Selling

[mischw-8557]

I've always been a buyer but decided to dip my hand on the selling side of things. After posting an item and getting a decent offer. I did all of the calculations on the fees and shipping and was shocked how very little profit I was getting. Needless to say I declined the offer, took down my posting and decided not to venture off into the selling side of things. Making money that way would require that you have thousands of listings and hundreds of sales daily. I felt bad for the buyer but at the same time didn't just want to give my item away either. Not really complaining just wasn't aware of what sellers of the things I buy aren't really making anything on each item they sell.. The reason why you have to have a huge inventory.

[mordecai8614]

13% really isn't that much & you can usually offset most of it by just charging retail shipping (or higher) & using eBay's discounted shipping. Sounds like you just don't know how to play the game

[mantle1951]

Ebay fees on most categories is 13.25%, if you bought your item at a low price and you list it at the right price you should make a decent profit. You should try again, good luck!

[frankenhobbit]

Hopefully, it was at least enlightening to 'walk a mile' in a sellers shoes. It's not for everyone.  I only sell a few items (probably 90 oercent buy), but I certainly learned a few things.

[lakefor94]

@mischw-8557 

Always remember that your item you don't need is dead money until you turn it back into some amount of cash.

[isaiah53-57]

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@mischw-8557 wrote:

I've always been a buyer but decided to dip my hand on the selling side of things. After posting an item and getting a decent offer. I did all of the calculations on the fees and shipping and was shocked how very little profit I was getting. Needless to say I declined the offer, took down my posting and decided not to venture off into the selling side of things.

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YUP

[12345jamesstamps]

Selling an item...one item...and no experience...yes, I would never do that.

I guess your item can now collect more dust...

[ten_o_nine]

Well, as a buyer, you'll likely appreciate the efforts sellers put into providing quality products and services, knowing the challenges they face in making a profit.

[chapeau-noir]

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@mischw-8557 wrote:

I've always been a buyer but decided to dip my hand on the selling side of things. After posting an item and getting a decent offer. I did all of the calculations on the fees and shipping and was shocked how very little profit I was getting. Needless to say I declined the offer, took down my posting and decided not to venture off into the selling side of things. Making money that way would require that you have thousands of listings and hundreds of sales daily. I felt bad for the buyer but at the same time didn't just want to give my item away either. Not really complaining just wasn't aware of what sellers of the things I buy aren't really making anything on each item they sell.. The reason why you have to have a huge inventory.

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Actually, you don't. I made a good income on here with no more than about 550 listings, which was by far the most I had ever listed. I'm not selling here right now, but usually I have about 150-170 listings now and it nets me a nice part-time wage. It's in how and what you sell.

[lakefor94]

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@ten_o_nine wrote:

Well, as a buyer, you'll likely appreciate the efforts sellers put into providing quality products and services, knowing the challenges they face in making a profit.

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Creating quality listings that interest buyers and can be found by search is certainly labor intensive.

[mr_lincoln]

Hi @mischw-8557 

Selling isn't for everyone so your decision based on what little information provided is probably best for you. 

There are numerous approaches to selling online, one of course is high volume sales like you eluded too ... lots of listings, lots of sales but really low priced items.

Then there is selling mid-range valuable items that have the advantage of a higher average sale price over time.  Fewer transactions required to bring in more money.

Then there is selling higher end stuff to increase cash flow but some risks go along with that as you can imagine.

But at the end of the day it comes down to whether or not a Seller's price covers all Fees and most important, their profit margin.  If that can't be done the item is not worth selling online ...

[adamcartwright]

Now you see there's a reason for all those prices you probably thought were too high when you were a buyer.

[dbfolks166mt]

     I usually take the reverse approach prior to listing an item I know the ROI that I want to achieve so I factor all the selling expenses into a cost model which gives me the price that I need to list an item at to achieve my ROI target. If I cannot list the item at that price and be in a competitive price range in the market place then I will look at alternative sites and venues with reduced costs where I can list the item and still hit my ROI. 

     You don't have to have a huge inventory and make hundreds of sales a day to make a profit however your profit needs may depend on whether you are doing this as a full time job and are dependent on the income source for your livelihood or you are doing it to simply supplement your income. 

[luckythewinner]

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@mischw-8557 wrote:

I've always been a buyer but decided to dip my hand on the selling side of things. After posting an item and getting a decent offer. I did all of the calculations on the fees and shipping and was shocked how very little profit I was getting. Needless to say I declined the offer, took down my posting and decided not to venture off into the selling side of things. Making money that way would require that you have thousands of listings and hundreds of sales daily. I felt bad for the buyer but at the same time didn't just want to give my item away either. Not really complaining just wasn't aware of what sellers of the things I buy aren't really making anything on each item they sell.. The reason why you have to have a huge inventory.

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You do not need to have a huge inventory to sell here. You just need to make smart choices about what to sell and how much to sell it for. 

If selling on eBay was easy, everyone would be rich. 

[mischw-8557]

You obviously didn't pay close attention to what I wrote, I never once Said anything about how much eBay was taking from me. I just mentioned the profit that I was getting. And it's not a game, it's a job for most sellers but not for me. I was just trying to give somebody an opportunity to purchase something that thousands of people on eBay are seeking. Again I'm not going to say what I listed but I wasn't going to just give my item away. Ironically I sold the item a few hours later on Offer Up and didn't have to pay any fees. I also got more than what I was offered on eBay. People shouldn't pay the fees that eBay requires just to have the opportunity to try and make a living, after all eBay doesn't do any of the work or take any of the risks for people that do it on a full time basis. eBay should only charge a small percentage for the privilege. Again I'm not a seller and don't wish to be but have collected items for almost fifty years now and wanted to give somebody an opportunity to own one of my items. That somebody just happened to be on a different platform.