Just done some calculations for a £2 Arduino relay board based on being a Basic business account to see if people are actually making any money.

9p per listing
9.6% final value - 19.2p
PayPal - 26.8p
Postage - 53p

If I've calculated it right, to make 50p per relay I'd need to be able to get them for 42p each, delivered and duty paid. Selling around 250 per day to make any reasonable money. Obviously you'd have other product lines. But 50p profit per item would still mean shifting 250 items in total.

I've not even included packing materials there so it would have to be less than 42p DDP.

So realistically no one is making more than £1 per item, and probably not more than 50p either.

I sort by sellers in countries I know don't use child or slave labor and aren't prone to stealing from other countries, free shipping, Paypal, and I don't deal with anyone lower an a 99% seller rating.

I also check out the product on other websites for quality and price comparison.

I'm a big customers' ratings fan. :)

You might consider adding the fees into the price, or at least your shipping. I know I'm not the only who does it. I've talked with other sellers over the years and found it a system more used than I would have at first believed.

I sell things I'm just finished using, provided their in at least very nice condition, but usually it's something I've made myself. I'm a crafter. :)

I don't make much, but then I don't sell much anymore either. The old hands and fingers just aren't what they used to be anymore. :)

I don't see me ever being able to produce enough sparklies to ever sell in bulk. They're too time consuming to create.

Yeah there's a few things I've found that, after fees, I could make a few quid profit per item, and although I'm confident I'd sell a few I'm no where near confident that I'd be able to sell in enough volume to even make £100 a week.

>>You might consider adding the fees into the price, or at least your shipping

The trouble is when the same, or very similar, items are readily available on ebay for a given price, that sets your sale price.

 can't sell item X at £17 + ebay and shipping fees, because they'll just buy it from someone else who's selling it for £17 all in.

 

"A lot of people will pass right by things with a shipping price listed separately, and go to an item marked as Free Shipping"

That's because a lot of things are listed with low prices, until you factor in separate P&P. Then they are way higher than the ones that include it in the listing price. Everyone knows it isn't "free", but they also know what the real price is up front. Some company here in NA just got fined for defrauding people into paying a lot more than the advertised price http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/snuggie-magic-mesh-other-as-seen-on-tv-hit-with-8-million-fine-030515.html

I think they did this to prevent people banging buyers on shipping charges, but I could be wrong.

More likely to stop people avoiding ebay fees by selling an item for cheap but with inflated postage costs.

That definitely used to happen. I remember seeing loads of items for 99p with £50 shipping.

Yep - I remember selling a printer for £199 a good few years ago, ended up with around £170 (possibly less) after p&p. Needless to say, I took that as an offense and avoided selling stuff on there whenever possible.

Yep, have the same thought every time I'm stupid enough to bother. The only time I ever made any useful money was selling my Wii and that was only because it was worth a fair chunk and they paid in cash.

Despite being huge eBay is a long way from what it set out to be and, as you say, definitely not a place for casual buyers and sellers.

Honestly, I haven't had any issues.

Out of all the things I've sold, I may have had a half dozen not sell, and I'd say it was more no one wanted them. I say that because I watch how things go with other sellers who have similar items. When I checked on the other sellers, their items weren't selling either, and many had listed their item for less than mine.

I've also found your selling tends to be affected by your seller rating. The higher your rating, the more likely people will be to buy your item for a bit more. They'd rather do that than risk a bad sale with someone who has a lower rating, and sometimes even a lower price than yours. I understand the logic. I do it myself sometimes. Pay a bit more to deal with a better seller. :)

What's your point?

That's as bad as paying import duty of the value of the good including postage. IMO, postage should be exempt.

He joined the Klan?

I guess I assumed that was pretty much the same thing. I think I'd rather use Amazon anyway, not that I have yet.

Just sold my son's wood turning lathe on eBay - I had weighed it at 28kg and so asked £15 P&P

I miss-weighed it, when all packed and ready to go it weighed 37kg and so cost £18.95

My fault, so I decide to swallow the extra £3.95 (and the £5.40 in packaging)

it sold for £62, and he paid the £15 P&P so I 'grossed' £77

the post and packaging actually totalled £24.35 - so I'm already down to £52.05

but wait, eBay wants £6.20 'final value fee' - oh, and £1.50 FVF on P&P! - now I'm down to £44.35

and there's more, paypal gets a fee too - that's £2.82

so out the £77 total paid I got £41.53 (about 54%)

but it was picked up on time, shipped overnight, delivered next day and signed for at 2:04pm

the buyer even left me positive feedback for a quick delivery... all seemed well...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

today, 48 hours after delivery, the buyer has contacted me saying the box was severely damaged

several parts are missing and some of what is there is badly damaged,
the box was very wet and had a huge hole in it!

he wants to return it and have his money back!!! (all £77 that he paid!)

oh, and eBay says I should pay for the return as there are 'problems with the item'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I actually think he is being genuine, there doesn't seem to be any previous issues showing in his feedback. If it was me, I would be wanting my £77 back too. I have asked him why he signed for such a badly damaged package, to keep all the packaging and take photos of the damaged parts. I have also started contact with the carrier to see what's gone on and suggest a claim against the insurance I paid extra for.

I suspect the answer I will get might be - "well, they signed for it, so it must have been ok on delivery"

fuck, fuck, fuck, I can easily see eBay making me refund him £77 and the carrier leaving me holding the bill :(

It is the carrier's problem, Jon - not yours. Tell the custmer to file a claim with the carrier. I am assuming you did not use a sledgehammer to load the merchandise and didn't load it from the bathtub.

eBay doesn't play that way, if anyone is able to make a claim from the carrier it will be me as I am the one who booked and paid them

[edit] oh, and the tracking info shows he signed for it as being in good  condition ... numpty