how do people make money on $5 items ?

[ubuy-iship]

the cheapest label from ebay is first class 4oz or less for around $3.20. is there a cheaper way to ship i'm not aware of?

[katzrul15]

Probably not very well.

See a lot of listing $5/under with free shipping. 

It's a puzzle for sure.

(Especially if it is not something that can ship flat for letter rate or media mail)

[titipeo]

Maybe the seller got the item free. After fees and everything if he gets a $1 for it, that $ on his side. For low value items I might use another platform, or combine with other items and sell as a lot for more $$.

There are also sellers that are retired and do eBay as a hobby, just to keep themselves active and sell stuff they gathered throughout the years. Others, they might offer lower items to attract people to look into their store of stuff for sale. Who knows, besides, if you can at least get something for it, once you consider the fees, at least is better than having the item sitting around collecting dust. 

[luckythewinner]

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@ubuy-iship wrote:

the cheapest label from ebay is first class 4oz or less for around $3.20. is there a cheaper way to ship i'm not aware of?

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Yes, an envelope and a stamp. 

[duncanvr]

Sell high volume collect $2 nett per item after all fees + shipping etc sell 500 items you have $1000. I continue to sell cheap items among my lots as you get faster sales than listing expensive items and waiting for that one buyer. I use postage stamps no ebay labels.

[this*old*attic]

1.) They don’t know how to bookkeep.

2.) They do it to get traffic into their listings, and count on 2 or 3 huge sales per month ($500 - $1000 plus).

I was just looking over a dealer’s items literally yesterday who was running their business on that model.

[scstool]

Then take that $3.20 and add the "final value fee" , Managed Payments fee, cost of packaging, cost of a label and ink and it is more like $4 and getting very close to $5 just to cover shipping.

An interesting thought is what is the lowest cost item it makes sense to sell on Ebay? If you have to pay anything for your inventory and your time is worthless then maybe $15?  It used to be worth it to sell low priced items to build feedback and sales momentum. Especially with the old seller metric system where sales volume good negate some bad feedbacks or problems. Not to many people are bothered to leave feedback anymore.

Time to re-evaluate my strategies here and look at alternatives. I used to think the FVF on shipping was fair since Ebay was providing "value added" with increased insurance, label printing integration which improved workflow, and discounts. Ebay already has the data when I use their label system to know my precise shipping costs, so the one time valid logic that sellers could abuse selling fees by jacking up shipping costs is no longer valid (if you use Ebay shipping). The ethical thing to do would be to credit shipping costs purchased through Ebay against the "final value" when determining fees.

[gracieallen01]

Sure, ship from China.

[rosachs]

I sell a lot of stuff for under $5, and I have a lot of repeat buyers.  Originally I would ship with just a stamp and a #10 envelope (standard business size).  I still get better than 50% feedback received from these low dollar items.

Do I make money?  Of course!  I use a spreadsheet to determine what my costs are (except my time), add in the landed cost (purchase price plus delivery costs) and fees and compare that to average selling price.  In my case, I can make an acceptable margin on a sale as low as $1.75!  But I prefer to sell at $2.25, or even better when bidders start fighting over a rare item.  🙂

Most of the super-cheap listings come from China.  Selling fees are structured differently, and China can ship small items to the US for ridiculously low postage fee - about a tenth of what we pay for a similar First Class Package.  If 45 wanted to stick it to China, rather than imposing tariffs that US businesses have to pay, just pull us out of the terribly unjust postal arrangement with China.  They got those rates by convincing enough of the other parties that they were an "emerging nation".  I think that boat sailed a long time ago -- time to get them to pay up and join the real world.  They might have to build a few less missles and tanks to cover the increase, but that has a positive side as well -- less room needed to store them all!!

To make low price products profitable, you have to know your numbers, know your costs, know your estimated selling price, and be able to purchase at a profitable price.  "You make your profits when you buy, you collect them when you sell"

-Bob.

[jakni_5]

Why can't you get an account with China Post?

If I print a label with a return address NJ and drop it off in a mailbox in Chicago, its no big deal. So what is the problem if your return address is Shenzen and you drop it off in Chicago. 

Instead of paying $3.44 to send a 1oz package you can pay 42c. USPS will still deliver it. They will treat it like it is en-route. 

What I am saying is just print China Post labels and drop them in the USPS box. What would go wrong? Everyone is saving money. 

[whattheactualfox]

Tbh I would guess the seller does this to attract a crowd....Like a loss leader. Let me elaborate.

The reason turkey's at Costco are so cheap/are at the back of the store is because they get people to shop for more items on the way back, and they buy the turkey. Costco looses millions of dollar's a year doing this, but they make up for profits on other high priced items.

So I guess the seller is selling cheaper items in a hope to get other potential buyers to purchase their higher priced items/build an audience?

[karthok.of.daolodus]

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@duncanvr wrote:

Sell high volume collect $2 nett per item after all fees + shipping etc sell 500 items you have $1000. I continue to sell cheap items among my lots as you get faster sales than listing expensive items and waiting for that one buyer. I use postage stamps no ebay labels.

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that's a rough way to go.  i know - i tried it. 

[auctionairecorp]

I pay my ebay shipping label fees with a bogus credit card, they still haven't figured it out yet.

[coolections]

It really depends on what the item is. If it is a media item or something that can go into an envelope with a stamp is about the only way someone could make anything. Your glue listing is not worth even listing. If I where you I would stay away from such cheap listings.

[dbfolks166mt]

     A lot of factors in this scenario.

     First it depends on who is paying for the shipping the seller or the buyer. If the seller is offering free shipping then they may possibly be shipping the items out as flats which is about as cheap a shipping method as you can get but it does not have tracking. If the buyer is paying shipping it's kind of irrelevant for the most part. 

     Packing supplies are easy to pickup for free or recycle those you have received shipments in and they don't wind up in landfills. 

     The are probably pretty low on the scammers target list and the seller is probably not as concerned about loosing the item and/or the money. Who file a SNAD case for a $5 item? 

     It's the dollar or dime thing. Do you make a dime on 10 sales or a $1 on one. Gross revenue is the same. 

     People could just be trying to move items that have not sold at a higher price or they are just trying to get rid of things and breaking even is good enough. I have sold several things where the gross revenue has been under $1. If they are taking a loss it's a tax write-off at tax time and helps to reduce net revenue. Some people could just be doing it as more of hobby than a business.