Ebay questions

IlikeZARcoins

Well I am now happily sorting myself out on the bay, but I still have a million question:

1) How are we supposed to make money on smaller items with Ebay's fees ?

For Example I wanted to list 3 UNC Irish Pingins for BIN Euro 9.99. They cost me 7 Euro inclusive of all expenses. So take away the listing fee from the tenner, that leaves me with say 8.80, then take away the selling fees if it sells @ 5% that leaves me with say 1.30 Euro profit.

Are there any tricks / tips that I should know about ???

I am thinking of starting my own Ebay shop ( the cheapest level until I get sorted ) as listing is cheaper.

Incidently I had a starting bid price of 7.99 Euro on the Pingins so if I only received one bid I would really lose.

Feel free to PM if you want to give 'tips' in secret.

coinpictures

Your margin is too low, IMO.

You either need to be selling merchandise that has a higher margin, or be pricing your merchandise higher (can be tricky on common/modern material if you intend to still be competitive).

The way powersellers make money on low-margin items is by selling thousands of units. Trying to do it on small numbers will just result in a lot of work for little gain...

IlikeZARcoins

What kind of net margins should I be looking at ? What is an acceptable net margin for dealing in coins ?

Preussen

<< <i>How are we supposed to make money on smaller items with Ebay's fees ?

For Example I wanted to list 3 UNC Irish Pingins for BIN Euro 9.99. They cost me 7 Euro inclusive of all expenses. So take away the listing fee from the tenner, that leaves me with say 8.80, then take away the selling fees if it sells @ 5% that leaves me with say 1.30 Euro profit.

Are there any tricks / tips that I should know about ???

I am thinking of starting my own Ebay shop ( the cheapest level until I get sorted ) as listing is cheaper.

Incidently I had a starting bid price of 7.99 Euro on the Pingins so if I only received one bid I would really lose.

Feel free to PM if you want to give 'tips' in secret. >>



Are you sure you're not GCL?

If you lose a little per item, just make up for it with increased volume. - Preussen

IlikeZARcoins

If I lose on my items I'll stop selling.

I have plenty of Sovereigns to sell but I'll wait till I'm a bit more experienced when it comes to selling - hopefully by that time the price of gold will be up to $700.

coinpictures

<< <i>What kind of net margins should I be looking at ? What is an acceptable net margin for dealing in coins ? >>



Those are questions that no one can answer but you. What are your overhead expenses? Are you planning to do this as a hobby or a business? If the latter, do you have a long-term business plan? How do you plan to market your Ebay store? Is this going to be your soul source of income?

Doing it casually (as I do) is a lot less risk, and doesn't require as much effort and planning. I'm simply selling off material from my collection, or material that I've bought elsewhere specifically with the intent of resale. I have a full-time job, and even other hobbies that generate more income than coins do, so if I screw up or get lazy, it's not the end of the world. I would be approaching it completely differently if I were depending on it to pay the bills.

You may want to sit down and formulate a strategic plan rather than operating on a wing and a prayer...

coinpictures

<< <i>Hopefully by that time the price of gold will be up to $700. >>



And what happens if gold drops to $400? You need to plan for that contingency as well...

IlikeZARcoins

Cheers Dan.

The sovereigns have been in my collection for a while, if the price of gold drops then they'll stay in my collection longer.

Also this ( Ebay shop ) would be a hobby adventure - I trade stocks full time ( and own rental property ) and that is where the real money is imo.

Thanks for your help.

Edit: I should add that I like the thought of Residual income ( ie Rent & dividends ) or a web-based business as my coins would be sold without me having to be at the computer the whole day.

ROBERTB

I've always wondered how people make money selling Matchbox cars for 50c and other virtually worthless items, but they continue to sell?

danglen

<< <i> I've always wondered how people make money selling Matchbox cars for 50c and other virtually worthless items, but they continue to sell? >>



They may lose a dollar on every item but they make it up in volume

IlikeZARcoins

'They may lose a dollar on every item but they make it up in volume'

Yep - sell 1000 items, lose $1000 - great !!!

laurentyvan

Many eBay sellers have very low BIN or auction starts but make a $1.50 to $2 or $3 per item on inflated shipping charges.

Sometimes it's nice to group a few coins together. I sometimes take an item I can't give away and marry it to one or two other items that are more desireable which seems to work pretty consistently.

I've also noticed that better item imaging, description, and overall Auction presentation invariably results in higher bidding. If you use Auctiva (which you should) you're going to be able to select as many images as you want without paying any extra. You'll get supersizing and slideshow for free. Auctiva drove my early eBay auction costs on items with lots of images from $2.00 or $3.00 to .60 or .70 or less (including gallery image) per item. You will also be able to select from a number of templates that can add a visual depth and professionalism to your auction page (anyones page).

Store items (with gallery image and lots of other pics) at $.03 each is a no-brainer. List 100 items, leave them in the store as long as you want, you'll sell from there consistently (all things being equal) and have any number of items to move to auction status whenever you want at the flick of a button.