Selling Items at Such a Low Price?

[cdbows]

I have been a casual  seller on eBay since 2002. I mostly sell media type items.  For the past few years with rising eBay fees and postage rates it has been difficult to make a profit, especially when other sellers are pricing the same item at what would seem to be a loss. If I were to price it at the same price and then deduct the fees and postage costs - I would be actually LOSING money (the total sale a negative amount).  How are they able to do this? I am missing something here. Often it is the same sellers that pull down the pricing for other sellers.  I have looked at the pricing for having a store platform, but that doesn't seem to be why they can afford to do this.   What is the secret that I don't seem to know about? 

[gurlcat]

Edit: I meant this to be a reply to the OP, not the last replier, sorry! 
Personally I don't see the point of selling anything for less than $15-or-so profit, and even that would be something I had to mark down, not the original target profit.  The thing is, when you say you calculate for net profit, how much are you considering for labor, what you pay your employee?  --Assuming that employee is YOU, sourcing the item in a thrift store or garage sale (and did you drive there, with a gasoline-using vehicle?), then researching to determine its' potential sale amount, photographing it, filling out all the *^$#@%^ Item Specifics, describing it, answering emailed questions about it, etc. ....AND THEN when someone finally buys it...... packing and shipping, answering the buyer's emails about why it's taking so long and so on and so forth. ...... how much do you think an employee would charge for all that, and don't you think you deserve it, PLUS some amount of profit?  
Granted, if this is just a hobby, just to get rid of things taking up space in your home, or you just love the category on a personal level so much that it doesn't feel like work, then it really changes the nature of these questions. I know for a fact there are categories I could get into and make more money for less effort, but I don't find those items the slightest bit interesting so I am certain that slinging them would start to feel like menial labour real fast.  I definitely put enough value on having fun that there's no way I could ever get rich at this, ha. But even if you are a true bibliophile, you see the problem with market saturation in used books, and if money is what you truly need you would be better off getting a librarian job.  If you are interested in any other categories, try your hand at those!  --Unless it's clothes, oh god.  LOL.  

[yuzuha]

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@2013grotz wrote:

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There you go.  Really, books (or other media) aren't that lucrative, unless you find the random gem in the pile that happens to be both rare and in demand.

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Yep. There's one regular who resells on Amazon and he usually comes in a couple of times a week to pick through the books because he knows what things will sell for good prices-- all the workers at the store know him and always ask him how business is going. But he only ever leaves the store with a small bag or two of books at a time and passes right by the rest because they aren't worth anything.

[slippinjimmy]

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@cdbows wrote:

$2.48  - most everything that I sell are from personal items, so technically there isn't a "true profit" because the original costs and shipping supplies are not factored into COGS.  My frustration is that even without these cost factors factored in, many items after postage and eBay fees can't compete with these bigger sellers' rates.  I guess it is just how it is.  I have to either combine multiple books to try to get any kind of profit.  

I posted this question after having to end 6 listings because I couldn't compete with other sellers just based on postage and eBay fees.  

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OK you gave the correct answer to my question, That's good and I appreciate the accurate reply. It eliminates the idea that you don't know what it costs to sell and that gives you a leg up on quite a few sellers.

I also sell in Media, it's a category where condition is VERY important as is the ability to properly pack. I am almost never the lowest price for my items (unless I'm the only one offering) but I have a reputation for extremely accurate descriptions and bulletproof packing. There is almost nothing that I sell that can't be bought for less but I still have plenty of sales of those listings (never enough of course).

Even with my middle of the road pricing I still find sellers who are getting much more than I am and for items of lesser condition which indicates that price is not always the primary concern of buyers.

Have a look at the feedback of the big book sellers, lots of complaints about packing, failures to note defects and slow shipping. Some buyers don't care, maybe they just want to read a book and don't mind if the cover is bent or there is a bit of writing on some pages. Other buyers only want pristine condition and will pay more for it.

Listings cost nothing and you might make a sale, no reason to take them down and no reason you have to match the lowest prices you see. Those items will get sold and then perhaps YOU will be the one with the lowest price.

