Does ebay allow this?

[inhawaii]

Just a crazy thought.

On your listing, are you allowed to break down/post what your cost is on that item, how much fees you'll have to pay, how much net profit you will make ... so they'll see what little money you will be making?

I've explained this to customers before PRIVATELY when they message me to ask for a discount, but i've never just posted it on the listing itself. Would ebay even allow that? 

[penguins_dont_fly]

When you go into any store, is the cost breakdown on the price tag?

IMO, you should not be "educating" buyers about your costs. They don't care and it's really none of their business.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot go any lower"

"The price is firm"

"Shipping costs are set by the carrier"

[southern*sweet*tea]

You could, but why would you want to?  That sounds sad and desperate, and those are the types of listings that attract scammers.

[robot-hands]

...yeah, I don't want anyone to know the gold ring I'm selling for $250 was bought at a garage sale for fifty cents.

That's a need to know basis.

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@robot-hands wrote:

...yeah, I don't want anyone to know the gold ring I'm selling for $250 was bought at a garage sale for fifty cents.

That's a need to know basis.

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There have been threads on the buying board about sellers  accidentally leaving the thrift store/yard sale price tag on an Item when they ship it.

They usually include rants about "greedy" sellers who "scammed" them ... because ... you know .... eBay sellers are not allowed to make a profit 😉

[dhbookds]

I don't think there's any specific rule against posting the numbers, so doubt ebay would take that down.  If you do a rant against fees/postage, etc.......that would be considered being negative and I do think there is a rule about that.....  As everything else, enforcement is probably very uneven.......

[*madison]

I think it's allowed, and if you want to look desperate, go ahead and do it.

[atikovi]

If people can see you have $50 in an item, they will offer you $40.

[fern*wood]

I would try to switch up how or what I sell if my profit was so low I felt the need to beg for mercy.  

[luckythewinner]

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@inhawaii wrote:

On your listing, are you allowed to break down/post what your cost is on that item, how much fees you'll have to pay, how much net profit you will make ... so they'll see what little money you will be making?

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I am secure enough that I do not need to justify my prices to prospective buyers. 

Besides, they would not be looking at my item if it was available for less somewhere else 🙂 

[inhawaii]

Of course i would not do this for every item i sold.    Some items i sell i make 100% to as much as 500% profit.  Of course i would not to "announce" that.

Every now and then there seems to be 1 or 2 items that i sell that seem to attract offers or comments from people that i'm asking way too much.   

Sometimes i feel like posting "when i sell one of these, after ebay fees, i make less than five dollars". Although i've never done that before. 

On one of my listings i apologize for the high price and explain that these things are expensive and i don't get to buy them at wholesale. I buy them over the counter and pay full retail price. 

Of course i'm out to make a profit, but i also sell things that can only be bought here in Hawaii to make them available to the public in other states. 

Thanks for your input everybody.  Have a great Super Bowl Sunday!

[a_c_green]

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@inhawaii wrote:

On one of my listings i apologize for the high price and explain that these things are expensive and i don't get to buy them at wholesale. I buy them over the counter and pay full retail price. 

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Jeez-lou-eeze, why would you say that? Just list the things at the price you wish to get for them. If they sell, great. If they don't sell, you might consider lowering the price to get rid of them, and don't buy any more. You don't owe any explanation to anyone about what your expenses are.

[ripcityresell]

IMO - You'd be better off NOT listing the items that you're not making much profit on than putting more time into the listings trying to justify why you can't sell them for less. Time = money, remember?

You don't have to explain anything to anyone and honestly, buyers do not care if you make a profit or not. They want what they want at the price they want to pay.

[jason_incognito]

I often sells sets of dishes. 

I'll list individual pieces in multi item auctions.

Dinner plate $7.99 type of a thing. Sometimes bread plate $3.99.

Selling one at a time is basically a loss, but I never know how many of what people need. I'll often make a sale where they want 3 dinner plates, 2 bread plates, 4 cups and 1 saucer. I make money on those sales.

In the past I've included best offer, and in the listing written something like "best offer will only be considered when the offer is for multiple items" 

I still got offers of $1 on 1 plate......

[escuintla]

I think this is a grey area, but think about it, you have to do that with every item you list. A waste of time.

I, a minute ago, responded to an inquiry, they wanted to buy an item from me for $5. It is listed at $15. 

I usually don't respond to low ball offers, but this time I told them I basically didn't want to work for free.