Profits

[joesgoldcompany]

I have a general question to anyone selling on any online platform. 

If I look up an item and see one listed for $19.99 then select sell one like this. I than proceed to list the item at a competitive price so I list at $14.99.

As this trend follows aren't we are continually devaluing a product. 

[mam98031]

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@joesgoldcompany wrote:

I have a general question to anyone selling on any online platform. 

If I look up an item and see one listed for $19.99 then select sell one like this. I than proceed to list the item at a competitive price so I list at $14.99.

As this trend follows aren't we are continually devaluing a product. 

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Do you run the numbers on that to verify you can make a profit on 14.99?  Not all sellers get their inventory for the same price.

To set a price on an item, you have to know your costs.

You add these together.  Once you have the answer to that, you add your profit margin to arrive at your price.

Product price

Actual cost of shipping

Shipping supplies

Office supplies

[iamalwaysright]

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@joesgoldcompany wrote:

I have a general question to anyone selling on any online platform. 

If I look up an item and see one listed for $19.99 then select sell one like this. I than proceed to list the item at a competitive price so I list at $14.99.

As this trend follows aren't we are continually devaluing a product. 

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Yes. That’s what some of us call a race to the bottom where sellers will continue to undercut each other until there is virtually no more profit to be made for that product anymore. That’s why there are MSRPs. 
Typically for me, I would find what the going price is for and actually charge a few dollars more than that or at least the same price and try to beat my competition with title, photos, maybe ads, and service. If my cost of goods is lower than my competitors, then I’ll make a higher profit by not undercutting them. Some work and some don’t. But I’d rather not contribute to a product sinking. If so then I stop selling that product.

[inhawaii]

I sold a item yesterday.

Including mine, there are 8 currently listed on ebay.

Mine is the highest price, yet someone bought it.

[cambriachick]

Sometimes I charge a lower price, often I'm near the top, if not the top.  Some items I don't care too much about, they're not my main selling focus, but were part of an auction lot I bought so I tend to charge the lower prices. etc.  Some items are fairly unique, so I charge more.  Eventually, you'll develop a feeling for which items you can charge more and which ones less.  Good luck.

[broto_64]

I usually do price comparison just before I acquire the item I intend to sell. Usually I peruse a page or two of listings and from that I glean: Top price, bottom price, average/mean price, sold/completed and also how many listings.
It takes practice, I've done this enough that by simply scrolling through the listings I can get a good idea where I would want my price to be (or to be quite blunt, just how high I can price it and still probably sell it).
Once that is done I can make an informed decision on whether I want to acquire the item I intend to sell.

[reallynicestamps]

And sometimes the seller has the highest price, but accepts Best Offers.

And sets parameters that politely and automatically reject lowballs but accept just as automatically acceptable offers.

Less work.

And  it's not unusual that the accepted Best Offer is still higher than another sellers asking price.

I guess this is a mixture of Aspirational Buying (the high priced item is Better than the low priced though identical item) and Bargain Hunting (I got $2.13 off the $500 asking price! Woot!)

Throw in Free Shipping and ....

Just make sure as others have said that any acceptable price covers your costs including a living wage.

[richard1rst]

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@joesgoldcompany wrote:

I have a general question to anyone selling on any online platform. 

If I look up an item and see one listed for $19.99 then select sell one like this. I than proceed to list the item at a competitive price so I list at $14.99.

As this trend follows aren't we are continually devaluing a product. 

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OK - let;s say you sell if for $14.99. Your buyer will also have to pay additional to have it shipped. Of course, the amount depends on weight and distance but let’s use $10.00 which would cover generally a one pound package. Your buyer will almost always have to pay sales tax. The rates vary state to state but the worst case is 10%. So your buyer is paying $14.99 + 10.00 + 2.50 (10% of 24.99) for a total of $27.49.

THEN eBay is going to take FVF of 13.25% (3.94) OF THE ENTIRE $27.49 not the $14.99! That means that you are going to pocket only $11.05 - not the $14.99 you think you are going to get.

Then you have to cover the cost of the box, bubble wrap, label, tape and ink. And of course whatever you paid for it in the first place. NOW can you sell it for $14.99 and make a reasonable profit?

So did you just pick that $14.99 out of thin air or did you have a mathematical basis for that number. It is not the product that is being devalued. It is the knowledge and skill of the sellers who don’t bother to do the math hat are being devalued.

Judging by the number of winy posts we see on these boards about (surprise?) fees (OUTRAGEOUS - HOW CAN I MAKE ANY MONEY) I would suggest that those who think they can sell for a lower price are absolutely flummoxed when the find out they are not actually getting the $14.99 that they sold it for. Clearly a lack of planning.

[iamalwaysright]

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@inhawaii wrote:

I sold a item yesterday.

Including mine, there are 8 currently listed on ebay.

Mine is the highest price, yet someone bought it.

