Order with a Competitor

[katzrul15]

Do you ever order from a Competitor?  Someone who consistently under-prices your listings and clearly spends more on promoted listings as they are always the top choice of every thread?

We did.  The pricing was well under ours - too good to pass up.  Wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Shooting star Seller - and it arrived today - 4 days from date of order on Sun AM/3 ship days.  

Totally wowed.  Packed exceptionally well, free gift, monogrammed tissue paper and labels and coupon card for 25% off next order.  Little handwritten note on packing slip.  

Dang.  Their FB is over 1080 new for June.  

Dang.  No wonder - no way can we touch their pricing and give 25% off another order.

[mtgraves7984]

Dang.

[donsdetour]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

Do you ever order from a Competitor?  Someone who consistently under-prices your listings and clearly spends more on promoted listings as they are always the top choice of every thread?

We did.  The pricing was well under ours - too good to pass up.  Wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Shooting star Seller - and it arrived today - 4 days from date of order on Sun AM/3 ship days.  

Totally wowed.  Packed exceptionally well, free gift, monogrammed tissue paper and labels and coupon card for 25% off next order.  Little handwritten note on packing slip.  

Dang.  Their FB is over 1080 new for June.  

Dang.  No wonder - no way can we touch their pricing and give 25% off another order.

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They seem to have a better source that you have to do this :

or are going after the fast nickle over a slower dime....

[2013grotz]

Or simply don't know what's coming in compared to their actual costs and are losing money.

[jonathankirkland]

Crazy. Is that one of your main products?

[katzrul15]

These are Hallmark series ornaments.  We bought out a Hallmark store that was closing.  About 6,000 items, mostly ornaments.  Our average cost per ornament is 1.18/per.  Some were worth little - we sold them in lots early on.  But there are about 20 series that are always in demand.  I use a $2 burden rate.  They are so far under what these sell for.  They undercut me by $12/per on the series we bought from them + free shipping.  They shipped Priority with a logo'd box.   We ship boxed/1st class, calculated.

The ornaments are flawless - brand new.  Same upc, I checked.  Was hoping they were fakes.  If they are, they're amazing fakes.   

They have been killing us in sales - their solds are amazing.  

Mind boggling.  Why sell something and leave so much money on the table?  Makes no sense.

And then they offer 25% off your next order. 

Hth do you compete with that?

[2013grotz]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

Hth do you compete with that?

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I ask that question all the time with about every item I list.  Usually, mine is "HTH are they pulling any kind of real profit out at that price?", especially when I look at what I would get at that price.  Nevermind any shipping supplies, which would run into red ink pretty quickly.  Nearest I can figure is volume discounts with shipping supplies/postal service, but gotta get at that point with your costs first.  Especially with this case you mention, I gotta wonder if they're running at a loss at the end of the day.

[katzrul15]

They are huge - had forgot about shipping discounts.  That will never apply to us.

We can't compete in the race to the bottom. 

[lepke1979]

Possibly they are just trying to clear out old stock?

[coffeebean832]

In addition to shipping discounts- their cost might be pennies on the dollar. They could have purchased overstock and closeouts paying only 10 cents per ornament buying massive quantities. You never know what's going on behind the listing.

With prices that low they are probably doing volume- multiple sales to the same buyer- and racking in profits that way.

Have they been selling this product for years or does it look like they'll sell out soon enough, making room for others at higher price points?

[katzrul15]

Maybe.  They've had a foothold since late March.  We bought 2 - still says more than 10 available. 

[postingid7659]

What I sell has to be preordered anywhere from 18 to 30 months in advance, as they only make to pre-order plus maybe 10% extra.  

A particular item came in...  I think last year, I bought like four of each of four pieces, and with no local meets to go to put them on ebay for about 20% off list. 

Another seller had them selling for much less, and I did the math, they couldn't have been making more than about a quarter on each one.  He sold I think 200 of each, so they made around $200 selling 800 pieces, but what a heck of a lot of work to make that little bit of money.   Not sure I get it.  

I sold a few online and a few locally and still have one left on one piece.  

[donsdetour]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

These are Hallmark series ornaments.  We bought out a Hallmark store that was closing.  About 6,000 items, mostly ornaments.  Our average cost per ornament is 1.18/per.  Some were worth little - we sold them in lots early on.  But there are about 20 series that are always in demand.  I use a $2 burden rate.  They are so far under what these sell for.  They undercut me by $12/per on the series we bought from them + free shipping.  They shipped Priority with a logo'd box.   We ship boxed/1st class, calculated.

The ornaments are flawless - brand new.  Same upc, I checked.  Was hoping they were fakes.  If they are, they're amazing fakes.   

They have been killing us in sales - their solds are amazing.  

Mind boggling.  Why sell something and leave so much money on the table?  Makes no sense.

And then they offer 25% off your next order. 

Hth do you compete with that?

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Wait until they run out of stock if they do is the only thing you can do.

Hey if can purchase em and make money do so... Maybe get a major discount on a listing of the whole lot if you can work with that seller: its worth a try; Oh and on a ebay sale folks not some off thing...

[bigdeals.etc]

I have a few times before, basically for reconnaissance. Sometimes with a new item I am considering selling. How they ship, how they pack, etc. It sometimes tells me a bit about the product itself. If it's already something I sell and they have it for much lower, I want to see if I can find out how they source and having the item sometimes helps. Or maybe find out what we are doing better than them and focus on that when marketing your item (like shipping speed/customer service). If anything, if I'm still able to re-sell their item and profit... I just found myself a simple supplier.

[doug_5857]

I would buy items to see what my competiters are doing also. Plus tips on packaging and their method of shipping. I see that happening all the time in the coin category. I have purchased raft of 2009 nickels and dimes.  All the sellers are selling theirs out at rock bottom price now and I will start selling mine when they run out. I have seen it happening already. soon it will be my turn to cash in. I can wait my turn, My coins wont spoil. and with the profits i get now, I just buy different coin stock that I know will sell.  Its fun if you know what you are doing.