posted on January 7, 2002 12:27:43 PM new
What's a fledgling online auction seller to do? I am just trying to make a living, but it seems like everyone wants a percentage of my auction sales. I'm thinking of using Andale in order to streamline my eBay business but am concerned because after my ebay fees, billpoint fees, etc. Andale (or AuctionWatch) will take their percentage fees out as well. With 2 to 3% taken off by each service, you end up with little left over for profit. This equates to about 10% of the sales price. Plus how do you keep track of all this for accounting purposes?! Any thoughts? What do you think?
http://www.auctionideas.com
posted on January 7, 2002 12:53:51 PM new
As most sellers I am concerned with the bottom line - MY PROFIT - as well. I know what I need to sell daily to be where I want to be. I personally prefer to pay flat rates for services - like AW powerplan saved my a bunch. But since that will be gone in March, so will I. I have found a similar service at less then what I paid here in the first place. I NEED to schedule my auction launching time, and host my pictures - that is why I pay for this type of service. I feel this is a NEED service for my business.
As for keeping track of my cost, I used excel. I have a spreadsheet set up that calculates my listing fees, my FVF fees, my AW fees ( .05 per auction ). Everything I need to know is there. In the year 2001 I had over 70% PROFIT. That's because I watch the nickels and dimes everyone else it wanting to take from me.
I do not take PayPal or Bill Point. I have tons of repeat customers. I rarely have a complaint about my payment options.
BUY low SELL HIGH! And don't pay for what you do not need to.
As my spouse would tell me - WRITE IT DOWN. Why you need it, Why you want it, Can you be successful without it! MAKE A BUSINESS PLAN and a BUSINESS BUDGET! Stick to it.
posted on January 7, 2002 01:28:28 PM new
Something I've seen many new sellers do is to list an item right at the "change-point" on eBay's fee schedule. For example, if you start an item at $10.00, the fee will be higher ($.55 fee I think) than it would be if you started the item at $9.99 ($.30 fee). Watching the fee schedule will help save on listing fees.
Also, you might use Mister Lister to list your auctions, and a free photo hosting service, instead of paying for someone to do it for you. Mister Lister works just fine for me (I listed 1,300+ auctions on Free Listing Day using it!).
And, you might add a small handling fee to your shipping price, or add a small amount to your item's starting price, to help cover those BillPoint/PayPal fees. As long as it's reasonable, most people understand that you have to cover your costs, and that most payment services charge the seller a fee.
I keep track of everything with AuctionTrakker (can't say much here since it's an AW competitor), but they have a website. They have a one-time charge for the software; after that, it's paid for.
(edited to add) Oh, and unless your item is really unique, I don't find that paying extra for Gallery or bold (etc.) is worth it (just my opinion).
[ edited by thedewey on Jan 7, 2002 01:32 PM ]
[ edited by thedewey on Jan 7, 2002 01:33 PM ]
posted on January 7, 2002 02:17:59 PM new
been selling on ebay for 6 years,now sell on all 3 venues-amzn,yahoo and ebay.
for ebay,i do everything the old fashion way-manually as i cannot afford the fancy auction services.
but then i am also glued to my pc every day and nite,so i can arrange to do papwerwork and photo duing the day and launch items at nite.
as for backoffice,i keep track of my sales,expenses the old fashion way,using walgreen 3 holes papers ,i have one sheet for summary expenses,one sheet for ebay sales,one for amzn and one for yahoo and then one sheet with 3 columns for paypal,billpoint and merchant account.
i prepare my monthly p/l from these sheets ,i do know where my money goes and where they come from.
if you are looking for a good place to park your items,take a look at collector on line,they have shops and also host your auction items free,the last i looked into it,it is FREE,you may want to take a look,it may still be free.
if you open a shop,you pay fee and drop items to auction free,if you dont want a shop,they were talking about charging for auction service,whether they do or that,you have to find out yourself.
ORacle also has a system called netledger for 9.95 a month,you may want to find out what it does for you.
you can also spend 39.99 and open a zshop on amzn for 40,000 items,but you cannot drop your items from amzn to ebay or yahoo.
zshop is a good way to keep track of your inventory as it allow you to specify quantity on hand for each item.
if you sell a few items,it could pay for that 39,99 fee.
amzn sales seem to be picking up.
i agree,2 percent here and 2 percent there,there wont be much left on the table.
posted on January 7, 2002 02:33:58 PM new
I feel your pain too. I just finished adding everything up. I added all the fees for eBay, Yahoo, AW, Andale, Paypal and Billpoint. These added up to 14.5% of my income. Next I deduct cost of materials and supplies. I'm not a big seller. I did about $10,000 worth of sales last year. I do it the old fashioned way too. I wait and add everything up at the end of the year. If I was doing this just for the money, I'd quit. I enjoy it except when eBay whips out one of their new improvements on us.
