eBay lessons
Lessons learned from eBay:
Let's say you have procured an item for $184. You wish to sell this item on eBay. Let's say, due to high demand, the item sells for $230. Being an honest person, you charge break-even on shipping/handling, not wanting to overcharge like some people ($10-$20 for S/H?!).
The listing fees from eBay:
- Initial fee: $3.60
- Bold/Image: $1.35 (something that everybody seems to be doing)
- Final selling fee at $230: $6.95
eBay, in its infinite wisdom, purchased PayPal, so when you handle a $230 transaction via PayPal, they take a nice cut of: $7.95.
Doing the math, you're working up roughly $20 in fees to eBay, Inc. to sell a $230 item. Although you've made roughly a $46 profit on the particular item, you're still only breaking to about $26 profit per item after eBay fees (not counting opportunity cost of shipping it, obtaining it, etc.). You're still looking at a 10% ROI, which is not bad for merchandise that you've gotten from retailers, but still...
Now I know why the power sellers charge so much for S/H. Retailing has such razor-thin margins (besides this month) ... you gotta make it up every way you can.
Time to jack up S/H.
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spaceinthewho
roy
bert
btw... eBay has the most perfect business model that I know of. no wonder i've held their stock this long.
boogiesan
HK1997
HK1997
-Most powersellers use fedex and ups where they can get corporate accounts that are 50% cheaper than USPS if you're shipping larger boxes.