Profit

[dji47]

I sold an item for $10. dollars at a fixed price and made zero profit . How can I  continue selling and make such low if any profit ?????? 

[johnrj1226]

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@dji47 wrote:

I sold an item for $10. dollars at a fixed price and made zero profit . How can I  continue selling and make such low if any profit ?????? 

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1.  Raise  your prices to what the  market will bare where  feasible. 

2.  Source products at a lower costs and find ways to reduce your other costs of  sales.

3.  The time to  see if you will make a profit is to determine your selling price and identify all you selling costs including shipping cost, eBay & PayPal Fees, packaging/packing costs, etc. to see if you will make a profit before you list something not after you made the sale.

[coolections]

If you made zero profit on your $10 sale that means you bought the dress for $8.75

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@dji47 wrote:

How can I  continue selling and make such low if any profit ?????? 

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Buy your dress for $5 and sell it for $20.

If everyone else in the world is also selling that dress for $20 then you have three options:

1.  Give it to Salvation Army

2. Wait up to a year to get it sold

3. Lower your price to $12

[amricons]

Do not want to be critical but you should be able to calculate your costs including the value of your time and a profit and make that your sales price. If it is an auction, you are at the mercy of what the market will pay.  Just some suggestions but  the direct answer to  Q is you cannot.  Before selling on eBay there are a ton of things you need to do and know about and the priority #1 is pricing of your item(s)

[amricons]

4. Build your trust and credibility up.

Surveys do not rank delivery time nor price as top priorities for buyers.  EBay is pushing low price , fast shipping and delivery because the competition does. Small sellers on eBay cannot do what they do nor follow eBay advice ( it costs them nothing). Personally, eBay competes with its own small sellers and we have observed the total domination in cheap imports, knock offs,  fakes etc . for a while. Tries to but a authentic NFL Jersey the other day and knock offs dominated the listing. Bought one from a licensed dealer for $84 dlvd while they were as low as $26 on EB. Did not want to buy a fake from you know where nor search thru all of the listing as our time is worth something.  Sometimes it is not about the price.  The site has become a wasteland which the poor choices by EB management has created.  Asked somebody at eBay recently what the co will look like in 5 years and was told I would get a reply from the Nox in a short time.   eBay is no longer a brand , it is becoming a clearing house for cheap goods from you know where etc. 

[gamersbaystore]

I know what you mean, its really hard to make a profit here with all the fees, ridiculous shipping costs, etc. But honestly, I think your prices are way too low. You also have very little for sale, so I can see why you're selling at bargain prices, but its not helping you. 

You really should consider listing more items for sale. The more items you have listed for sale, the higher the potential to sell your previously listed items. You can also charge more because you have more authority over the items you're selling when you have a lot of items for sale.

You also really have to factor in all costs too when listing anything for sale. I recently started running promotions for buy 2 get 1 free and up to 15% off to spur sales. I wanted to give the best discount I possibly could while still producing a profit because my sales were so incredibly slow and the competition here is super tough.

At first thought, I really thought there's no way I can produce a profit with such discounts. But with $100 in sales so far this morning, my cost of goods sold turned out to be just $10.

If you can't make a profit on it, then sell something else. I am really picky about what I will invest in because of the potential to lose money, and you should be too.

Maybe try selling DVD's. I buy them in lots right here on ebay and I pay an average of 50 cents a piece for them. They bring good profits. I often get $10 for a single DVD I paid 50 cents a piece for, lol. Same goes for my games. I pay about $1.50 to $2 a game on average, and I often sell the same games for $10 to $20, and have sold some for $50+ this year, all on a single dollar investment.

The moral of the story is this, do your market research on potential new products to sell while factoring in all associated selling costs (what are your costs, and what are your competitors rates), then find ways to make buyers feel like they're getting a great deal ( I sold 9 games to one buyer today), list more and you'll sell more (I have 1,200+ listings and hundreds of watchers right now, it gives me more bargaining power).

[luckythewinner]

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@dji47 wrote:

I sold an item for $10. dollars at a fixed price and made zero profit . How can I  continue selling and make such low if any profit ? 

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You are the one who chose to sell it for $10, so you are the one who chose to make low if any profit. 

• You are the one who chose to purchase the item. 
• You are the one who chose to list it.
• You are the one who chose the price at which you were willing to sell it. 
• You are the one who chose the shipping method. 

How long you are willing to make "low if any profit" before you  either stop selling or come up with a better and more profitable business plan? You are the only one who can answer that question.

If running a business was easy, everyone would be rch. 

[doho6974]

Profit comes the moment you acquire the item. You need to figure out before you buy the item how much you can sell it for, calculate all fees and shipping and see if there's any pofit left to be made.

[luckythewinner]

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@doho6974 wrote:

Profit comes the moment you acquire the item. You need to figure out before you buy the item how much you can sell it for, calculate all fees and shipping and see if there's any pofit left to be made.

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The only sure thing that comes the moment you acquire the item is the acquisition cost.

Any profit you calculate is merely anticipated and  unrealized, and it certain does not come at the time of purchase. 

Furthermore, that anticipated profit may not materialize in full or even in part, because of many factors that are not always known at acquisition time:

• You misunderstood or miscalculated the item, the price, or the demand;
• The item becomes lost or broken before it sells;
• The item gets recalled or banned by eBay;
• The item turns out to be fake;
• The item does not sell because demand changes;
• The item gets returned (maybe more than once);
• The item gets stolen by a fraudulent SNAD claim;
• It is a slow mover that bleeds you of storage, fees and use of funds.

Making good purchasing decisions will certainly help you be successful, but inventory costs money until it sells.