How on Earth do they do it?

[inhawaii]

I just bought a cell phone charging cable for $2.22 with free First Class Mail shipping from California. 9,000+ sold. What am i missing here? How can they sell a item for LESS than what shipping costs?

OEM Samsung USB-C Type C Fast Charging Cable Galaxy S8 S9 S10 Plus Note 8 9

[mam98031]

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@inhawaii wrote:

Just a update on this. The item arrived yesterday.  It was shipped (in what looked like a new padded envelope) from California via USPS First Class Mail zone 8.  It "looks" OEM but let' s assume it's not.

We all know shipping cost $3.09.

Fees about 45 cents.

Let's say the padded envelope cost a nickle.

Let's say the cord itself cost a nickle.

That's $3.64.

I paid $2.22.

The questions remains HOW DO THEY DO IT?

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Keep in mind that large companies that ship from any given location can negotiate their USPS rates more that a company like Ebay can due to shipping from zillions of locations.  It is why Amazon can get some better rates when shipping from one of their FBA locations.  They have so many packages shipping from a given location and they presort them for USPS, so they get better rates.

That certainly still doesn't answer your question as even a better rate on FCP domestic isn't going to make that a profitable transaction for the seller.  So you are absolutely correct, it is very hard to understand how they make a profit on something like this.

[tools*]

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@inhawaii wrote:

I just bought a cell phone charging cable for $2.22 with free First Class Mail shipping from California. 9,000+ sold. What am i missing here? How can they sell a item for LESS than what shipping costs?

OEM Samsung USB-C Type C Fast Charging Cable Galaxy S8 S9 S10 Plus Note 8 9

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At that price, you've obviously bought a Chinese-made knockoff, as opposed to the Chinese-made OEM Samsung cable. Sometimes the only difference is the profit involved in a licensed product vs. an unlicensed, or counterfeit, product. The cable may even have been made in the same factory as the OEM product.

There's also the possibility that it's a truly junky product from a sketchy manufacturer that isn't worth the $2.22 expended.

[gwzcomps]

I'm still curious if it fast charges. 😛

[loveyourimagination49]

It will last a week and stop changing completely.

[books...forthememories]

They must be philanthropists who like to give away their merchandise (at a loss).  😎

[gwzcomps]

They could be selling them at a loss to pad their service metrics. I'm not willing to lose money personally, but I will probably start listing more "trash" to get more sales and improve my service metrics numbers.

[redmodelt]

I am not the only one the have the fee it appears;

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Payments/Foreign-transaction-fees/qaq-p/30633489/jump-to/first-unread-...