply that they've spotted in the 99p shop) come along and try to compete by shaving a penny off my loss-leading price.


Then you are left wondering, am I dealing with a school kid or a complete idiot?

The 99p shop is a good one, I posted a similar thing before Christmas. I was helping a lady with an eBay issue and when I actually saw what she was selling and for how much I questioned her business reckonings (although that wasn't what her issue was). turned out she was buying at 99 p, selling at around the £3 mark inclusive of postage and guessing her fees. She worked on the principle that other business sellers did it, and as she was trading on a private account she had to be making more money than them as she wasn't paying listing fees.

I did the basic maths for her and she was visibly shocked. £3 sales, 30p to eBay, approx 32p to PayPal £1.24 postage 15p padded envelope....

She hadn't noticed before as she was keeping her PayPal money from sales in her paypal account intact, but paying her postage in cash over the counter and paying eBay fees in one off payments via a bank account.

RFW

soolin wrote: »

Sub £2 item, 73p postage, 4.4p for packing and a micro PayPal account plus 15% TRS discount (ok so I admit that the discount is not a lot).

£6.99 and £7.99 are around my best price points, I have a few higher and some at below £2. The below £2 ones aren't really worth selling on their own but often generate multiple purchases.

One of my £7.99+ items just had a new competitor who went straight in at £4.99, I doubt he gets the product less than I pay, I worked out, at my cost he earned about 10p an order and he listed 12. Idiots keep rolling along.
One of the problems of Ebay and Amazon is that it can look like it's an easy ride. There'll probably be a small percentage who will get away with it but most don't know what they are doing and make so many mistakes. This new seller has a high percentage of negative feedback too, a couple for trying to raise the price after the buyer had paid.

theoretica

soolin wrote: »

Have a read of the sticky postage thread. Signed for, which replaced recorded is a very poor service in many areas and if it doesn't show as delivered you would have still lost a PayPal claim.

Also, can you afford to pay out £1.10 per item plus an additional 11p eBay fees out of your profit?

Don't forget the effect of higher postage charges on your sales. If you charge £1.10 (or £1.21 to include fees) extra on your postage buyers will not necessarily bid higher to cover this, and you may loose some sales entirely. This time you have lost £2.80 - and your faith in buyers. But you need to balance that out over all your sales and the constant negative drip that a more expensive postal service would have.

How many of your sales would you need to have go wrong to be worth paying the extra postage yourself? At this price level it would be more than 1 in 3!

Contains_Mild_Peril

I generally count on a loss rate of around 1%, which means it's usually worth the risk of posting small, cheap items in the postbox unless I'm going to the PO anyway; and if I am, I get proof of posting but still wouldn't normally use signed for. It's not just unfeasibly expensive to use for cheap items, it's also likely to deter customers if it's something that would fit through the letterbox.

RFW wrote: »

One of my £7.99+ items just had a new competitor who went straight in at £4.99, I doubt he gets the product less than I pay, I worked out, at my cost he earned about 10p an order and he listed 12. Idiots keep rolling along.
One of the problems of Ebay and Amazon is that it can look like it's an easy ride. There'll probably be a small percentage who will get away with it but most don't know what they are doing and make so many mistakes. This new seller has a high percentage of negative feedback too, a couple for trying to raise the price after the buyer had paid.

Is it possible they're knowingly selling at little or no profit in a desperate attempt to improve their feedback stats?

molerat

Racheya wrote: »

Sometimes spending an extra 10 minutes waiting to get Proof of Postage just isn't worth it. For the sake of a couple of quid I just take the risk. Anything more than a fiver I'll usually get PoP, but otherwise I cba. No way would I get signed for for everything either, I barely make £1 on some of my items as it is.

I love my little corner shop / post office. I wondered what the queues were going to be like when they closed the local PO and opened it up in the shop - Mon morning was horrendous with a few with 10 or more ebay parcels to post. Hardly ever any ! PO was open 9-5 M-F, 9-1 Sat. Shop PO is open 6-9 M-S and 8-6 Sun

celestius

soolin wrote: »

Dave I don't have time to try and teach you basic business maths again- sorry.

I make a very nice amount on a £7.99 sale thank you.

I also have a £7.99 freepost item, sold 32 in 10 days, so although profit margin is not huge it makes a tidy sum eventually... Quite a few selling abroad as well, for which buyer pays postage.

RFW

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote: »

Is it possible they're knowingly selling at little or no profit in a desperate attempt to improve their feedback stats?

No, as the bad feedback came in later, they really haven't a clue on distance selling. Their info shows them as being a b&m retailer who are trying to sell online.