Selling cards for cheap and making money?

[jerfor-909]

How do you make money on items you sell cheap. I see several items being sold for less than a dollar but most of the items I have sold for less than a dollar I have lost money on or have not made any money on. I don't mind not always making much on a cheap item but not making any money or loosing money makes me feel like I have to sell my items for a price I would not be willing pay my self. How do you sell fair and make money 

[reallynicestamps]

Well here's the thing.

Some people are stupid.

But.

The scrapbookers used to have a lot of those 99c listings, but they were making their money because their customers would buy $20 -$50 worth of stuff at a time. And with one payment for 50 items, there would be only one 30c service fee for payment processing. That was not stupid.

And sometimes the price is 99c but the shipping is $5.  EBay stomped on that little trick (the usual sketchey one was the 99c listing with $50-$100 shipping) about 20 years ago by charging FVF on both item and shipping, but some sellers are still doing it. That is less stupid than pointless.

[duncanvr]

Sell in volume to your followers on ebay in auctions someone will take 20 cheap ones I had one lot of 20 starts at 99c ended up with $120. So its volume sellers. But I would not do buy it now at 99 cents.

[dhbookds]

To sell cheaply........you need alot of inventory to hopefully encourage buyers to buy more than one item.....  Right now you have 33 items up, with most less than $5 at auction.  Don't know the items, perhaps some are worth much more, but if not........you are just going to disappoint yourself (I fear) once you figure out what you make........

You can try various promotions.........buy 3/get one free, etc........but with only 33 items,  probably not going to work well.  If you are going to sell cheap, need to up the inventory numbers.  But I would seriously consider rethinking your model........is selling cheap really worth it? 

[meme6253]

It's a sure fire way to lose money!, Bulk is the only way & even that is risky

[worldcoinauctions]

I started this account to do auctions (most of my items on my other account are BIN) and I start most of them at 99 cents. I do charge $1 for shipping and mostly use the ESE (63 cents). Many of my buyers buy multiple items now, but I do get about 72 cents less the cost of the envelope, label, sheet of copier paper and a small baggie, and of course the item for each 99 cent sale. After about 1 year doing this I'm getting multiple bids on some items and it is starting to work out.

[m60driver]

It is not easy to compete with the large inventory sellers of items like cards and books that have little cost into their items and who hope for multiple sales to the same buyer to make a profit.  I encounter this with books.  The only upside is that many of these large volume sellers run operations that are too large for them to handle and they have large numbers of negs in their feedback which can turn off some buyers who would rather pay a few dollars more to a better rated seller.

And by the way, many of your cards should be eligible for ESE shipping and so your rather high shipping rates will turn off buyers.

[12345jamesstamps]

Your shipping is rather high. It only cost .66 to mail a card.

You need to build an inventory.

"Repeat buyers" is what you are looking for. 

[iart]

Some sellers only sell for bragging rights. So they can promote themselves as internet sellers to friends. Others start their items at 99 cents (because ebay tells them to) and scream when they sell for that amount. Others have a huge operation where they pay people minimum to list, get breaks on fees and shipping  costs and figure making a couple dimes an item isn't so bad when you sell thousands every week.

But don't worry so much about what other sellers are doing. It will drive you crazy. Pick a minimum sell price that you're comfy with (ours is around $17 and rising).

[ittybitnot]

@jerfor-909 

If you want to encourage buyers to purchase more than one of your items through auctions or Best Offers, you likely need to turn these preferences off.  Not only does keeping them in place limit the ways a buyer can pay, but each will be a separate listing paid in full when the listing ends.  No more combining shipping for a reduced charge, with is quite off putting to buyers.  You will not be able to send an invoice, since they are already paid for at full price. 

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

Buyer Payment Requirements

*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they place a bid.

*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer.

Click submit.

[krazzykats]

Volume discounts.

Volume pricing | Seller Center (ebay.com)

[krazzykats]

Kinda has a messed up drop-down banner on that page viewing in Edge.

Volume pricing | Seller Center (ebay.com)

[thelongball]

Your not going to make money on eBay selling .99 cards at auction. Even selling multiples. So what if you sell 20 at .99 to get your volume. Thats still only 20.00.  You need a lot more auctions than what you running to get volume. Remember to sell 20 you have to have 20 that someone wants or needs. 

The cards that get bigger dollars are the hot ones in the newer card market. If you want to sell the cards your selling, just list your cards at a Buy it now price. Include the .66 shipping in your price and go with free shipping. Most people aren't going to pay 3.75 shipping on a .99 card. You already had a feedback where your customer told you to do this. So Yes that person bought from you but you left a bad taste in his mouth over the shipping charge. It wasn't that you were cheating him, just not looking to save his money for him. Bad deal when he is mad and your mad because you didn't make anything either. Post Office and eBay love you both though as they made money. 

   You need to reinvent yourself. And don't feel bad about it as everyone needs to learn in the beginning. At least you are looking to get better. There are 100's out there that think they are doing good because of how many cards they are selling but they aren't making nothing on them in the end.  

  Its better to learn and make mistakes here though as you sure don't want to open a brick and mortar store with 3000 a month rent due.   

  Just focus on good service more than low price. Just be fair and don't gouge them.

[byrd69er]

....makes me feel like I have to sell my items for a price I would not be willing pay my self.

Your not selling to yourself.  You need to jack up your prices and sell in bulk.