How can multiple Sellers sell i.e., "Star Wars The Vintage Collection 3.75" figures - Making NO $$$?

[mr.jcmint]

OK.. Got a question for the community….

I been around for a while & always wanted to ask this question!

How can a Seller sell one of these ‘Newest’ “Star Wars The Vintage Collection 3.75" figures and make No or Little to Nothing Profit? Not just one or two sellers of these! I realize there are Other items (New Toys etc) with close to, or below, cost selling prices that repetitively sell here like this, but I’m just focusing in on these specific ones now cause I think I have a grasp on the numbers and cause I have some up & I cannot figure out the ‘How’?

These figures Retail for pennies under $17. (including Tax) Per figure, I bought them I know. To buy them in Bulk there cannot be That much less discount than say even 20% your cost would be $14 per figure….

OK, let’s take the middle $$$ on a fig and say $15. per figure … … Ok Costs - Fees to list it on eBay $5. + Shipping costs if Not free ($) + year end Taxes (10%)  $1.50 ….

So that seller will have maybe $5 (if lucky) into it if Buyer Pays Shipping & bout $11 if Seller pays shipping + Cost of toy into it when it’s out the door …so that’s $15 + $5 + $1.50 = $21.50 ….. + $5. Shipping if ‘free shipping’ ..that bottom line would be; $26.50 …

This Latest batch of these Figures if you look at Recent ‘selling’ & ‘sold’ prices (NOT 1 month ago when a few of the 1st wave figs hit) are in the $16 - $25 price range … some free shipping some not

Thus Sellers are selling these most recent figures for either at a Loss or for Free or just making 1-3 bucks per figure! Why?

Or ..are Retail Store employees (Wal-Mart/Target/Etc) stealing these figs and listing them?

This is Very perplexing to me …

Any Ideas how some sellers could Continually sell at these losses or break evens etc?

Thanks

[ebooksdiva]

I wouldn’t waste my time worrying about whether or not the competition is making a profit. 
Some people sell at a loss just to be rid of the items or just don’t know what they’re doing. 

[yuzuha]

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@mr.jcmint wrote:

This Latest batch of these Figures if you look at Recent ‘selling’ & ‘sold’ prices (NOT 1 month ago when a few of the 1st wave figs hit) are in the $16 - $25 price range … some free shipping some not

Thus Sellers are selling these most recent figures for either at a Loss or for Free or just making 1-3 bucks per figure! Why?

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Most likely they bought them on a speculative basis hoping they'd be able to make a profit on them, but then the bottom dropped out of the market and now they're just trying to get rid of them.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

If you are not knowledgeable about the wholesale prices for any given item because you are not buying wholesale, you may be thinking there is no profit when there is still profit in those listings.

If you are not knowledgeable about what is available in liquidation channels, and at what price, you may be missing the profit opportunity.

Add to that the possibility of sellers selling counterfeit product.

If you are buying product at retail and marking it up, that is not a sustainable business model in most cases. Once was, when the country was in recession and the clearance shelves were full of below cost merchandise.

[mr.jcmint]

Thanks ... yeah you are probaly right! 🙂

[mr.jcmint]

Yeah .. maybe they dont save their reciepts so they Must sell to get anything back?!? Thanks

[broto_64]

Maybe it's stolen merch but I also vote on not spending much time concerning oneself with how other sellers are doing things, if an item proves to be too competitive it's time to move on to something else, the fact you catch these things is a sign you're doing your homework and that is good.

[mr.jcmint]

... yeah I see your point... but I do it time to time Only when I think a figure may be 'hot' or get to that ststus sooner than later .... but I specifically talked bout these being a brand New figure in a wave two, small amount of them came out bout a month ago & now This wave ,,seems thats how it goes with New figures, Star Wars, Marvel etc... but you are right I am not that familiar with the Wholesale market & I was just assuming that Wholesale Brand New might be a 20% reduction of the Retail price?? Thanks

[richard1rst]

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@mr.jcmint wrote:

OK.. Got a question for the community….

I been around for a while & always wanted to ask this question!

How can a Seller sell one of these ‘Newest’ “Star Wars The Vintage Collection 3.75" figures and make No or Little to Nothing Profit? Not just one or two sellers of these! I realize there are Other items (New Toys etc) with close to, or below, cost selling prices that repetitively sell here like this, but I’m just focusing in on these specific ones now cause I think I have a grasp on the numbers and cause I have some up & I cannot figure out the ‘How’?

These figures Retail for pennies under $17. (including Tax) Per figure, I bought them I know. To buy them in Bulk there cannot be That much less discount than say even 20% your cost would be $14 per figure….

OK, let’s take the middle $$$ on a fig and say $15. per figure … … Ok Costs - Fees to list it on eBay $5. + Shipping costs if Not free ($) + year end Taxes (10%)  $1.50 ….

So that seller will have maybe $5 (if lucky) into it if Buyer Pays Shipping & bout $11 if Seller pays shipping + Cost of toy into it when it’s out the door …so that’s $15 + $5 + $1.50 = $21.50 ….. + $5. Shipping if ‘free shipping’ ..that bottom line would be; $26.50 …

This Latest batch of these Figures if you look at Recent ‘selling’ & ‘sold’ prices (NOT 1 month ago when a few of the 1st wave figs hit) are in the $16 - $25 price range … some free shipping some not

Thus Sellers are selling these most recent figures for either at a Loss or for Free or just making 1-3 bucks per figure! Why?

