Guest TabbyBoy Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Well i say all profit its 13.4% thats with paypal fees,And lets be honest here we all want as much profit going into our pockets then on sellers fees.But to be fair when you do use ebay you have people willing to pickup and pay cash so theres a plus side I share your concerns, Mark. It's a lot more than 13.4% as there's also the ridiculous FVF on postage (how can that be legal?). Due to the prices of packing materials which can't really be passed on to buyer as you'll be uncompetitive, you're looking at closer to 20%. And.... don't forget, the taxman takes 40% of what's left! This is why the vast majority of my sales are now through Gumtree, local ads, schools, word of mouth, etc. Even selling a 41999 for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarCityBrickCompany Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 The point is just because you or anyone does not make profit it is not always business models fault of one person, but can also be de-stimulating environment which you would understand by taking economy courses in my humble opinion. My theoretical ''thesis'' was just to point that it is not immediately a problem in persons business method or plan or strategy.... sometimes changing environment (moving to different country for example) made a bad business plan go to great and profitable. It is ofcourse the easiest to say ''Your business method is wrong, rethink it'' Ebay fees are high, regardless of traffic, but they are justified from their point of view and obviously sellers accept them as ''cost of doing business'' So thats all that matters in the end overall, but individually its better to look it from all points of view not just the easiest one. More nonsense eBay fees have not gone up much more than anything else in life. I hate the misleading way that they do it, but for the most part - the net effect is in line with most other things. They do not charge 50%, and most everyone else that sells on eBay finds a way to profit after those fees - so yes, the seller (and their business model) is likely in control of the situation (so stop blaming the fees). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 More nonsense eBay fees have not gone up much more than anything else in life. I hate the misleading way that they do it, but for the most part - the net effect is in line with most other things. They do not charge 50%, and most everyone else that sells on eBay finds a way to profit after those fees - so yes, the seller (and their business model) is likely in control of the situation (so stop blaming the fees). Ebay fees are the highest, from all options to sell..... How many sellers left Ebay lately, Ebay forums are filled with posts of people with 20 or even 30 times my feedback who said good bye to Ebay thanks to their fee structure and destimulation.... I never sold much on Ebay, but with the changes I read on May 15th, I might just give it up, because obviously Ebay does not like my $, because they want me to pay for shop and monthly ''fee''.... Ebay might face their own created doom sometimes, if their ''greed'' will continue in such way.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TabbyBoy Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 "The bigger they are, the harder they fall" I hope eBay find out soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarCityBrickCompany Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Ebay fees are the highest, from all options to sell..... Yes they are, and they should be. How many sellers left Ebay lately, Ebay forums are filled with posts of people with 20 or even 30 times my feedback who said good bye to Ebay thanks to their fee structure and destimulation.... This is (and will continue be) the same story year after year. I never sold much on Ebay, but with the changes I read on May 15th, I might just give it up, because obviously Ebay does not like my $, because they want me to pay for shop and monthly ''fee''.... Yes, they do want you to pay for more - and the ones which grow to make it worthwhile, will make up for any sellers that eBay loses. Ebay might face their own created doom sometimes, if their ''greed'' will continue in such way.... Somewhat doubtful, but if it ever did happen you should expect that the newcomer would (after the initial "we are above such thing") also be greedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knarrff Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Try your local toys r us parking lot. Some members here have had great success there. I usually thought this would be a joke. Are members really doing this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ciglione Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I usually thought this would be a joke. Are members really doing this? I thought so too. I believe in toy fairs. To catch the impuls buyer. But parking lots? Maybe I should give it a try with some duds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcandre Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I usually thought this would be a joke. Are members really doing this? It's a joke. There was a guy here that used to talk about doing it. He got banned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcarin Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Yes, they do want you to pay for more - and the ones which grow to make it worthwhile, will make up for any sellers that eBay loses. The question is how come I am slowly but steadily growing my sales in my Bricklink store and not on Ebay.....My Ebay is stuck on average of 1 sale per 1,5 months ever since I joined while Bricklink grew from 0,6 per month to nearly 1 per month within a year..... Even with lower fees and ''crappier'' GUI.... Or its just my luck I guess Note, I keep roughly same amount of listings on Ebay and same amount of parts in my Bricklink store throughout entire time. And i also have similar feedback on both sites.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNH1974 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 What ebay do not realize is that many sellers just pass the extra costs onto buyers so everyone loses. I normally offer free local postage on BIN but charge for auctions, so when the FVF on postage came in up went my prices. And if anyone asks I tell them why. For example. I sell a vintage set with weighs 2kg to the USA or Australia for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarCityBrickCompany Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 The question is how come I am slowly but steadily growing my sales in my Bricklink store and not on Ebay.....My Ebay is stuck on average of 1 sale per 1,5 months ever since I joined while Bricklink grew from 0,6 per month to nearly 1 per month within a year..... Even with lower fees and ''crappier'' GUI.... Or its just my luck I guess Note, I keep roughly same amount of listings on Ebay and same amount of parts in my Bricklink store throughout entire time. And i also have similar feedback on both sites.... There was once a very reliable way to forecast eBay sales. If you had 100 listings for 10,000, and increased your listings to 200 for 20,000 - your net numbers would double. As you grew, your sales grew. That stopped working a couple years back, as many more LEGO sellers entered the market. Nowadays, unless you can keep growing, your sales will decline. As bad as that is, hopefully it will stop the influx of new sellers (since it is less worthwhile) and the market will stabilize. