Ebay sellers. How can they sell that low?

[themot]

Im looking at importing some goods soon into the country that are of a bulky nature so the minimum is a 20ft container to make it cost effective. Im actually bringing in 2 40ft containers to allow me to sell for a better price.

My landed cost per Item is about $500. By the time I factor in overheads etc I will be selling these for about $900-$1000


So I look on Ebay to see what other people are selling these for and i am seeing people selling them for $450 - $550

How on Earth can they do this? Before anyone says "they're getting it for a better price than you" that's can't be true as I have checked out many suppliers and what I wrote about is roughly the going rate. They are larger sellers too so obviously they have to have some kind of overheads just to store the products. Shipping seems ok too so they're not hiding profit there.


Are people really content to import container loads of goods costing 10k-20k and make about $500-$1000?

[SmallBusinessWorks]

Where are you importing from and what sort of goods?

[JGH]

I've seen quite a few companies on ebay selling directly from the factory. By that I mean thats its the actual manufacturer that is undercutting everyone and selling straight out of hong kong or china.

[King]

Originally Posted by JGH

I've seen quite a few companies on ebay selling directly from the factory. By that I mean thats its the actual manufacturer that is undercutting everyone and selling straight out of hong kong or china.

Yes often that is how they do it, then wait to get stung on shipping costs...

[BlueTiger]

It depends were your sourcing your products from, if your bringing in a container load then you should be getting them from the manufacturer. What port there being sent from can also make a difference.

[Phantom458]

I am a power seller on ebay and buy directly from the manufacturer here in Australia. I do make a good margin on my products. I sell luxury beauty products however I also buy from other online stores during their sales.

I also looked at importing from overseas but due to a number of factors including costs and authenticity of product when buying from China I decided against it.

I think it is dependent on what you sell and ensuring you have a good reputation on ebay before importing large quantities.

Good luck.

Donna

[Spider]

Maybe your negotiating and purchasing skills really aren't as good as you thought.
Buying direct from manufacturers, prices vary greatly.
By customising designs/packaging, you can reduce these prices.
Assume you are purchasing from China.
Prices will vary across the whole country, which is unbelievably huge.
How can you know the price you are purchasing for is a good price?
Have you had maybe 10 factory direct prices from different manufacturers?
There can be huge quality differences from different manufacturers, never go by pictures unless they are real photo's taken of a real current item.
Even then, you can't see the quality until it's in your hands.

Maybe you are importing ineffectively in regards to value for money for your shipping.
eg: we also import lightweight bulky items and very heavy small items.
It would be crazy to order a container full of lightweight stuff when a container can be loaded to around 23 tonne worth of product.
So we usually always mix lightweight bulky stuff with heavy items.

Maybe you just don't have enough experience and have not built up good enough relationships with suppliers so you can get the absolute best prices.
Maybe you have not been dealing with your current suppliers long enough to get the "special" discount available.

Maybe your handling, storage and distribution methods are not as efficient as they could be?
(we often pre-sell up to 10-20 tonne of product before it's even landed here, and we're only a small business).

I could be wrong in assuming all this, but if others are selling at your cost price, there must be a way you can make a profit.
Unless they are liquidating old stock at a loss.

Good luck

[websitedesigner]

Hi mate the other thing to consider is a pretty big % of ebay sellers do it in their spare time for some extra cash, don't have 'overheads' and don't have to generate a full income from the business. There is a huge difference in costs to running something like this to a real full time business, you mention your overheads are almost doubling your costs. Perhaps people can get them for $500 or so and they are happy to sell them for $550 sell a few a week and pocket a few hundred a week - perhaps forget to mention it to the ATO.

I think that is what you are up against when you sell via Ebay.

[tomwhite]

Originally Posted by websitedesigner

Hi mate the other thing to consider is a pretty big % of ebay sellers do it in their spare time for some extra cash, don't have 'overheads' and don't have to generate a full income from the business. There is a huge difference in costs to running something like this to a real full time business, you mention your overheads are almost doubling your costs. Perhaps people can get them for $500 or so and they are happy to sell them for $550 sell a few a week and pocket a few hundred a week - perhaps forget to mention it to the ATO.

I think that is what you are up against when you sell via Ebay.

I think this is the keypoint most 'ebayers' are not doing it as a real business and can afford to cut margins. Also you'll find that they rely on having a high volume of transactions with a low margin, rather than a few with a large margin. Very competitive marketplace now.

[mexham]

I tend to agree with Dan. I think there are just a lot of people selling stuff on Ebay just to make a bit of extra coin. They don't have to take any business costs into account and will just sell to make a few dollars profit - If any if time cost was taken into account.

I would stay away for selling your items on Ebay if you can't compete there on price. For the costs involved in listing it is not worth it.

If you are wanting to the sell the goods online then setup your own website, and differentiate your product/service from the cheaper sellers. Not everyone buys on Ebay, so work to pickup those doing websearches on your products.

Good luck.