How do you know what markup to charge?

[booksnstuff_8]

How do I determine what markup and profit margin to charge on my merchandise?

[buyselljack2016]

I think about how much I want to make, and work from there.

I determine the shipping cost as a factor.

Estimate the seller fees.

25 # books for  $20.70 with free shipping leaves no room for profit.

25# of books with $40 shipping leaves no room for bidding.

[duncanvr]

Look your items up on ebay and see what of the same other ones have sold for. Compare active listings and price competitive, this should be okay until you have an item that is one off and rare. 

[this*old*attic]

You are asking the wrong questions 

Item X:

1. What did you PAY for it?

2. What are they selling for?

3. What will the fees be if that’s what it sells for?

1 + 3 is the money you spent

2 is the money you collect simplified 

The difference goes in your pocket

 Now, how much TIME did you spend finding, listing, packing, shipping, communicating with the customer?

Are you satisfied with that in relation to an hourly wage?

I’ll sell things with a $10 or so profit but only if I find them doing something else, can list them in 10 minutes or so, and already have the proper materials to ship them. No effort in other words. No fuss.

I’d rather locate items that let me make $30 or more per hour.

Oh, yes. And the old saying: buy low sell high. You make your money when you BUY the item, not when you sell it.

[femmefan1946]

Keep in mind that markup is not profit.

 You can make money on a 10% markup, if the item is selling for $1000.

You can lose money on 100% markup, if the item is selling for $10.

[jayjaspersgarage]

First of all you better research how media mail works.

Secondly I would never list 25lbs of books as a random lot.  I would sell smaller groups or if you look at my book listings they are almost always single books.

If a single book weighs under a pound I ship it using fist class mail to speed up the delivery.  Otherwise I use media mail which is a risk as far as delivery time goes.

As you can see from the other responders to your question the amount you want to make is just math that is applied to each item or lot you list. 

My motivation in listing books is more than mere profit but I do try to cover my costs or make a couple dollars per book.  The key is to keep your acquisition cost per book below 40¢.  That's my starting point when buying large lots of older books at estate sales on Sunday afternoons.

[lamber9347]

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@booksnstuff_8 wrote:

How do I determine what markup and profit margin to charge on my merchandise?

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It starts with what you paid to acquire the items. Say you received these items for free, then you are already at a starting point for profit, once you calculate how much shipping will cost plus fees for selling online. If you paid $20 for these items than that's where you start, then calculate shipping/fees from that. Best of luck to you....