posted on June 16, 2005 12:46:10 PM new
I was contacted by someone today who would like to sell a few thousand of one item. It's easily shippable, and costs around $12 (with discounts for multiples).
They have a functioning web site, but paying for advertising is killing them.
It is not an appropriate item for auctions, but I think it might work with an eBay store.
I would contribute my ID (and feedback, presumably). I think they would want me to do all the fulfillment also, but it's easy to ship in a manilla envelope.
Any ideas what a fair fee structure would be? How much setup work am I looking at for 1 item? What tools do I use? I'm obviously a deer in the headlights here, so any help is appreciated.
posted on June 16, 2005 02:11:20 PM new
Search for a wholesaler of the item and see if you can find out the wholesale price. Then offer to pay that price minus a small commission for each sale (for your work and eBay listing and closing fees).
Also consider if the item is already easily available on eBay. Selling several thousand of the same item may be a challange, if other seller are already selling the same item.
posted on June 16, 2005 02:44:25 PM new
The people designed and had this built to their specification. They've sold approx. 1000 so far from their web site. There isn't a "wholesaler" unless it would be them.
posted on June 16, 2005 05:50:14 PM new
One thing I don't know if you've taken into consideration is that you don't get the same auction traffic in stores - Most of the time, you won't appear in ebay searches, so having people find you can be a problem. My store is pretty successful, but I run a combination of ebay auctions to get customers, and have them returning (and returning and returning in some cases, I've had a store for a year now and some of my best customers have made 40 purchases)
posted on June 16, 2005 06:06:23 PM new
Also, in figuring your percentage Claude, I believe purchases out of the eBay Store have a FVF of 8%, unless purchased thru a Store Referral Credit Link (fvf then reduced/credited later for 75% off that 8% fee ... argh; clear as mud, eh?) ...
[ edited by EstateSaleStuff on Jun 16, 2005 06:09 PM ]
posted on June 16, 2005 08:54:05 PM new
It depends upon how much the item will sell for. If you only charge 20% and the item sells for $10.00 you are only making $2.00 and item.
That's not much money for the effort involved. Unless you charge handling on top of the shipping.
Figure out how much time it will take you to list it and answer emails and mail it and divide that time by an hourly amount. Say $10.00 an hour. If the above only takes you 5 minutes then 20% of $10 might be okay.
You would of course be charging fees on top of your percentage.
posted on June 16, 2005 09:23:05 PM new
I'm always a little antsy about listing something for someone else on my consignment account unless I know them extremely well and am able to trust them thoroughly. I would never list anything for another person on my regular account. I would feel the same way about a store. But then again, that's just me. The big question is, do you have the time to do this and handle all your other regular auction and store listings also? The listing shouldn't be a problem, just one or two photos and a description and toss it in inventory. The emails, eoa, collecting and shipping could be time consuming. Sounds like they have found this out on their web site and are trying to get out from under the labor. Have they considered opening an Ebay store in their own name?
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on June 17, 2005 03:58:48 AM new
I have an item that I sell on a regular basis for a neighbor.
Is is not a highly sought after item, but it does have consistent sales. Usually sells for $40. I originally started selling the item for him and charged him a 25% commission. Once I saw the item would sell itself, I now purchase x quantity of the item for $20 each and refill my order when my supply is depleted.
I've been able to use the same ad for over 2 years and packaging time is less than 15 minutes, so it works well for me. If it were an item that had a high monthly sales volume, I think I would run a weekly auction and offer the rest in a store. Currently it is a slow seller and does not justify my opening an eBay store to move it.
If I were selling 10 a week, I would put the effort into opening a store.
I've learned well from this board and from personal experience to not sell an item that is not in my possession. I would recommend the same to you.
If they are the consigner, I would charge 25% to 35% for a repeat item. Once you see that it has consistent sales, you might want to consider buying it from them wholesale. You will probably do well. Good luck.
posted on June 17, 2005 05:56:20 AM new
Thanks all.
Regarding it being a potential scam, I don't think so in this case. It's an older couple who did this, but the husband's health is not what it was.
I think that perhaps I should take a pass. Maybe list a few of them as a courtesy, but I'm not really set up for mailing dozens of little doodads every week. I'm a big-box UPS kind of shop