[2013grotz]

I know it wasn't addressed to me, but felt I needed to respond:

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@gurlcat wrote:

Assuming that employee is YOU, sourcing the item in a thrift store or garage sale (and did you drive there, with a gasoline-using vehicle?), then researching to determine its' potential sale amount, photographing it, filling out all the *^$#@%^ Item Specifics, describing it

Honestly, a lot of this isn't as burdensome in the market as you make it out to be.  Most of the time, people just take joy in going around to see what's out there.  Most are going to take the opportunity for cheap books to buy them to read themselves.  Of course, the problem is what you do with it after you're done with it?  Then the rest of this is pretty straightforward as it's a specific title commodity item.  Most in that category don't even bother that much with pictures (I do though, every item in my listings is the real item).  As for description, Item Specifics, and the like, these kind of items make all of those things pretty absurd.  Something like "It's a Blu-ray copy  Spiderman: No Way Home" is really all you can say, past describing the condition.  "Researching" only takes searching the item, one of which can be used to trigger the item via the "Sell One Like This" button and even fills in all of this information via ebay's own catalog.  I can knock out a single listing in the category five minutes (if even that) and tend to batch up a big pile (15 I think the last time) and have them all done in an hour.

Then consider the "big boys" do this on thousands of items, and even automate it via ISBN scanner.  It's honestly not that much of a burden to list these things as you make it out to be.  But what you said is true in this sense: Is the margin per item something you can tolerate or not?  A lot of people are in the market frankly because they can.  But that's a decision each seller would need to make.

(and yes don't get me started on clothes.  That's my other major sourcing venue I have where I'm at outside of books/DVDs, but found out pretty quickly that shipping and ebay's fees in itself makes it a losing proposition.)

[from_me_2_you]

Do away with free shipping. Offer a deal (the home of) $2.00 on a shipping of a book.

Experiment with what looks and helps selling/ IE: first book $2.00, each book $1.00 more, total of 6 books for (figure a number to stimulate the purchase of more books) 

remember the old selling technique: $1.00 each or in bulk 8 for $10.00.

Always being the lowest seller on eBay is not a good place to be.

[2013grotz]

While I'd like to change things up on something like that, ebay does not provide the ability to specify this kind of pricing structure.  Buying a full store option might bring that, but as I'm not really a business (as much as the IRS would beg to differ) I can't really justify shelling out that kind of money.  I have a couple of "Variation" ads set up with volume discounts as a test, which seems to be the closest thing the ebay platform will provide to that (whether it works?), but found that nearly completely eliminates visibility on the site.  I've seen suggestions of boxing up similar kinds and types of books too, but that's not met with very much success on my part either.

So as it appears, it's really not that simple.

[dhaga]

It is a common strategy to sell some items at loss (a loss leader) in effort to acquire new customers for future purchases. It  is baked in as a CAC (customer acquisition cost). 

[gurlcat]

So would you agree that taking actual photos of books makes them more sellable?  I always do, in the fairly rare even that I source what I consider a worthwhile book (including all 4 side edges, important pages inside, and a few sample reading/illustration pages if I haven't used up the 12 available already).  I know that when I shop for a book I will definitely pay more for one that I can see will be the exact copy I''ll get, as opposed to a stock image.  
As for whether I exaggerated the amount of work, I know with books it may be a bit more automated, and I did give the caveat about if you just enjoy the category, which would include the sourcing of it --that certainly can be loads of fun.  But I still think it's worthwhile to consider the time spent as labor, simply for the fact that it takes time, time you're not spending doing other things that need done.  And I don't think it's irrelevantly hypothetical to think of yourself as an employee who does these tasks.  Seriously imagine doing all of them, even sourcing, as an employee for some Ebay seller in your town.  Even if it's oodles of fun to you, considering it's time you're not working at a paying job, nor doing any of your housework, family/friend time, sleep, etc., would you do it for FREE, and just so your boss could make a dollar or two profit?    That's madness all the way around.  And that's even if the item sells quickly; if it doesn't, then the buck or two could be less than the amount of interest you'd have gained just by letting the total investment money sit in savings.  Also where did the book sit all that time, in a paid storage facility or your own home (and isn't that worth something)?  --Of course by "a book" I mean allll the books, and DVD's, and knick-knacks, clothes, electronics, and whatever.  I say this with mountains of inventory piled around me like a hoarder, ha.  But yeah, these are all reasons I quit going for 'smalls' long ago.  It's good to feel that selling isn't a heavy burden, "funemployment" if you will, but weighing it too lightly can be what causes a divorce, foreclosure, loss of friends, credit card max out, etc.   I saw it happen to my Aunt, not on Ebay but in a flea market booth venture she socked everything into, had a blast until it became clear the sales were not only insufficient for the whirlwind fantasy profits she pictured but not even enough to live on. 

[cypresstradingcompany]

I agree.  There are too many items for sale on Ebay that are under priced.  They seem to be selling these items at a loss.  It's hard to compete with that and still make a profit.

[kh-vince]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.