Topic: Selling on eBay-Cost Analysis

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Posted at October 30, 2004, 2:16 pm:

For those of you who sell items with very slim profit margins, I thought these figures might help you to adjust your selling prices or s/h fees. Before signing up with any 3rd party services or start using advanced listing options, you may want to really analyze your actual bottom line first.

Sample Item Scenario
Item: xyz widget
Sale Price: $9.99
Shipping Charge: $4.00
Total Charges: $13.99

Listing Fee (General auction-No extras): $ .35
Final Value Commission Fee (eBay): $ .52
Total eBay Fees: $ .87

PayPal Fee (based on Total Charges): $ .71

Total Charges: $13.99
Total Fees: $ 1.58 (11.2%)

Net: $12.41
Postage Fee: $ 4.00

Balance: $ 8.41 (Take item cost and other fees out of this)

Multiply that by 100 auctions and you pay eBay $87.00 while you are paying PayPal an additional $71.00

So, that's $158.00 worth of base expenses per 100 items. Subtract the $400 in shipping charges (which goes to the P.O. *Note: PayPal takes a piece of this as well) and you end up with $999.00 - $158.00 = $841.00 gross.

Doesn't sound so bad, but you also have to figure in the number of auctions you have to list in order to realize 100 successful sales. At an average of 40% (which is high these days) you'd have additional listing fees of $52.50 (based on an additional 150 items that weren't sold). That would bring your gross down to $788.50 ($7.89 per item).

Factor in your per item cost and.........well, you get the picture.

These figures do not take into account any additional features, like BIN, Gallery, Boldface, etc. or listing items at higher starting prices....where the listing fee rises considerably. Nor do they include any time or packing materials. What is your time worth? How much do you spend on packing supplies? You may also have additional fees for listing software, post sale software fees, image hosting fees, etc. that would also have to be factored into these equations. Hmmmmm.

Bottom line. Selling items on eBay can eat all of your profit if you don't calculate these figures into your selling formula before listing auctions. You may want to check my math but these figures woke me up and made me re-think my selling practices.

Do yourself a favor. Take a sheet of paper, simulate a sale like I've outlined above, and write down all of the expenses you can think of that contribute to the successful sale of that item. You may be surprised to find out what your bottom line really is and who is really making money off of your hard work.

* Another enlightening post to brighten your day by kjp . . . visit our continual online yard sales ... ... click here!

Original of the message was taken from http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/

Replies:

I build the entire cost of listing, final value fee, and Paypal fees i...

How would you formulate an equation based on the scenario I outlined b...

Hi kjp55 - I have struggled with your question before.

That's ok, Sun.

> where did you come up with the formulas you posted above? I jus...

I personally do not list at auction any item valued at less than $25.

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The title in the tias shops is SELLING LOWER PRICED ITEMS A LOSING PRO...

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http://www.

I agree Lobster Lu and think the problem with ebay now is the .

It goes beyond the 99-cent sellers.

There will always be sellers on ebay who are not interested in making ...

Hi Lobster, interesting poll subject you bring up.

I notice in calculating the cost of doing business on eBay, there is n...

... is what I'd like to know. This information and long term Sell-Thr...


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