Do you find it ridiculous how low some sellers are willing to sell certain items?

[bonddm_07]

It's difficult to win in the pricing war on Ebay because some sellers are willing to sell their items for peanuts.  How are they doing it without making a decent profit?

[katzrul15]

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@bonddm_07 wrote:

It's difficult to win in the pricing war on Ebay because some sellers are willing to sell their items for peanuts.  How are they doing it without making a decent profit?

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They likely are not making a profit.  And yes, it feels like a race to the bottom some days.

[soh.maryl]

Like the seller from Sri Lanka who was listing items for around a dollar or two with free shipping?  

[bonddm_07]

Yea how can you compete with that?

[sierras1160]

I recently won a very adorable kitty salt and pepper shaker set in an auction. The seller had the starting bid at .99$. I ended being the only bidder. I appreciate the great deal for the cute little guys, but I think they are worth more than that. Interesting.

[bonddm_07]

From the buyer's standpoint, it's a steal but I'm not sure the seller shares the same enthusiasm unless they don't need the money.  And if that's the case why sell on eBay.

[skeletonstore]

amazon effect.  I used to drop ship and amazon chinese sellers raided my distributor's warehouse by selling below cost.  I could tell they were sourcing from the same supply.  About the only thing i couldn't determine was if my distributor or manufacturer(s)were involved.  I'd say a combination.  I also think I was competing against a government.  Pretty hard to compete with another seller offering the same things for 50% less than you.  On amazon it's called "winning the box" and it's encouraged.  When these trouble makers emptied the warehouse they came after other sellers to dropship for them.  Dealing with them was one of the craziest experiences I ever had.  Their business model was worse than the US government.  Rob peter to pay Paul kinda stuff.  I do not know how they did it save for they were being backed by china a government. 

[katzrul15]

Very few Sellers appear to understand true profit and based on the numerous 1099 threads for months, ever paid potential taxes on their online income.

Hard to compete with Sellers who choose to color outside the lines - not a level playing field for certain.

[coolections]

I have no clue why some folks come here selling $5 and less items. I guess making 20 cents to $1 for all that work pays off for them. Now if you are talking about sellers pricing items too low in general I would have to disagree. I save lots of items and search daily and hardly find anything listed as BIN with a low price. Most everything I collect has to be bought at auction. Some sellers think their items are gold or something. 80% of the ones who post here about low sales have items priced too high thus the reason.

[evry1nositswindy]

It's the mega book sellers that I don't understand.  They are charging $4.99 for a book that costs $3.19 to ship plus fees. They don't put in the work taking pictures or writing descriptions, by it is crazy how little they are making.  Makes the rest of us look overpriced, especially using free shipping.

[katzrul15]

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@evry1nositswindy wrote:

It's the mega book sellers that I don't understand.  They are charging $4.99 for a book that costs $3.19 to ship plus fees. They don't put in the work taking pictures or writing descriptions, by it is crazy how little they are making.  Makes the rest of us look overpriced, especially using free shipping.

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Unfortunately they buy pallets for nickels and their books while usually at least readable, are rarely in the condition stated.  They also get a shipping rate you and I do not qualify for.

[bonddm_07]

How do they get these privileges?

[vintagecraze50]

Many sellers on here are not a business per say, they are selling items they have had around the house for years and just want to dump them. When I see good dump, I BUY IT.

[vintagecraze50]

Yeah the flea markets used to be loaded with all kinds of 99 cent junkola that are purchased in huge quantities from China. Those folks still make a profit with high volume.

[slati_2013]

Every once in a while a seller gets lucky at an auction and wins lots of items for literally pennies. They are then able to offer prices lower than other sellers. As the manta goes, "buy low, sell high".