posted on August 11, 2003 10:36:54 AM new
I ran across another person who can brag they have a 90% sell through when looking through postcard ads this morning.
This person lists approx 30 a week. Puts them in groups like: 7 VA Postcards, 8 Texas Postcards etc.
Then, he/she starts the bidding at $1.25 and that is where 85% of them stay. The others wind up $2.80 at the highest.
He/She has a nice sell through rate but after Ebay fees and Paypal (even says Paypal preferred in ads) they make maybe 50 cents a listing. And, that doesn't count the cost of the postcards.
What are these people thinking?
And, no, he/she doesn't make it up in postage. Only charges $1.30 each for shipping.
[ edited by lindajean on Aug 11, 2003 10:40 AM ]
posted on August 11, 2003 11:20:05 AM new
I've heard of cases (here) where people go into debt by selling on ebay. It's probably very poor money management/business skills, or someone who is doing it as a hobby or just to kill some time. Who knows?
posted on August 11, 2003 11:47:44 AM new
There are thousands and maybe even tens of thousands of these sellers on ebay. There was a seller selling Budweiser golf tees and he constantly listed about 5 of the same auctions at 25 cents each. He accepted Paypal and sold almost everyone at the 25 cents start bid because of the same 5 auctions running at all times. He may have made a little on shipping at $1.50 but unless he was trying to build up his feedback rating he was a big fool.
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posted on August 11, 2003 01:08:29 PM new
Or more likely, they have a website where they sell directly. They figure that ebay is cheap advertising to try and get visitors to their website. Every bidder that wins, get a check out our website at postcards.com, etc notice. All you need to do is get a few of these people to go to your website, and you can make some good money, without having to dole out money to ebay, paypal, etc.
posted on August 11, 2003 09:45:51 PM new
Some people don't evem think about the expense of items,listing or PayPal costs. All they see is the payment that arrives & to them that money is all profit.
I once knew someone that spent his paychecks on things like a camera, radio, boom box, Etc, keep it for a few weeks & when he needed money he would sell something for probably half of what he paid. No one could ever convince him he was losing money because he could only see the money in his hand. He was broke & now he had money, so how could he be losing money. That was his reasoning & there are no doubt many eBay sellers with the same no clue mentality.
posted on August 11, 2003 10:04:28 PM new
I'll bet that seller thinks that the items will be competitively bid up...NOT SO THIS SUMMER! Nearly all of my auctions tonight closed at the opening bid amount and I'll bet that if I listed them for $1.25 they would have sold with one bid at that amount too!
That technique may work with some items, but it doesn't work with postcards unless they are extraordinary cards!
Maybe he or she is just cleaning out a collection.
posted on August 13, 2003 03:52:23 PM new
If someone got a lot of those at a really cheap price, or someone gave them bags of postcards, they could be making money.
posted on August 13, 2003 07:01:10 PM new
mezusa,
thats what i was thinking if their purchase cost was 20 cents or less, they'd still be making a profit, albeit a tiny one.
and I'll bet that if I listed them for $1.25 they would have sold with one bid at that amount too!