Or ..are Retail Store employees (Wal-Mart/Target/Etc) stealing these figs and listing them?

This is Very perplexing to me …

Any Ideas how some sellers could Continually sell at these losses or break evens etc?

Thanks

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Well, I can't speak to the cases you specify BUT I am an established retailer so I buy everything at WHOLESALE prices from sometimes a wholesale distributor and sometime direct from the manufacturer.

So your idea that my cost is $14.00-$17.00 is WAY off the mark. If retail is $17 I am most likely buying them for $8.50. And if I buy it at an established trade show (instead of randomly throughout the year) and in quantity I would frequently get a 10% discount (if the order us large enough) and free shipping to boot.  Along with 60-90 days to pay for them. See, at the trade shows the salespeople are under pressure to write TONS of orders to justify being there. So getting a really good deal depends on your hustle.

THAT is how some are beating your price.

[dr.automobiliac]

Hello, I have been in the toy business for over 28 years.  If I have met more then 5 people in the industry that really make a profit or are a real business person that would be a stretch.   I will tell you in the last few years since stealing seems to be legal. You cant be cheaper then your competition because when they paid nothing for it its pure profit.  The amount of open packages i see all over the toy isle these days (aka stolen products) makes me sick. So dont be surprised if your competition cant figure out if they are making money after fees or stole the item from the store.  Unfortunately you cant fix stupid I have tried for years and talking to them never works because they will just tell you someone else is selling cheap so they have to.  It would be funny if they weren't serious. Or the best is when you try to educate them on fees and profit they just tell you to go F yourself.  

[mr.jcmint]

You're thinking exactly what I am on this new toy business ...No sane person would go through the trouble to acquire them, then the hassles to sell & ship for a 'break even' or a 4 dollar profit - I'm talking bout New out of the box toys, not 1 year or 6 months old! Employees Must be swiping them ...I knew a Toy Fanatic who worked in Wal-Mart that opened Every relevant toy box that came off the truck before it was even brought out front ... & on another topis; the amount of Purposely damaged toys I see on shelves .. like the Key toys are gone & all the rest of the run have corner bends obviously put there by the human hand .... Its a Sad group of toy collectors out there who damage the toys on the shelves & take what They want out of the boxes/runs..Some Real Toy Psychopaths I think!

[mr.jcmint]

thanks for the data ... so 8.50 + 4 (eBay rip off fees) + 1 (tax at the end of the year) = $13.50 they would have into the figure if not free shipping ... if it was sold for 16-25 ...16 with buyer paid shipping & 25 with free shipping (+5 bucks back to the toy) ..so thats a profit of $2.50 (16) - $7.50 (25) on the wholesale toy that cost 8.50  ... but most of the time the buyers are going to go to the $16 unless dasmaged cause its cheaper .. thus the $2.50 profit even at your wholesale buying prices ...I can see the 7.50 profit almost doubling the $$ ...but I cannot understand anything less for the work .. those sellers selling for 16ish - that has to be either stupid buying & losing the reiept or ripping-off the toys ... I donno?? Thanks for the time

[richard1rst]

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@mr.jcmint wrote:

thanks for the data ... so 8.50 + 4 (eBay rip off fees) + 1 (tax at the end of the year) = $13.50 they would have into the figure if not free shipping ... if it was sold for 16-25 ...16 with buyer paid shipping & 25 with free shipping (+5 bucks back to the toy) ..so thats a profit of $2.50 (16) - $7.50 (25) on the wholesale toy that cost 8.50  ... but most of the time the buyers are going to go to the $16 unless dasmaged cause its cheaper .. thus the $2.50 profit even at your wholesale buying prices ...I can see the 7.50 profit almost doubling the $$ ...but I cannot understand anything less for the work .. those sellers selling for 16ish - that has to be either stupid buying & losing the reiept or ripping-off the toys ... I donno?? Thanks for the time

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Well it seems your mind is already made up but I hope you will forgive if I feel the need to defend myself and question the accuracy of your numbers,.

Even if it sells for $25.00 with shipping my FVF is $3.00, not $4. (TRS+ I pay 11.9%).

Based on the toy you described it would seem able to go fist class mail (or the new replacement - but the same price) for about $5.00 or so.

So: 25.00 less 3.00 FVF less 5.00 shipping = $17.00 net to me against a cost of $8.50 (but more likely $7.65). And as an extra side perk I buy my inventory and pay for my postage with a cash back debit card so I pick a little extra there as well.

There is no “+ 1 (tax at the end of the year)”. Because of the way the IRS is set up it is literally possible to earn tens of thousands of dollars in profit and pay ZERO income taxes based on personal and business deductions and the number of dependents.

Now rinse and repeat innumerable times a year and there is a good living to be made.

Goodbye.

[mam98031]

I'm not sure how important this is in the scheme of things.  Concentrating on your own listings and getting your own inventory for the best price possible seems to me to be your time better spent.

You have no idea of what the other sellers got their inventory for, nor do you know their other costs.  You know yours and that isn't always the same as sellers of similar items.  I'm not sure why this is of such importance to you.

We are getting ready to go into the Holiday season.  Now is a great time to start shopping for the best deals on what you want to sell.  Not from other retailers, but wholesale.  If you have your business license, you can buy wholesale if you find the right vendors for yourself.