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I’m not saying that your example falls exactly into this category but I’m using it as a reference to show that having the lowest price to make the sale isn’t as significant nowadays as it was before. A lot of younger buyers consider many other things on choosing where to buy, and that’s marketing. Otherwise why else did eBay take a shot with offering AI generated listing descriptions to try and attract people? The implementation is a bit of a miss, but the principle behind it is correct. I don’t know much about this one, but I gather the Stanley Cup craze is also takes advantage of this idea. And I’m pretty sure they are far from the lowest priced tumblers.

There’s also the idea that if a product seems too low priced, it sorta makes the item seem cheap and unwanted compared to the others. Myself included. I get skeptical about the item and if I don’t have the time or effort to dig in deep and find out why an item is priced lower than others, I’ll go and buy an identical item from the seller who has a higher price for piece of mind thinking I’ll have less chance of getting ripped off. Like the saying if something seems too good to be true, it most likely is.

[iamalwaysright]

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@richard1rst wrote:

Judging by the number of winy posts we see on these boards about (surprise?) fees (OUTRAGEOUS - HOW CAN I MAKE ANY MONEY) I would suggest that those who think they can sell for a lower price are absolutely flummoxed when the find out they are not actually getting the $14.99 that they sold it for. Clearly a lack of planning.

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Yea I agree. Many posts here that talk about “I lost money on this sale”, “why are fees so high”, “we are getting charged FVF on tax”, “my shipping cost killed my profit” clearly haven’t done all the math into figuring their sale price. Even when I was in 4th grade they already taught us how to figure out your cost so you aren’t losing money on the sale. It’s simple math and common sense. And sadly by the time these sellers find out their formula isn’t viable and they were charging too low, they have already impacted the sale price of the item in eBay in a bad way. After that, in comes another new batch of green sellers doing the exact same thing. 

[hartungcards]

Wouldn't a competitive price on your example be $19.98?

[mam98031]

For me there has been many times I was the highest price or close to it and my items sold first.  A sellers record is important too.  And being the lowest price is not the best place to be all the time.

[mam98031]

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@hartungcards wrote:

Wouldn't a competitive price on your example be $19.98?

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@hartungcards 

IDK, I don't have all the info.  IDK what the seller paid for the item they are selling.  IDK their shipping supply costs.  IDK the particulars for the item and therefore I can't accurately set a sale price much less a competitive price.

[richard1rst]

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

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There’s also the idea that if a product seems too low priced, it sorta makes the item seem cheap and unwanted compared to the others. Myself included. I get skeptical about the item and if I don’t have the time or effort to dig in deep and find out why an item is priced lower than others, I’ll go and buy an identical item from the seller who has a higher price for piece of mind thinking I’ll have less chance of getting ripped off. Like the saying if something seems too good to be true, it most likely is.

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Got that right. I recently sold a product at a fair price with free shipping. As is eBay’s wont my listing showed competitors products. One competitor was half my price also with free shipping BUT ONLY IF YOU BOUGHT 2 OR MORE. Then in the body of the description it said:

(Note - in order to not be accused of outing a seller I have converted certain specific words to generic - and yes their text was all capitals)

*** IF YOU BUY THIS ITEM, YOU AGREE TO NOT REGISTER NEUTRAL OR NEGATIVE FEEDBACK FOR ANY REASON, EVEN IN THE EVENT OF COMPLETE ORDER CANCELLATION. ***

CONDITION OF BOX NOT GUARANTEED. BOX MAY BE IN VINTAGE CONDITION. BOX MAY BE IN IMPERFECT CONDITION. ALTHOUGH BOX MAY BE TATTERED, (item) WILL BE GOOD WORKING CONDITION. WE FOCUS ON PREDICTABLE DELIVERY OF THE (item), NOT ITS BOX. 

*** MUST BUY MORE THAN ONE (item) OF SAME OR DIFFERENT TITLE FROM ANY OF OUR ACCOUNTS TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR FREE SHIPPING ***

IF A SINGLE (item) IS ORDERED AND AN ADDITIONAL $12.00 SHIPPING FEE IS NOT PAID, YOUR ORDER WILL BE CANCELED FOR REASON OF BUYERS REQUEST AND YOUR MONEY WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE REFUNDED WITHOUT YOU NEEDING TO CONTACT US.

*****

Now at first glance half price looks like a bargain. And experience has shown that not all buyers take the time to read the description. This is a disaster in the making.

[murph1727]

I agree with the other posts here but would like to add that shipping costs could be the tipping point for some buyers. If you sort by lowest price (+shipping), it's possible that your item is the lowest price but shipping costs make it higher for a particular buyer and so you might see a higher priced item sell before yours. Also, let's say you don't have "best offer" but a buyer contacts you and gives you a best offer that you decide is OK. In the sold listings it will show as the original price and  it will not show with a strike-through line. So how many items are listed as sold (at a certain price) but really were sold at a lower price?