eBay fees
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Posts: 413 ✭✭✭✭
Just wondering how anyone makes any money with the eBay fees being so darned high for coins? I mean more than 10%?
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Posts: 413 ✭✭✭✭
Comments
8.625% with a store. Gotta have good margins.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
I guess. I just don't see how a PCGS graded coin and shipping can sell for $10-20 and the seller make any money. I guess I'm missing something here.......... hmmmmmm.......... eBay is really taking some folks to the cleaners. Any idea why coins are some of the highest fees on eBay? Thanks!
Even store owners often lose on eBay, even in the best markets. I know I do. OTOH, when I have worked out net margins for major shows, the travel, lodging, table fees, flights, etc can easily eclipse eBay and even 10% unless you can get some extraordinary profits on enough sales. My approach generally is that there is some inventory appropriate for eBay and some appropriate for shows. A lot of dealers do more buying at shows than selling too.
The secret is to not grade and sell $10-$20 coins.
Repetition of ignorance is ignorance raised to the power two.
I am buying those coins in bulk for $3 -$5 each. 50% profit isn't bad.
Yea I'm beginning to think it's cheaper to sell to a B&M. Probably break about even with no 10% fee and shipping charges.
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Coins have some of the lowest fees on eBay.
With a store and top-rated seller, you can be paying under 8% including payment processing. You can be as low as 4.5% for bullion.
I've been on eBay for 23+ years and profitably sold $2 million in coins. There are things you can't or shouldn't sell on eBay. There are things that you could only sell on eBay.
With the payment fees included, I was at 13% for the last few I sold on Ebay. I didn't have a store.
Yep..........that was where I was at.......hence why I started this post. I guess having a store makes all the difference in possibly making or losing money........... Then again, I don't see how someone in China can sell something for $5 and ship it to the USA for free when clearly there's NO WAY any money could be made...........but they sell LOTS of items, so there's that. LOL
Shipping from China costs next to nothing. It's subsidized by the government. You could do some research. There are numerous articles explaining it.
https://thydzik.com/how-do-chinesehong-kong-sellers-make-money-on-ebay-with-99c-free-shipping-items/
But for US coins sales, the coins have to get to China first, to be shipped from there. Unless they are "minted" there...
Like the store that lost a little on every sale, but made it up on volume.
tbh, about the only time i lose money on coins with ebay is when i start them at .99 or well below what i considered my minimum accepted value. so the only coins i do that with are ones that have little value, under $20 to begin with.
I sell lots of stuff that's valued at $10 or less on eBay. I have used some of the profits from those sales to pay my home loan off 15 years early. With the rest of the profits, I buy more coins to resell.
What was that question about fees again?
That is not what the OP said.
However, it also costs nothing to fill a container with coins and ship them anywhere. You don't send them one at a time.
Ebay is still the cheapest venue in the planet.
Good point. But interestingly, the 'next to nothing' quintupled in price this last year or so...
So what? Do you know how many coins you can put in a container? You're still taking pennies each.
Do you know what the weight limit is for a 40 foot container? Can it really be filled?
I’ve read of coin shortages in African nations. It is too costly to mint elsewhere and ship small change
Example. Proof set. Seller grades em all (after looking them over). Couple 70’s and you can sell those 69’s cheaper. Also theres something called a “Lost leader” where a seller advertises a coin to “lead” you in hoping you will return or “save them “ for reference and future sales
There used to be a way to write some of the loss off as advertising but not a taxman , yeah!
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"Loss leader"
A "lost leader" is when the Scoutmaster gets lost in the woods.
A lost leader probably couldn’t determine the best loss leaders
I very rarely buy from other dealers at shows to sell on ebay, unless I can catch them on something they missed, like a variety, or undergrade. Just not enough margin. 98% of my stuff comes in from over the counter buying at shop. Pay fair, but allow for ebay sales. If they dont like the price, I send em packing. Unless its something I really want to have, which is very little in this area.
Good point op. Here is my candid answer:
After posting each month’s eBay activity to a spreadsheet I simply have 10 pct added to what it shows as pct of sales eBay costs to get a calculated minimum markup cost plus markup (margin) factor. It makes me sick see what they taking. This doesn’t acct even acct for OPEX non eBay fixed costs of the business. Quite frankly at least a 30 pct margin needed. So For Bay I don’t markup anything less than cost + 50pct or keystone 100 pct. Anything less just doesn’t float my boat. Yes I make money there but like smash mouth ball they don’t give up yardage easily. Auctions (for cash flow) just let them go for whatever can get win or lose.
Shows my strategy out get cash flow at least make table fee - I might sell certain items minimum cost plus 20 pct or simply cost plus 10 pct commission on big ticket material just get some cash flow.
In any biz u have to work an angle that allows survival and growth. RC biz is a real dogfight. I often wonder how the young Janeen Cody (Animal Kingdom) would handle some of them off the bourse lol.