Would other sellers find this helpful?

Question

Within the last month ebay added a section in the listings called "your cost". You can list the cost of the item which will not be seen by customers. I think it was a great addition to judge potential profits in the listing. What I would love to see added to that is the ability to see "your cost" listed on the "offer" page when making offers to customers. It helps to know your cost and what "offer" you can give them without losing money on that item or having to click back to edit the listing to...

mr_lincoln · Answer

@anotherchanceshoppe

I don't use Best offer, it only drives prices down. How were you doing it before the COG was added?

I mentioned the following up thread: "My approach is unless the market will handle a higher price I determine the item price high enough to cover cost, eBay fees and most importantly, my profit margin. Doing that when the listing is initially created means no COG is required, it is already included."

In other words, if your price structure has a specific % for your Profit you don't need the COG value, you can just do simple math to determine how much of your profit you are willing to give away in order to make a sale.

anotherchanceshoppe · Answer

Agree!! It would be extremely helpful to see "your cost" on the "offer" page instead of having to click to the original listing to see what you listed as "your cost" first.

inceptions · Answer

Hi @anotherchanceshoppe

eBay announced the addition of this field prematurely. When the cost field is added to the listing form for all sellers, you'll be able to add the field by selecting it from the Title options dropdown.

Personally, I would think twice about using it as there is nothing good (for sellers) in sharing this information with eBay.

mr_lincoln · Answer

Hi @anotherchanceshoppe

You can use the Note feature on your listings but have to add the note in either Scheduled listing file before the listings go live or after they are live.

I use the Note feature and add it in the Schedule file, but then I am putting the same note on say 10 or more listings before they go live because I can do it in bulk there.

The Note will carry through to the sold item list and may be visible on the Offer flow but definitely visible on the Active list without having to open the listing to see the COG (Cost of goods). I don't use Best offer, it only drives prices down and in my view makes the statement that the price isn't the price.

My approach is unless the market will handle a higher price I determine the item price high enough to cover cost, eBay fees and most importantly, my profit margin. Doing that when the listing is initially created means no COG is required, it is already included.

You could basically do the same thing and still use Best Offer and just know that whatever you accept is coming out your profit margin.

jacbarcollectibles · Answer

The addition of the "Cost" option is in beta test and only specific sellers will see this on their listing form. Until the beta test decision is made they will probably not be adding any additional functionality to the option.