Selling for others on commission - Help

[brucelovestheocean]

Hello,

I read a few old posts in this community about what sellers charge private clients to sell their items. Some content is quite dated. 

I have been selling for people in my community for a few years and would like to hear some current feedback from people like me who sell for clients on a commission basis.

Initially I was charging 35% after all fees are extracted. Buyer, 90% of the time, is paying for ship cost. So the fees extracted are eBay fees.

I am a one man show and as you are well aware - it’s a LOT of work. I also post many things which I see a zero return on also.

I have seen commissions in some posts where the seller charges 50%. That’s a bit to high for me to charge my clients. I’m trying to find a happy medium, if there is such a thing.

I just raised my commission to 40% but fear I might scare off some potential clients. Most of the items I sell are under $100.00 with some priced higher. I sell some in the range of $100.00 - $500.00 as well and I have a smattering of $1,000.00 and up. But I would say 90% of my items are in the lower range and run the gamut.

I’ve been tossing around the idea of a tiered structure as well. But not sure how I would create that structure. 

Due to current COVID climate selling on eBay has turned into a full time job. And in truth I find myself working a majority of my time. Which is ok. I’m just thankful I have this as a means to support myself.

So I would love to hear from fellow sellers some of your thoughts about how you charge your clients and also your thoughts on how to construct  a fair tiered commission structure.

in the meantime is 40% to much to charge? I don’t want to gouge my clients or scare them away, but most folks have no idea about what it takes to list an item on eBay. And more importantly what it takes to list lots of items and then manage everything.

Your thoughts are deeply appreciated.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas! 

Bruce

[fuzzface50]

I used to have lots of people ask me to sell stuff for them but I refuse to.  I have enough of my own stuff to sell that I am way behind on so why should I list stuff for other people and only get half of the profit when I can do the same amount of work doing my own listings and keep all the profits.  They get mad at me for a while but when you offer to help them get started then ebay is just to much work for them.  yeah, and they want me to do it for half? No thank you.  They all think they have items worth gold prices too.

Same with my scrap business.  when prices are down very few people haul and they have me come in and haul it all away.  Take it home and I can sort and separate it and take it in when prices are up. When prices are up you have so many willing to haul and split it with them which doesn't make sense because they won't haul when the prices are down but will when up but you are still getting the same lower price after splitting it. When prices are up and they want to split I just tell them call someone else because I have too much of my own to haul in before the market changes. 

[jz-5682]

A couple of years ago my tax accountant noticed that I paid a friend $597 for their share of the consigned items that I sold for them. The accountant said $3 more and I would have had to issue my friend a Form 1099. I guess if you pay someone $600 or more within a year you must report their income to the IRS. It doesn't seem fair to me as they could have sold the items at a garage sale or flea market and not have to report it. But anyway, I tell my friends now that I can't do more than $599/yr for them. I usually only have one or two friends per year that I sell for. Split 50/50 after fees. 

[brucelovestheocean]

Thank you so very much for your response and for your help!

[brucelovestheocean]

Thank you very much for your reply and input....deeply appreciated!

[brucelovestheocean]

Thank you very much for your reply and input....deeply appreciated!

[brucelovestheocean]

Thank you very much for your reply and insights....Thank you!

[coastaltechsolution]

I will never do consignment as you do all the work and take all the risk , to me personally it is just not worth the risk or profit 

Just my personal (and business) choice 

[brucelovestheocean]

Thank you for your reply. I like your ideas. Would you mind sending me, if you can, your  tiered commission structure? It would help me greatly as I have a brain injury and its difficult to figure things out. 

Something like:

0-100 - 30%

101- 500 -25%

etc, etc  up to the $20,000 mark or close 

I would deeply appreciate it.

Bruce

[brucelovestheocean]

Thank you for your reply. I like your ideas. Would you mind sending me, if you can, your  tiered commission structure? It would help me greatly as I have a brain injury and its difficult to figure things out. 

Something like:

0-500 - 40%

500 - 1000 -35%

1000.00 - 30%

I would deeply appreciate it.

Bruce

[brucelovestheocean]

So a 50/50 split? Even on very high ticket items? $1,000 +

I already give out W-2 forms to all my clients...so I am covered there. 

Thanks for you help. 🙂

[adst_5019]

Is there a formula? If your business pays taxes on the profit, how about holding 30% of the sale. Plus 10% as your earning as a business for providing service.  Any suggestions? 

[theteamsetguy]

@brucelovestheocean ,

Below is a link to what a typical eBay consigned charges. Their fees and payout are very similar to other large consignment sellers like Probstein123, 4Sharpcorners, and etc. Many have a tiered fee structure. Based on these sellers 40% on higher priced items seems way too high. These are large consignment sellers that have many employees. 

https://dcsports87.com/how-process-works

[jerzee908]

Just buy the items from the people outright so you don't have to deal with them and getting any commission.  Pay them a fair amount for whatever they have and call it a day.

[kh-ornesh]

Hi everyone,

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

Thank you for understanding.