eBay

c.muscat · ‎06-23-2020

Hi all

So basically I'm a seller on eBay and I have been selling items for the last 15 years, I have a warehouse in China and due to cheap shipping / labor most items are shipped from there, back in February 2020 I came across a trusted agent and he showed me this particular item, which is an anti slip dashboard mat, he told me that If i buy 2500 of them he can give it to me for $200 including Shipping, When I made the calculations, I come to a conclusion that each item is going to cost me 8c each so this can never go wrong, I have purchase the lot and delivered them in my warehouse in China

The cheapest price I could sell this item including shipping with tracking number is: $2.99, because there is $1.95 for Shipping and Packing + Tracking Number (which is the cheapest shipping option in China), 27c eBay fees, 39c Paypal fees and $0.08 cost of the item, if I sell them at $2.99, I will be making 32c profit, So I start selling them at $2.99

About 2 weeks ago a regular buyer gave me attention that another Chinese seller is selling the exact same item in quantity of 5 for $1 AU (which is equivalent to 69c USD including shipping) at first I said if this is possible it cannot be with tracking number, so I purchased the item for myself to check this out, However the next day the seller gave me a tracking number that shows delivery to USA and today I finally received the items, which is exactly the same item I have for sale, Can someone explain to me how this seller is making any money?

even if this seller manage to get the item shipped for free (which I cant see how this is possible) the cost of the items + packing and eBay/Paypal fees you still wont make profit out of 69c item

Is this seller is losing money to compete?

I really appreciate if someone could help me here

Cliffton

wastingtime101 · ‎06-23-2020

Loss leader.

GLORIOUS!

Seller Guide: Nonstandard Packaging

m60driver · ‎06-23-2020

Perhaps your wholesaler noticed you were selling these items in enough quantity to purchase 2,500 at a time and so decided that they wanted to get in on the retail action.

gwzcomps · ‎06-23-2020

Padding their transaction counts to stay good on their service metrics and TRS protections. Makes it easier to scam unsuspecting buyers on their higher value items.

thebreakroom123 · ‎06-23-2020

Simplest answer is usually the most evident one. The other seller is getting the product at a fraction of the price that you are.

fuzzface50 · ‎06-24-2020

Other seller buying them in bigger quantity at a cheaper price?

Maybe you are competing against the same business you brought them from under an alias name here?

Maybe this seller bypassed the selling agent and buying directly at a cheaper price?

c.muscat · ‎06-24-2020

I don't think some of you get this, I only got the item at 8c a piece, I don't think anyone else get this cheaper and even if they do, how much cheaper can it go, half of the price what i bought it? that means 4c cheaper, still you wont make any money with Packing/Shipping and eBay/Paypal fees for 69c per transaction

Cliffton

luckythewinner · ‎06-24-2020

Can Someone explain how can you make profit on items like these?

My local convenience store has a public bathroom. The owner gives away soap, paper towels, and toilet paper. He pays for the water and electricity. He even pays to have it cleaned every few hours.

Can someone explain how he makes a profit on this bathroom?

The answer is easy - he does not expect to make a profit by operating his bathroom, because operating a bathroom is not the only thing he does. His goal is to make a profit on his business, not on his bathroom.

asdbsir_0 · ‎06-24-2020

I'm trying to figure out if you really have a warehouse in China, although the fact that you state you purchased 2500 of this product does tend to cast shade on that suspicion...

Lets get one thing clear, whoever sold you the 2500 either made a profit or is glad to have finally gotten rid of this unprofitable product. Apparently they had the right idea, so the answer here is to make a profit you'll likely have to sell these items in lots of 5, 6, 8, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 36, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 400, 500, 600, 700, 750, 800, 900 or 1000 or more at a time.

Please note that other number of lots that I forgot to include such as 2, 3, 4, 12, 14, 16, 18, 24, 40, 42, 48, 64, 72, 80, 96 and so on are quite possible, however the price you mentioned does lead me to believe the least number of lots you will have to sell in order to make things profitable will be in the 4 or 5 and up range.

...........................

I did find an interesting article:

https://www.engageselling.com/blog/article-the-whole-truth/

Some more lot numbers: 60, 125, 240, 260, 425, 450.

You could possibly try a variation listing with some basic number combinations.

maros9416 · ‎06-24-2020

From my experience, this is how I see it and no one can change my mind because I have been on both sides of a deal like this. This is how it goes: Someone was contracted to produce a large run of these. The person either never picked up the goods, or there was a massive over run of the item. Thus, the manufacturer got them for free, and he was already paid to produce them. He sold them to you and charlie and harry for whatever he could. In the end, when there was no more buyers, he either sold them as a lot or gave them away to someone who wanted to get involved with 1000s of these. The only way that this is possible is if someone, somewhere got them for nothing.

Frankly, I can't see how you or anyone can sustain on eBay accounting for a 32 cent profit per item. I don't care how many sell per day. Just 1 that gets lost, damaged, resent, or returned will take 4 or 5 more sold to break even. Likewise, using 1 piece of packing paper than costs 3 cents each in bulk cuts in to the profit!

inhawaii · ‎06-24-2020

Here is my answer.

He's not making a profit.

He's not smart enough to realize that.

Can't We Try - Dan Hill & Vonda Shepard

iart · ‎06-24-2020

I agree with inhawaii. They are not making money. Maybe a mistake?

Keep the price you need and wait a bit. The other seller may well go broke and leave.

Also note that the lowest price is NOT always what is shown to buyers. The default search BEST MATCH rewards many other metrics. Follow ebay suggestions, practice good service by taking care of your buyers and use creative key words to boost your own sales.

Good luck!

dreambooks · ‎06-24-2020

I am **bleep** off with USPS because they charge us US citizens much higher shipping even domestically while they charge much less to People shipping from overseas to US.

Due to the horrendous cost I do not even ship internationally.