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TabbyBoy Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 What ebay do not realize is that many sellers just pass the extra costs onto buyers so everyone loses. I normally offer free local postage on BIN but charge for auctions, so when the FVF on postage came in up went my prices. And if anyone asks I tell them why. For example. I sell a vintage set with weighs 2kg to the USA or Australia for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markr3681 Posted May 13, 2014 Author Share Posted May 13, 2014 Not to mention the packaging costs and time along with enormous queues at post offices and collect+ shops. The more I think about it, the less I think it's worth bothering with < Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redcell Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 The point is just because you or anyone does not make profit it is not always business models fault of one person, but can also be de-stimulating environment which you would understand by taking economy courses in my humble opinion. My theoretical ''thesis'' was just to point that it is not immediately a problem in persons business method or plan or strategy.... sometimes changing environment (moving to different country for example) made a bad business plan go to great and profitable. It is ofcourse the easiest to say ''Your business method is wrong, rethink it'' Ebay fees are high, regardless of traffic, but they are justified from their point of view and obviously sellers accept them as ''cost of doing business'' So thats all that matters in the end overall, but individually its better to look it from all points of view not just the easiest one. If you are buying and selling a commodity and find that the fees in your chosen marketplace wipe out any profit that you could be making, I think that is pretty clear evidence that you have a flawed business plan...either you're buying too high, selling too soon or too low, or some external market shift is working against you. Regardless, in my book, the ability to generate profit in a given marketplace is a pretty clear indicator of whether your business plan is working at least when it comes to reselling Lego. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ciglione Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 If you are buying and selling a commodity and find that the fees in your chosen marketplace wipe out any profit that you could be making, I think that is pretty clear evidence that you have a flawed business plan...either you're buying too high, selling too soon or too low, or some external market shift is working against you. Regardless, in my book, the ability to generate profit in a given marketplace is a pretty clear indicator of whether your business plan is working at least when it comes to reselling Lego. When will your book be published Pacific? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ciglione Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I also like the title: "The ability to generate profit". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justafrog Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Threads like these always boil down to some simple points. 1. Do math. If you aren't good at math, hire someone else to do math. It's not rocket surgery to figure out whether you are making a profit, how much, and whether eBay or any other venue, online or off, is a good choice for you. In spite of the simplicity of doing math or getting someone else to do it for you, a truly astonishing number of sellers haven't done it or did it once and haven't kept up on it, and have no real clue what their profit margin might be, or any way of identifying when it starts to slide so they can analyze why. 2. eBay is not your Mommy. eBay, like you or me, is in it for themselves. They don't care about my cat's need for the good cat food, or that my younger daughter is still in braces, or that we had to take the car to the repair guy yesterday. They care about their bottom line and the unwashed mob called "shareholders" reaction to that bottom line. 3. Just because eBay isn't your Mommy doesn't make them the Evil Villain. Few of us, when we set our prices to sell items, care about our customers cats' need for the good cat food, or that their younger daughters are still in braces, or that they had to take the car to the repair guy yesterday. Indeed, when our customers try to get us to lower our prices by telling us of their financial problems, we come here and mock them. If we start to see sales drop off, we alter things and lower our prices to entice customers back. If we see sales rocketing, we raise our prices. Yeah. Kinda like eBay. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Mack Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 It all boils down you get what you pay for. Amazon and eBay have tremendous traffic, security and ease of use...and you pay for it. But you are also selling to many people who don't know what they should pay and you can charge a bit more to make up for the commission. Bricklink is an excellent market also, with cheaper commissions, but your sets are exposed to less people(more discriminating as well) and there are really no real protections for buyer or seller besides Paypal and some feedback. Our Brick Classifieds will have the lowest commissions and a feedback system like Bricklinks, but like Bricklink, we will not offer any sort of guarantee. Jeff and I hope members will take their savings from lower commissions and pass it along to the other members and consumers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TabbyBoy Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Have you never used interparcel.com ? saves the queues altho i dont think hermes pickup but i wouldnt trust them to send bubble wrap. UPS are a good service I've tried the lot, the problem is that I'm not around when they call due to work commitments. My job is extremely well paid so Lego investing is only part time. Collect+ is the best as there's an open-all-hours shop around the corner from home. It's busy in the evenings (about 5-6 people in queue) as eBay's very popular in my village. At least they look after parcels better than the more expensive Royal Mail. One day, I'm going to set up a "Toy Emporium" website. To hell with eBay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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