Wednesday, September 10, 2014

eBay Sales & Profits

Ever since the hacking awhile back, eBay sales in general have dropped astronomically. eBay wants us sellers to sell things for 99 cents (with free shipping!) and the problem is, that's what they sell for. My husband just sold 88 Lemony Snicket books, mint condition, for just that. Of course, eBay only lets him charge $8.00 shipping (they won't let him charge more, although it costs more for him) so we're basically paying someone to take the stuff.

Disgusting! We need money! That's not fair!

For all of the whiny buyers out there, let me explain something.

We buy the items we put up for sale in the first place.

In order to get buyers, we often have to drop prices, charging far less than what we originally paid.

eBay charges us.

Paypal charges us.

We have to buy boxes, tape, and whatnot for packing (even if we try to recycle a lot).

We are using our time to code listings and box them for you. Most of us don't work eBay exclusively.

eBay will charge us again if we dare to charge you shipping (and they limit how much we can charge, usually not letting us charge enough for actual cost)!

If we offer free shipping (and thus be freed of one of eBay's extra charges), we must include shipping in the price of the item in order to make some profit.

We cannot offer to sell you one item in a lot of 20, because you will then demand to buy it separately at .99 cents or some ridiculous price, and that will not make us a profit.

We cannot "make our prices better" when they're already the best they can be.

Quick rundown / TL;DR

Seller buys medium-sized, lightweight item for $50

Decides to sell item at discount for $20 because it won't sell for $50

eBay, Paypal charges us fees when item is sold

 Free shipping added means we lose more (plus costs such as boxes/tape)

- $30 return loss on item
- $3 for eBay & Paypal
- $5.00 at least for ship
- $2.00 for box/packaging/tape

This equals a grand total of $40.00 we lose on the item.

So, with fees, if we sell for $20 it does not mean we make $20. Add to that these infuriating facts:

- buyers don't generally give feedback unless it's negative
- buyers constantly PM us to ask if we'll "sell for less"
- the item(s) are rare or vintage/hard to find in the first place

... it's no wonder eBay is becoming a joke. Hardly anyone uses it anymore except the large businesses that can afford to have losses now & then, or idiots that sell for .99 cents with free ship (no offense, Zoro), because it's what eBay suggests to them on the selling page.

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