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eBay commissions are off the hook. I sold my laptop for $200 and paid a little over $20 in commissions (no extra listing fees). Insane. Last time I use ebay to sell anything. I'm now doing it on craigslist or donating it.
Actually I just checked Amazon. If you list a computer on Amazon for $200, Amazons commission is $17.44. The thing is with Amazon the shipping is set at $4.49. So if you charge the $200 for the computer, they ad the $4.49 postage to your total, then take their commission out of that total, and you as the seller have to pay the postage.Depending on where it is going and how heavy, it can run you from eight or nine, to about eighteen dollars, and you need to get a signature.
I have been selling on ebay for three plus years ~ sell the same items ~ around 500 types ~ Have Top Rated Seller and Power Seller status (by the way they eliminated Power Seller discounts so there is no longer any value to being a Power Seller). Unfortunately, ebay could in my opinion be totally and permanently on the skids. If I had an easy way to describe what I have seen, I would say that eBay is menopausal and about to burn out fully and completely. I would describe my income from eBay as passive, I net around $14,800.00 annually when all costs of selling are considered. Definately not enough for the abuse all sellers on ebay are subjected to. I got burned by eBay "Buyer Protection" so I no longer buy anything on eBay and that was half the fun of selling on there. I will wait until we see what happens on the 17th of this month with the buy out ~ If ebays stock doesn't go up at least $5.00 per share that day, I will be bailing out of eBay completely within six weeks. I just have too much invested in product and machinery to stick around a sinking ship.
Quick question ~ When did it become legal to sell dropship items on eBay? Must be very recent.
I have been selling on ebay for three plus years ~ sell the same items ~ around 500 types ~ Have Top Rated Seller and Power Seller status (by the way they eliminated Power Seller discounts so there is no longer any value to being a Power Seller). Unfortunately, ebay could in my opinion be totally and permanently on the skids. If I had an easy way to describe what I have seen, I would say that eBay is menopausal and about to burn out fully and completely. I would describe my income from eBay as passive, I net around $14,800.00 annually when all costs of selling are considered. Definately not enough for the abuse all sellers on ebay are subjected to. I got burned by eBay "Buyer Protection" so I no longer buy anything on eBay and that was half the fun of selling on there. I will wait until we see what happens on the 17th of this month with the buy out ~ If ebays stock doesn't go up at least $5.00 per share that day, I will be bailing out of eBay completely within six weeks. I just have too much invested in product and machinery to stick around a sinking ship.
Quick question ~ When did it become legal to sell dropship items on eBay? Must be very recent.
I know of college friends back in the 90's that sold items using drop-shipper companies.
I used to drop-ship in the 90s as well. It died off for a while. And then has become popular again with all these products from hong kong. Profit margin is low but if you move a lot, I guess it's worth it.
I keep hearing about people making lots of money on ebay, but where do the people get the items they sell. I see lots of people sell lots of clothes, new and used, but where do they get the clothes to sell?
also, do you have to pay taxes on money made on ebay? must it be claimed as income, or how does that work?
Some people are what might be called professional sellers. They can often be found posting free ads on craigslist. They sell stuff for other people - take pictures, write and post listings, and ship the items - and take a fee for their services. (Experienced sellers, if they are good at what they do, can get higher prices for your items than you can.)
Some people have wholesale sources and sell at a markup from the wholesale cost. These people sometimes ship products themselves, and sometimes use "drop ship" suppliers who ship the product from distant locations upon receipt of payment. (ebay seller receives payment from bidder, seller pays supplier, supplier ships to bidder)
I have found a niche where I can (often but not always) buy things on ebay and resell them for higher prices. There are two ways I can do this: (1) Large, diverse lots can be bought cheap and the items resold individually for more than the cost of the lot (this requires more work of course but I think it's worthwhile), or (2) I can buy cheap and resell when I know more about an item than the other bidders (this happens when sellers either don't know exactly what they have, or don't bother to write a detailed description). These are usually low-value items where sellers might not consider it worthwhile to spend more time on a detailed listing. Basically, I'm willing to put in a lot of effort to make profit through volume.
I actually work for a huge power seller on eBay and amazon.
It's all about volume now because the margins are minuscule. Also amazon FBA has become huge. Th company does about 120 million ( about 100 employees) in revenue a year. Even though the company does a lot of business on eBay and amazon we get very little, if any, special treatment. The truth is if we were to go the sales will be filled by others anyways. eBay and amazon clearly know this.
What sells now is complete junk for the most part. Americans are so addicted to consuming that even when they're discretionary income is down, they'd rather buy multiple pieces of garbage than save for a single quality purchase.
Id say eBay and amazon are pretty much dead for the little guy as far as selling goes.
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