eBay

gausse · ‎12-10-2017

So I am trying to figure out what I am missing on eBay pricing. I am buying items at wholesale costs, through a distributor. For example a game that retails for $50. I buy for $25. It weighs 3 lbs so the cheapest shipping (USPS) offered by eBay is $14.45. So my start cost is $39.45 if I offer free shipping. Plus 9% for eBay fees and PayPal on top of that. Puts the break even over $43. There always seem to be sellers offering the same item for about $10 over the wholesale price with free shipping, or in the $35 range. That would result in a loss of at least $7 per sale. Yet there are dozens of sellers selling it new at that price. So what am I missing?

Shipping prices are the big problem to me. I have been buying and selling since the beginning of eBay and shipping has sky rocketed out of control the last several years.

*help_no_brakes* · ‎12-10-2017

"So what am I missing?"

Your aquisition costs are too high & other sellers are getting a better deal from the suppliers.

duchess-at-speakeasy · ‎12-10-2017

Don't pay so much for your merchandise. A $50 item should not cost you more than $15-$17 tops. Buy in quantity and get the case-lot price.

Depending on product dimensions, I can mail a 3-lb. package via USPS Priority Mail for under $11 anywhere in the country. Regional A box, small FRB, bubble FRE. Even a medium FRB costs only $12.40.

~~C~~

My Glass Duchess
Quoting Mom: In polite society, "hey" is for horses.

lja440 · ‎12-10-2017

I don't see any that you are listing for $50. But I agree if you are purchasing the item for 50% of its trending price your profit will bee next to nill.

My rule of thumb is the MINIMUM profit I want is 30% over ALL COSTS. That would mean with your 50% you would need to limit all other costs, listing, FVF's and shipping costs to 20% or under. Now I may do that on a "loss leader" type of item. Example: I purchased 4 new record players at a wholesale cost and marked them up minimally and put them in my B&M where I sell vinyl records. I typically make 200% profit and up on good vinyl records. One already sold and along with it 5 records that netted me $75 after fees on the albums alone. And a clear $10 profit on the record player.

orangehound · ‎12-10-2017

I think the simplest answer is simply that the "wholesale" price you are paying is higher than that of your competitors. You need to buy in larger quantities or find a different wholesaler with better prices.

One other idea not mentioned above:

If you have thin margins, one strategy you could employ would be to use "rate tables" to adjust shipping amounts to various parts of the country. In so doing, you would effectively sell regionally rather than nationwide.

For example, let's say you have a product that you can be competitive with free shipping so long as the shipping cost is under about $7.50. You can offer free shipping to USPS zones 1-4 (maximum cost to you of 7.62), but then charge $6.95 shipping for zones 5-8 (maximum cost to you of 7.50). In doing so, the good news is that your profit will be preserved while maintaining a competitive price in zones 1-4 ... the bad news is that you will likely be outpriced by competitors in zones 5-8.

I do this on some of my items that have thin margins and heavier weights so as to better control profit margins.

For more information on using rate tables, you can to here:

https://pages.ebay.com/help/pay/shipping-costs.html

kattinsanity · ‎12-10-2017

I don't see anything that you have listed or have sold that has that kind of shipping rate~~most of your items have 1st class shipping. Do you have another selling account where you sell these items you are referring to? If so it's hard to give any advice when we can't see an example of your problem.

apache.falls · ‎12-10-2017

your "wholesalers" are selling here also

║█║▌║█║▌│║▌║▌█║ ║█║▌║█║▌│║▌║▌█║ ║█║▌║█║▌│║▌║▌█║

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please

orangehound · ‎12-10-2017

@kattinsanity wrote:
I don't see anything that you have listed or have sold that has that kind of shipping rate~~most of your items have 1st class shipping. Do you have another selling account where you sell these items you are referring to? If so it's hard to give any advice when we can't see an example of your problem.

The OP is likely referring to the listing for "AEG the Captain is Dead Board Game". That is a 3 pound game that the OP is selling for $44.99 shipped ... Amazon sells it for $41.15 shipped, another on-line retailer sells it for $39.50 shipped, and the OP is competing with 15 or more copies here on eBay with a cheaper price. Difficult to sell at that price ... the price point needs to be about $43.

thallidguy · ‎12-10-2017

@ellis61 wrote:
The OP is likely referring to the listing for "AEG the Captain is Dead Board Game". That is a 3 pound game that the OP is selling for $44.99 shipped ... Amazon sells it for $41.15 shipped, another on-line retailer sells it for $39.50 shipped, and the OP is competing with 15 or more copies here on eBay with a cheaper price. Difficult to sell at that price ... the price point needs to be about $43.

Good points. Selling board games online is a pretty cutthroat business. It's full of big sellers who are getting better deals from distributors than any small seller could dream of getting. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them are indeed getting them at publisher's cost.

About shipping: The OP is also probably at a disadvantage there, too. A standard board game box these days will not fit in any Flat or Regional Rate option that would make it economical for the OP. FedEx SmartPost might help, but probably not too much. Big sellers can use their leverage to negotiate better deals with carriers than anything a small eBay seller can dream about (Amazon being the most obvious example).

lja440 · ‎12-11-2017

@ellis61 wrote:
@kattinsanity wrote:
I don't see anything that you have listed or have sold that has that kind of shipping rate~~most of your items have 1st class shipping. Do you have another selling account where you sell these items you are referring to? If so it's hard to give any advice when we can't see an example of your problem.
The OP is likely referring to the listing for "AEG the Captain is Dead Board Game". That is a 3 pound game that the OP is selling for $44.99 shipped ... Amazon sells it for $41.15 shipped, another on-line retailer sells it for $39.50 shipped, and the OP is competing with 15 or more copies here on eBay with a cheaper price. Difficult to sell at that price ... the price point needs to be about $43.

That's the reason I usually stay away from new items that you can find in Walmart or Game Stop type stores. Unless you can buy in mass quantities your profit will be low and the competition heavy.

gausse · ‎12-11-2017

Thanks. Shipping rate tables could help in some cases. My shipping estimate was based on midwest to west coast. Midwest to midwest is a bit cheaper. In the past I have avoided items over about a pound because of the insane shipping costs.

Will have to look at cutting out the distributor if possible. Not sure if I could buy the example items for $15, but will look into more direct purchases. I have a pretty good idea of makers cost for production and importation.

gausse · ‎12-11-2017

Yes that is one example. I have a lot of other items in the $40-$50 SRP range that I haven't listed because with shipping I just wouldn't break even. Most items are a little too large for single rate boxes. In the 13"x13"x5" range. Items are in the 2.5lb to 3.5lb range in weight. My cost has been about 50% of SRP. Another example is the Wings Of Glory WWII Battle Of Britain Starter Set listed for $60. About 3 lbs.

Will look into cutting out the distributor to get costs down.

thallidguy · ‎12-11-2017

Good luck. The board game market these days just looks nightmarish for small sellers. Given what the big sellers can and will do, it seems like you have to go big to give yourself a reasonable chance. I mean, (speaking of AEG products) I came across the Doomtown Reloaded starter set on Amazon a couple of years ago, and they were selling it at 50% of MSRP! How do you compete with that unless you're buying at publisher's cost? Just nuts.

Hobby market board games has really become a commodity market compared to what it was a decade ago. The market is awash in product; there are so many games coming out that 95% of them come and go like fireflies, and if you can't sell them within a month or two of publication you're stuck because the Board Game Geek crowd has moved on to the next big thing. Kickstarter has made things worse in this sense by allowing designers to reach buyers themselves without having to go through publishers; Games is now the single largest category on KS.