What it costs to sell on eBay and Shipping/Handling Profits

relayer

If you sell a PCGS slab opened at one cent with no reserve with a gallery picture the chart below shows the costs.

If you charge $4.50 S/H (no insurance) the last column shows your profit/(loss)
When you sell a $15 slab and get $4.50 for S/H you can make a buck, but $15 wouldn't cover slabbing fees,let alone the cost of the coin.



If you don't take PayPal, you can make a buck on a $50 coin, but start losing at $60.00

lordmarcovan

Interesting.

I always underestimate the cost, it seems.

stman

It all sounds like a REAL job would be in order.

Baley

what did you pay for the coin?

BAJJERFAN

Here again it all depends on if you are garage sale-ing or you have a need to make a profit. If you want to go the "true" auction venue then you have no control over what you get for your item; hence you risk a loss. You can price it to guarantee a profit but risk wasting your time and listing fees if no one wants it at that price. There must be a reason then that so many end their item listing early or sell "outside" of eBay.

comoncents

Where can I buy padded envelopes for $0.18 ?

DorkGirl

This is who I buy from eSupplyStore I don't remember for sure, but I think I ordered from their website last time....compare the prices.....Their Website

AuldFartte

aw jeez. No wonder I lose money .....

100proof1957

you can figure 7-8% for fee's and then postage,i only lose money on shipping when i make an error.
sold an item for 18.00 plus 7.50 shipping,was too big for 1st class,had to go priority for 14.35 !


OT,can somebody help me put this pix in my sig line ?

DorkGirl

Proof, click on the grey box that says "profile" then go to signature line and (I think!!) type in(or just copy and paste):

http://forums.collectors.com//attachments/DSCN0906.JPG


I'm pretty sure this will work

mirabela

Yeah... or the auction I did for 53 large UK pennies where I stupidly didn't say anything about paying more than 4.50 to go to ENGLAND (duh!!!). Item sold for $6.00, w/ $4.50 s&h cost. $10.50 to send it to the buyer... Gave the lot away, in essence. Maybe paid a buck or two to ebay & paypal, in fact, to get rid of it. Live & learn. Generally, I figure I keep 92% of the final sale price for business done on ebay, averaged over those that pay with paypal and those that don't.

bestbino

Maybe the Buyers are correct and we shouldn't charge them anything.
I would be very happy to Charge $0.00 and have the buyer just pick up the item at my house. So, If you live in Ohio, you only need to spend a couple days of your time to drive to Boston. A few tanks of gas and maybe a Hotel overnight stay. But, What the heck, You just saved $2.50 on shipping and handling. Now, you could just pay me in cash when you get here. That would be great. Then I could save a little on my Paypal fee. Now this sounds like a Win Win situation. You save $2.50 plus get to look at the coin in person. That way, if you don't like it, you don't have to worried about any return policies. This would be kind of like just going to the live Auction in Long Beach. Just think how many $2.50's you saved by making that trip.

stman

Betnino says

<< <i>Maybe the Buyers are correct and we shouldn't charge them anything.
I would be very happy to Charge $0.00 and have the buyer just pick up the item at my house. So, If you live in Ohio, you only need to spend a couple days of your time to drive to Boston. A few tanks of gas and maybe a Hotel overnight stay. But, What the heck, You just saved $2.50 on shipping and handling. Now, you could just pay me in cash when you get here. That would be great. Then I could save a little on my Paypal fee. Now this sounds like a Win Win situation. You save $2.50 plus get to look at the coin in person. That way, if you don't like it, you don't have to worried about any return policies. This would be kind of like just going to the live Auction in Long Beach. Just think how many $2.50's you saved by making that trip. >>



Yup, looking at all the hot and heavy action on your auctions.... it looks like it would be worth an airplane ride to check out your "stuff."

I agree, why bother with exposure to the world via ebay auction, just sit home and wait for your doorbell to ring. Is that the doorbell? Nope? not yet? ok, go sit back down.

jimtre

I don't understand how you can figure it a $78.86 loss if you sell an item for $1000.

What did you pay for the item? Minus what you sold the item for would give you your GROSS PROFIT/LOSS.

You obviously would subtract your costs to come up with your net GAIN/LOSS on the $1000.

Any and all business's have costs of doing business.

From your equations it would seem to me that your PROFIT/LOSS comes entirely from the shipping and handling costs.


By the way Bestbino in your answer:Maybe the Buyers are correct and we shouldn't charge them anything.
I would be very happy to Charge $0.00 and have the buyer just pick up the item at my house. So, If you live in Ohio, you only need to spend a couple days of your time to drive to Boston. A few tanks of gas and maybe a Hotel overnight stay. But, What the heck, You just saved $2.50 on shipping and handling. Now, you could just pay me in cash when you get here. That would be great. Then I could save a little on my Paypal fee. Now this sounds like a Win Win situation

Your win/win situation on this $1000 item would save you the cost of the Padded envelope and the 83 cents postage for a total of $1.03 and you would actually lose more since you didn't charge the $4.50 and save $1.03, as stated above your TOTAL LOSS would be the $83.36 minus the $1.01 wit a final loss of $82.31

So I guess you would be better off not having them come to your house to pick it up and as far as not having to return it heck I would use the same padded envelope you sent it in and my return costs would only b the 83 cents postage

But RELAYER I did like your charts!

Jim

bestbino

Jim
You lost me a little on this one.

Relay was assuming that there was no profit or loss on the coin itself. He paid $1,000 for the Coin and sold the Coin for $1,000. Then he is trying to show the profit or loss from just selling an item. The costs of Ebay, Shipping charges etc etc.

The point I was trying to make was, If you don't want to pay for shipping and handling, just come pick up the coin.
Jeff

relayer

<< <i>I don't understand how you can figure it a $78.86 loss if you sell an item for $1000. >>



Ummm... these are known as "fixed costs" because, well, they are fixed.

If you bought the coin for $1 and sold if for $1000, you'd make another $999 to offset your fixed costs, and if you bought it for $2000 and sold it for $1000 you would lose $1000 in addition to your fixed costs.

So what have we learned from this?

Well, if you are going to sell a coin for $1000 and take PayPal, you have better paid less than $921.14 if you want a profit. Why? Because it will cost you $78.86 in fixed costs to do it.

Russ

<< <i>Well, if you are going to sell a coin for $1000 and take PayPal, you have better paid less than $921.14 if you want a profit. Why? Because it will cost you $78.86 in fixed costs to do it. >>



Or, to put it another way, if you're operating on a 10% markup you damned well better sell a hell of a lot of coins if you expect to make a living at it.

Russ, NCNE