eBay private seller buyer protection fees

soolin

GSTAR said:

soolin said:

As has been said that is the absolute definition of a business, so your account should be a business account and therefore not subject to these changes.

Also for a small business those figures are just not high enough to give a proper profit, and it is unlikely the business is viable. You haven’t accounted for unsold items, or returns and losses. 

Thanks, I appreciate that feedback. To be honest the selling prices I have come up with are low enough to remain competitive. We are starting off very small - so that means we aren't going to be buying huge amounts of stock at low prices - all of our stock will initially be coming from local retailers, but the long-term plan - if it gets that far will be to purchase directly from suppliers. So, as it stands, in order to increase profit margins I would need to increase the selling cost and that would make us uncompetitive.

I appreciate the point about having a business account and clearly it seem that is the direction we will need to take. I was only considering the private seller route as that was the advice I was given literally on this forum.

My advice on that thread was 

‘ Personally I would do your first suggestion, convert your current account to the business account as buyers like to see a seller with history, feedback is almost immaterial for a buyer. So open a new account for buying.  ‘

I can only see one suggestion that was to list 20 or so things to see if you had a market before going to a business account. Unless I missed it on a quick skim I can’t see anyone suggesting that you can act as a business on a private account. 

That’s still incorrect advice but I understand the logic behind it. However at 80p profit, assuming no losses or returns, that’s only £16 of profit before going to a business account. 

I’m surprised you can buy retail and sell online and make a profit. Have you done full research and looked at the completed sales and how many go unsold or have been listed as BINs for months with few sales, as well as just looking at sold prices? I used to give advice at a charity, one of the areas was for people setting up small businesses and many had completely unworkable business plans that didn’t account for costs. I still see people on private forums laying money out as they can see a seller once got £4 for an item they can buy for 50p, and just see the profit with no accounting for all the other people who go weeks with no sales . Please just go and double check all the completed sales, look at the dates things were listed, also look at competitors listings and see how many they sell but how long they have to,list things before they get sales. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

With low margin I think the lost items and returns* are a red herring, the idea is you pump out enough volume to make these costs inconsequential, you can't sit there counting the loss of a handful orders against the margin, instead you have to hope the numbers at the end of year are positive.

*With returns it may be cost effective to write it off and refund, no point paying eBay £3.50 odd for a return label if the goods are worth less than this. 

Buttons is low cost with next to no barrier to entry so there is going to be a fair bit of competition, I'd imagine you could make it work if you import in volume direct from China.

If it's just a bit of fun OP and the outlay is only going to be a couple of hundred or what have you then is there anything to lose?

One point on your main question, it's been said private sellers will not be able to use Multi Variation Listings at some point shortly and with buttons that is really what you need, sales under one listing with marketing promotions to get multi-buy purchases from the customer so I would perhaps go with the business account. 

Debbie9009

I have recently started buying buttons from Temu and Shein, they are a lot cheaper than eBay, and as forgotmyname has said are getting much quicker at delivery, I’ve noticed recently that they have a lot of items listed as available locally, with a delivery date of just a few days, so I think you also need to look at what those types of sites are selling, as you could also be competing with them.

forgotmyname

Many different views on what works, sometimes it's pot luck.

My take on lunatic is in my head's comment about spending a couple of hundred then you only have that to lose not
a fortune.  But with that in mind there are items that cost a bit more where you may only get 5 or 6 for £200 but
listing them with next day delivery if bought before 2pm could see people who need them now and ordering them
from you because they cannot wait and willing to pay extra for the convenience.

Sometimes things sell because you know the product and can give specs or advice or tested the item before sending.

Where can YOU add value to the sale?

caprikid1

"them with next day delivery if bought before 2pm could see people who need them now and ordering them"

Promoting your business on the promise of speedy delivery is a nightmare in the UK most couriers are shocking (Ebay Seller).

Larger value items are great but the big players buy in thousands to achieve the prices they do and they are geared up for rapid delivery also.

Buy a 3D Printer, find things that break print replacements ...