How does someone make a profit on ...

mrcol1000

I think the moral of the story is that just because you couldn't make a profit selling at this price, does not necessary mean that a more clever seller can't.

campdave

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

So £1.25 less

30p cost

less vat on cost 6p

Less large letter 95p

Less paypal fees ?

Less ebay fees ?

Less envelope ?

Less labour cost?

Big fat loss.

Perhaps the reason you think so many people on ebay are making a loss is that you're completely oblivious to the fact that no business selling in any kind of volume is going to be paying counter rates for postage.

forgotmyname

You can get these for much less than 3p each if you buy a few thousand.

VAT? Whats VAT. I asked a Chinese seller about VAT and he had never heard of it

Quick look and $0.01 for 40,000 quantity, £0.007 ish? per battery?

So plenty of profit under £300 for 40,000 batteries, 8000 packs @ 7p for 10 not your estimated 30p.

Wont be a millionaire but its a profit.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP's seller (who isn't Chinese but a UK LTD company) has about 46K feedback in the last 12 months and is using Royal Mail, that kind of volume isn't going to get that much of a discount.

The owner does have (at least) 4 other companies (whether they are online retail I don't know) so might be shifting more than apparent but they have a non-large letter item at 2.99, which is 2.49 after VAT (as they are registered), CRL 2nd class packet 2.08 with fuel surcharge, 25p to Paypal (on vol discount), 24p to eBay (on TRS discount).

They can save 7p by sorting, and up to 8/9p by sending 750+ packets a day but for discounts above that I think you are talking massive volumes.

So in order to make a profit they either rely on multiple purchase or that volume discount on postage covers the excess 8p, the cost of the goods (maybe a few pence), import duty, warehousing (appear to have a unit, even if owned having the lights on costs), plus the packaging, missing items, returns, accounting and the other endless list of little things that eat into the margins.

I must admit there are some things we sell on tiny margins and other sales will make up for it leaving a good profit at the end of year

That said I do wonder if when Royal Mail finally get around to forcing everything over to DMO whether some of these bargain items will go up in price.

forgotmyname

Stuff from China increased slightly with their postage changes early this year, but not a major change.

buglawton

I recently bought a 22mm tap restricter from Ebay for about £3 - overlooked that it comes from Hong Kong. Thinking about it, isn't it crazy we've moved from picking up such minor items from our local friendly hardware store to ordering them from the opposite end of the globe?

The sequence for me has been:
- Yes I really did use to go to a local hardware store to buy small simple DIY items - he even was open Sunday mornings and offered advice too!
- He closed, 10 mile drive to B&Q but hey ho.
- Now, a 30 second search on Ebay/Amazon finds exactly the item I want - it would take 15 mins walking round B&Q never mind the 6 mile drive to my current nearest.

Additionally, lately Amazon has pulled off several deliveries including free ones within 16 hours, including a Sunday one.

ballisticbrian

Here's something I buy which is much fatter than the 25mm for a large letter and costs £2.19 inclusive of postage:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rubber-Stamp-Pad-refill-Endorsing-Ink-Black-Blue-Red-Green-violet-/151235509076?var=450273085317&hash=item233656bb54:m:mGO1b5h2Ofvv0NGHomNdkEw

RHemmings

I just won an auction for a bicycle component that would be cheap @ £5. Winning bid: 99p. With free postage from Hong Kong.

Head_The_Ball

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.

I have seen packs of 10 x mixed coin shaped batteries for £1 in Poundland. I can't recall if CR2032 were included.

ballisticbrian

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

I have seen packs of 10 x mixed coin shaped batteries for £1 in Poundland. I can't recall if CR2032 were included.

The batteries in pound land are alkaline not Lithium and they don't stand the test of time. The only thing they are good for is getting a bunch of old watches working for a car boot sale, but they'll need replacing 6 months later.