How does someone make a profit on ...

RHemmings

UK Seller selling 10x CR2032 battery for £1.25 free postage, Click & Collect at Argos. Paid for by paypal.

Where's the profit in that? All of: the seller, the PO (or other courier), Ebay, Paypal, and Argos need their percentage out of the sale price of ... £1.25.

POPPYOSCAR

I have thought this as well.


Saw invitations being sold for 99p postage included.


The only thing I could think is that someone is posting them from where they work.

ballisticbrian

Generally the people selling the genuine lithium ones can't sell enough to survive and all you are left with are knock offs that last 6 months if that.
What I mean is it's hard to find any good ones on eBay.
I had some camera batteries that held so little charge from new that the lens shutter didn't have time to close itself with a low battery warning so it would run out with the lens opened.

campdave

RHemmings wrote: »

Argos need their percentage out of the sale price of ... £1.25.

Argos get nothing from the sale.

POPPYOSCAR

campdave wrote: »

Argos get nothing from the sale.

So argos let customers pick up at no cost to the seller?

RHemmings

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Generally the people selling the genuine lithium ones can't sell enough to survive and all you are left with are knock offs that last 6 months if that.
What I mean is it's hard to find any good ones on eBay.
I had some camera batteries that held so little charge from new that the lens shutter didn't have time to close itself with a low battery warning so it would run out with the lens opened.

That'll be interesting to find out. These batteries are going to be used for some Aldi bike lights that cost £1.99 a pair and obviously weren't meant to allow the battery to be replaced. (Quite a business opening them up.) I'll see how long the new batteries last. The originals lasted a LONG time. If they die within a few days or so, then that might justify ... something.

EDIT: Wait a second, these batteries are 100% genuine. It says so in the listing title!

Brooker_Dave

RHemmings wrote: »

UK Seller selling 10x CR2032 battery for £1.25 free postage, Click & Collect at Argos. Paid for by paypal.

Where's the profit in that? All of: the seller, the PO (or other courier), Ebay, Paypal, and Argos need their percentage out of the sale price of ... £1.25.

Surely these must be a loss making venture?

What's the point?

ballisticbrian

What's the point?

I'll tell you a true story.


A few years ago, when it became apparent everyone who hadn't already joined the eBay rush had in fact missed it, a few entrepreneurs decided to write blogs / sell books / upload you tube videos / write courses and web pages on... you've guessed it, "How to become a successful eBay seller" as that was the only money left in it.


This must have been the next best thing... no not to sliced bread... but ... to those ads where they tell you to send a cheque for information on how to become rich and it actually involves asking people for cheques for how to become rich.


Several of them even advertised, "We'll tell you what all the last remaining niches are on eBay!", and amazingly, some of their subscribers fell for it!


All setting up in the same niches selling the same widgets for a few pence. They must have LAPED IT UP!


And weeks turn to months, months to years, and more and more suckers join the fray, until about 75% of the sellers who remain on there are liquidating their own stock at cost or even a loss just to recoup some capital.


And here we are...

theonlywayisup

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

So argos let customers pick up at no cost to the seller?

At no cost to the seller or buyer.

RHemmings

theonlywayisup wrote: »

At no cost to the seller or buyer.

At a cost to Ebay, coming out of their fees then, I presume. So, Argos and Ebay are sharing their cut of the £1.25.

I was interested to note here: http://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/click-and-collect#optout that sellers can opt out of Argos Click and Collect. But, there are other threads in this forum discussing what becomes click and collect and what doesn't. Doesn't the opting out work reliably?

ballisticbrian

Doesn't the opting out work reliably?

Yes it works for me, too many people thought it meant they could pick their item up that afternoon, and when we got our second item back uncollected, I opted out.