It is said that, if you want to make a small fortune, start with a large fortune. This is because most people have no idea how to run a business. eBay has given millions a place to put their entrepreneurial instincts to the test, to wit:
One of my hobbies is buying digital cameras labeled “For parts or repair.” I have been lucky enough to get a nice camera for far less than it’s worth because I had a feeling that I knew what was wrong. Others started out broken and stayed broken–it’s part of the game. One key to not being disappointed is to watch out for shipping costs on anything you buy from eBay because they can instantly turn a deal into a dog. But that can turn on the seller if he pulls a shipping cost out of his ass or trusts the wrong person.
A recent purchase was a broken camera for 99 cents. Shipping was $3.54. Well worth it for a car camera if I can fix it, or for a particular button I need to repair a similar camera if I can’t. At that price I figured they’d toss it in a padded bag and send it Parcel Post, so I was surprised when it arrived in two days. They had sent it Express Mail, paying $12.65 just for postage. And included a nearly-new camera bag, a memory card, and a USB cable, none of which were in the deal and all of which a savvy eBayer would have sold separately. So I got all of this, faster than expected, for about one third what they paid to send it.
What I think happened was that they had a family member mail it without giving them enough guidance. The road to Hell for many businesses has been smoothed by inept family members. If I were a better person I’d send them four bucks to cover half of the lesson they should have learned, but that’s my liberal guilt talking.
People also do not take into account the value of their time, nor any other part of the Seller experience. Creating the ad takes time. Handling is a big part of Shipping and Handling, but they don’t think about the cost of packing materials or gasoline burned going to the post office. If all you get for the sale is $.99, it’s not worth it to you to sell it. Set a reasonable reserve and toss it if you don’t get it.
But don’t tell anybody selling worthless, old cameras any of this, okay?
I have sold a couple items on eBay and certainly been surprised by the shipping. It is something you have to research and restrict carefully. For example, if an international buyer manages to win your item you’ve got probably a minimum $9 shipping bill even for a very small item.
Here in the UK, there are a couple of companies that offer a dropshipping service (you sell an item, then pass the order to the dropship company who then sends it direct to the customer, but with your paperwork etc). I’ve dabbled in this in the past, but given up because there is no money to be made.
The reason? Because of this low entry point (you don’t need to buy stock or pay any money for anything until you have a sale), there are loads of people all trying it, mainly on ebay. If you know the dropshipper, you can usually tell the sellers as they’re all selling the same stuff, usually with the same description (spelling errors and all!) and the same images. Because of this, competition is fierce and the only real way to compete is on price.
Because I know the dropshipper, I know their prices, and so I know how much profit these ebayers are making. I’ve seen many examples where sellers are selling items for just a few pence profit (so really not worth the bother), and I’ve seen a couple of sellers actually selling at a loss for every item. I guess they forgot to take ebay/paypal fees into account…
I’m usually pretty careful with fees and postage costs, so I never actually sell anything at a loss. Sometimes with so little profit as to not be worth the bother, though. I did get burnt once - I miscalculated what the postage would cost and ended up selling an item (postage included) for less than what the shipping cost me. I learned my lesson there though - I only did that the once!
You are so correct with regards to eBay, it is quite hard work to actually make money. My parents tried selling something on eBay (some old clothing they didn’t need anymore) but by the time the cost of posting and packing was added in (of course you have to include the cost of materials used to pack, which we didn’t) we ended up losing money! It’d have been better for us (financially) to throw the garments in the bin or donate them to a charity shop! :smack:
Some things are worth selling on eBay, whereas some clearly aren’t.
Edit: On a related note, yesterday I saw someone selling a laptop as for parts. They were also selling the working battery in a separate auction. Why? What about the people like me who have the know how in trying to repair a laptop, and make a broken one turn into a functional one?
If it’s any comfort, the battery was probably shit. Sour-grapesing about what people put on eBay is easy to do, since Mendeleev himself couldn’t count the elements of truth in it.
You’d better not be having fun fixing any broken cameras I wanted to have fun fixing. :mad: Actually you’d be saving me so much time, keep it up!
Seriously, as a Canadian, international shipping annoys the heck out of me. I often see items in the 'states I’d like to bid on that either don’t ship to Canada, or have a nutty premium on shipping. OTOH, it can be a real PITA. Ages ago I bought a huge box of broken CD/MP3 players (yeah, that long ago) with the idea of reselling any I fixed. After eventually realizing this was a terrible idea, I sold them on at a loss to someone in the 'states. Due to some cross-border electronic item baloney I had to put an address for the location of manufacture on the shipment. After 15 minutes of finding the HQ address for Sony, I finally got them out of my hands.
I’ve sold a few things on eBay and ended up having to pay more than I thought I would for shipping. I don’t ship enough things to realize when eBay’s shipping calculator is off, so I just eat the cost difference. I’ve also paid less for shipping than charged many times. I figure it balances out.
I’ve never actually lost money on a transaction, though. Partly because I figure it’s not worth my time to sell something that won’t bring at least $20, and that covers anything but crazy shipping. Anything worth less than that gets donated to the thrift store.
You probably wouldn’t have to meet anyone; most people on craigslist don’t ever show up.
That actually makes lots of sense. The market for a broken laptop is only people who can fix a laptop (relatively small). The market for a working battery is anyone with a same-model dead battery (larger). You’ll get more for the battery selling it separately than bundled with a thing that most people can’t make use of.
I dunno. I’ve been specializing in old, single-digit-megapixel, A-series Fuji point ‘n’ shoots because I like their honesty. Maybe not their accuracy, since three photos of the same flowers taken from the same position within seconds of each other had two different color balances. I prefer cameras that use AA batteries because they are cheap, don’t discharge much on their own, and are quickly replaced if they do. I’m no damn good at fixing stuff, except I’ve had luck with stuck lenses. Any overlap with your tastes?
I avoid stuff from Canada because of the customs rigamarole. Not that I have to deal with it. I just have to wait for it.
