Breaking Even

[stinahut]

Hi, I am relatively new to eBay. I have become a full time seller, but I am barely breaking even between sales and eBay/subscription fees. How can I stay competitive and still make a profit? Help?

[recordingsystems]

You need to buy your stock for less, all expenses considered, sell higher price if you can, and sell more of it. 

[888gifts]

1) First of all, get rid of the store.  The store subscription is not worth the money when you have currently 21 actual listings.  

2) Ebay gives you 50 FREE insertion every month on an account as a "basic" seller (no store subscription), use those ones.  Use the free listings wisely.

Hope this helps! 🙂

[recordingsystems]

If you only have 20 listings, it's hard to make a profit paying the store expenses.  Unless, of course, you sell a lot of the 20 listings. 

[*coins]

Just slooooow down a little. Don't start trying to do everything at once when you start. Dropshipping can get very tricky...I have had some bad experiences with that. There are a lot of items to be found at local estate sales, Goodwills, and Salvation Armys at this time of year. I make a great profit off of all of those. Use your phone to look up prices and figure out if you should buy something.

Get a little bit of feedback under your wing and slowly start to expand your business. Hope this helps.

~~~~~Alex~~~~~

[femmefan1946]

Watch out for options like sub-title, designer, Buy It Now, reserves.

And really pay attention to shipping.

Are you allow a little in your asking price for the costs of packaging? Bubblewrap ain't free.

Did you notice there is a 10% fee on your shipping charges?

Are your shipping charges accurate?

Are you remembering local sales taxes in your procurement cost?

Are you including a cost for your labour? Minimum wage here in British Columbia is 17 cents a minute.

The more different items you list, the more likely you are to sell something. Are you encouraging browsers to look at your other items? Are you advertising that you combine and discount shipping?

Are you using Free Shipping and do you understand that it really means the cost of shipping is included in the asking price of the item?

[nola.kathr]

I so agree, get ducks in a row, write your plan out, do it step by step, don't jump ahead of yourself,
you Never lose with prayer and beginning with Him before you start or finish your day.
Kathryn

[scampin]

There is definatly a learning curve to selling. Don't under sell your items it just ruins the market. I very seldom offer free shipping and do more BIN listings. If you have a quality item the sales will come you just have to wait it out. eBay polices change so much that I gave up chasing the carrot. I really don't care about the top rated seller anymore if I have to offer 30 to 60 day returns, who does that anywhere else? Just hang in there and do the best you can, buy cheap sell high, find a niche. Good luck.

[nola.kathr]

Hello,
Thank you, I would like the feedback part to be more realistic it's not hate to say a joke, I try and give True feedback not nasty mean but eBay won't let you, but it let One person write negative on mine saying"it was the third time he heard someone use excuse was in hospital" I could prove I was in hospital for my mom, but Life happens, can't let it define you, Then people bug you on it, I pretty much just do it that way I track what has come in if I don't do then I Know it hasn't come in yet.
what is a BIN listings?
Thank you again,
Kathryn

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

@nola.kathr I will reply to your question about BIN on your other post.  This thread was started in Dec 2016 by an OP that is no longer registered.     It's always a good idea to check the post date before replying on a thread.    I have made the same mistake before, so don't worry.  

 I suggest that no one else reply on this thread.