How much should I charge for this service? (credit card, fees, commission)

[windflower]

All input will be greatly appreciated; here is the situation:

My friend's husband is in the jewelry business; he is a designer (with his own line) and they also have a small retail store that sells his work plus that of other higher-end manufacturers such as Sachs Reisman, KC Designs, Gem Platinum, et cetera. My friend called today to say that her husband is interested in selling his "back stock" on eBay but doesn't have the time or experience to want to do it himself. They know I've been using eBay for about six years as a seller and buyer, so his idea was that I might be interested in establishing and handling selling for him on eBay on a commission basis as an independent contractor.

In other words I would help set up the proper eBay accounts for him, and then he would give me the jewelry, digital (jpg file) photograph(s), description and all other information I'd need for listings. I already have a free Photobucket account, so it would be a simple matter for me to image-host. I'd deal with everything related to the eBay auction, including packing and shipping which would be simple and cost-effective via insured Priority Mail. He has LOTS of back stock, so this could conceivably be a fairly long-term project. I'm retired, so this would be an ideal situation for me.

My problem is that I have no idea what commission rate (percentage) I should ask for in order to provide a service like this. The eBay and PayPal fees associated with listings would of course be his responsibility and not included in whatever he would pay me for the time and effort I'd invest in handling the auctions from start to finish. I've sold many things on eBay over the past five years but they were all my own things (collectibles mostly) and not on behalf of anyone else. This isn't quite the same as creating and setting up an actual individual website, because it would be only on eBay, and the amount of items he gives me per month will probably vary; so logic suggests the best method is to charge a flat percentage commission per item. But how much would be fair? I don't want to be greedy, nor do I want to sell myself (and my time and effort) short either. Has anyone else had experience in this kind of situation, or would like to offer some advice on what the going rate for such services are? Thanks ever so much!

[chaz longue]

There's a company here in Burlington VT which does this for a fee.
I'll bet you can find them with a web search!

Good luck - let us know how it goes!

[windflower]

Originally Posted by chaz longue

There's a company here in Burlington VT which does this for a fee.
I'll bet you can find them with a web search!

Do you have any suggestions on what my search parameters might be? Something like "eBay services"??? I'm not entirely sure what such a service might be called. It's not consulting, nor is it web hosting... That's what has me so puzzled!

[chaz longue]

I searched "Burlington Vermont ebay"

I found a place called Global Trading Post.

I'm sure there are other places like this in other localities.

[Racelady88]

There was an e-bay store in Aiken. I tried to have them do what you are considering (they were too busy). If I am not mistaken their cut was 40% of sale up to a certain dollar amount, then it went to 35% up to the next pre-set dollar amount, etc.

[Rapture]

Originally Posted by Evey

There was an e-bay store in Aiken. I tried to have them do what you are considering (they were too busy). If I am not mistaken their cut was 40% of sale up to a certain dollar amount, then it went to 35% up to the next pre-set dollar amount, etc.

This sounds like the right way to do it but charge less. You are doing it from home with no overhead? So charge 30% up to a certain amount and then 25% after that. The profit margin is usually so high on jewelry that they are still going to do very well if you can sell it for him. Have you sold jewelry on ebay before? I've tried and there's a lot of competition on there. If you have any tips you want to share...

[plaidmom]

In my neck of the woods "ebay sellers" charge 35%.

Sounds like a fun project...good luck!

[windflower]

Wow, I am a bit amazed that some of the existing services charge so much (40%). Then again, I remember hearing from some friends that even years ago, local consignment/antique shops were charging 35% or 40% of the sale price as their fee ... and that didn't involve anything more than the item taking up shelf space and some minor bookkeeping!

From what I now understand, the eBay listing services also take photo(s) of the items. Since my friend's husband would be doing that (he has a high-end digital camera that he already uses for taking his jewelry ad photos), that would be one less thing I'd be doing. In view of that, I'm starting to think that a 25% commission would be fair for both parties. I don't know whether the other services are including eBay's and PayPal's fees in their 35% or 40% commissions, but I suspect that perhaps they are. Since those would be billed directly to my "client" via the credit card he'd use for both, and could easily add up to 8%-10% combined... His total expense in fees and my commission will probably end up being right in the 35%-40% range.

Rapture, I've sold many things on eBay but never jewelry. I do know that eBay has very strict listing parameters and rightfully so. I wouldn't consider doing this for anyone other than an experienced jeweler because I'd be too afraid I might accidentally misrepresent something within the listing... my level of jewelry expertise isn't anything near that of my friend's husband, who has been in the business for 35 years; he learned the trade from his father and in fact the retail store was originally the dad's and has been there since 1920.

[christina0001]

I think 40% sounds like a lot, but what do I know? I was thinking more along 15% - 25%.

[DocGSD]

Theres a place in KCMO that charges a minimum of $7 per sale and an additional $8 per $100 sold. There are ebay stores all over the place for youu tl look from. Since your retired you should probably under bid those stores.