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eBay profits

Started by Rob,

40 posts in this topic

Rob

Rob

Posted
Posted

I'm selling off some of my junk on eBay, including some bulk Spawn lots. One lot of eleven copies of Spawn 10 sold for 99¢ (opening bid). I don't mind, because I made enough on the others ($70 for Spawn 50-90, not bad). The thing is, the guy is from Brazil. I state in my auctions US Only, but he emailed before and I OK'd it. It's $9.90 flat rate to Brazil, so the total comes to $10.89. After fees, $10.17 is deposited into my account. Subtract $9.90 postage, and I made a whopping 27¢ to stand in line at the post office for a Global Priority envelope, and fill out a customs form. This is why I state US Only. I can print postage form the comfort of my own home, and drop the package off postage paid. I'm sticking to my domestic policy from now on. 893frustrated.gif

 

(I know, or start selling higher dollar items) smile.gif

 

[EDIT:] Oh, I'm out money if you factor in eBay fees! Oh well, that [!@#%^&^] is out of my house and not taking up space anymore.

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chromium

chromium

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And if you had sold it US only you wouldn't have made any money at all, an be out the listing fees...

 

or...

 

If a US buyer had won it, you would have made about 51¢ instead of 27¢...

 

Is this really worth the 893frustrated.gif???

 

Be glad the [!@#%^&^] is out of your house, I know how it is; [!@#%^&^] accumulates and breeds, soon you would be surrounded by [!@#%^&^].... grin.gif

 

I don't even bother selling books like this anymore, I just put them in the freebie-box and ad a few every time I sell a more expensive item

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Rob

Rob

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foreheadslap.gif

thats why i never sell anything less than $5. For stuff that will never sell, or sell for a buck, i try to find a local kid to take them as a gift. Maybe they will turn into collectors!

 

Yeah, I usually don't. I had $4.99 buy-it-nows, and some went for $4.99, but some went for opening bid. You win some, you lose some. I'm more 893frustrated.gif about the post office trip than the loss. You're right, I'm just glad it's out of my house.

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FFB

FFB

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You could have donated them to Comics4kids.org and taken a tax writeoff for the full guide value of the books. confused-smiley-013.gif

 

foreheadslap.gif

thats why i never sell anything less than $5. For stuff that will never sell, or sell for a buck, i try to find a local kid to take them as a gift. Maybe they will turn into collectors!

 

Yeah, I usually don't. I had $4.99 buy-it-nows, and some went for $4.99, but some went for opening bid. You win some, you lose some. I'm more 893frustrated.gif about the post office trip than the loss. You're right, I'm just glad it's out of my house.

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Ares

Ares

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I'm selling off some of my junk on eBay, including some bulk Spawn lots. One lot of eleven copies of Spawn 10 sold for 99¢ (opening bid). I don't mind, because I made enough on the others ($70 for Spawn 50-90, not bad). The thing is, the guy is from Brazil. I state in my auctions US Only, but he emailed before and I OK'd it. It's $9.90 flat rate to Brazil, so the total comes to $10.89. After fees, $10.17 is deposited into my account. Subtract $9.90 postage, and I made a whopping 27¢ to stand in line at the post office for a Global Priority envelope, and fill out a customs form. This is why I state US Only. I can print postage form the comfort of my own home, and drop the package off postage paid. I'm sticking to my domestic policy from now on. 893frustrated.gif

 

(I know, or start selling higher dollar items) smile.gif

 

[EDIT:] Oh, I'm out money if you factor in eBay fees! Oh well, that [!@#%^&^] is out of my house and not taking up space anymore.

 

SO I can never buy from you?

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comicmankev

comicmankev

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I'm guessing your taking into account paypal costs too?

 

 

How about just taking MOs? You would then have no other fees apart from standard Ebay fees (which you would have to pay in US anyway) and the buyer gets the hit on fees?

 

 

As long as you state it beforehand, then that shouldnt be a problem.

 

 

Not directing at you, but I hate it when a seller doesnt ship abroad, it's all money at the end of the day, and if you starting the bid at .99, then thats what your happy to get isnt it?

 

Obviously on low ticket items it may not seem worth it, but if your happy to sell them to US peops, then why not open the bidding to overseas for a chance of an extra dime?

 

 

thumbsup2.gifthumbsup2.gif

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sterlingcomics

sterlingcomics

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Because of the exchange rate, I'm finding more UK and other non-US customers--and for bigger ticket items. I've since changed my "US Only" stance, now that I've at least gone through the process once. It is fairly painless, but you are correct that there should be a better return than that!

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Rob

Rob

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I don't expect a negative. I'll do it all right. Boy, that would just seal the deal!

 

The reason I don't ship abroad is just the added hassle. Yes, it is all money at the end of the day, but with domestic I have the ability to do the postage legwork from my home, and just drop off the packages at the post office. With international, I have to fill out the custom forms (which you're usually asked to lie about the value), and have never correctly estimated shipping costs. I almost always eat it on international shipments. Except for the rare case that the international bidder raises the proxy bid higher, the end result is usually the next bid increment. I would rather avoid the hassle than get that extra 50¢.

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Rob

Rob

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(which you're usually asked to lie about the value

 

Why would you be asked to lie about a .99 purchase on a customs dec form. 27_laughing.gif

 

Well, this one doesn't apply. But another time, I sold something valuable, and the buyer asked me to put the value at $5, so he wouldn't have to pay as much custom fees. This guy today asked me to classify it as a gift, and not merchandise.

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wrcomics

wrcomics

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But another time, I sold something valuable, and the buyer asked me to put the value at $5, so he wouldn't have to pay as much custom fees. This guy today asked me to classify it as a gift, and not merchandise.

 

I encounter that quite a bit as I have several foreign customers through eBay. I explain to them it's a bit of a trade off. Especially in the UK these days, if you send the item uninsured, you can undervalue the item on the customs form and the buyer doesn't incur the steep VAT charged on imports. There is a risk of loss if the item is lost or damaged and you have to make sure the buyer assumes that. The alternative is for the buyer to insure the package at part or full value, but as a result he/she will end up paying VAT based on the insured value of the book even if the declared value is far less. I think the VAT there is around 17%, so it certainly is pretty hefty and on a fairly expensive book could be quite a sum!

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Lockjaw

Lockjaw

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Most banks charge a ridiculous fee to cash money orders that do not originate in the U.S. Paypal really is the route to go.

 

I have a buyer from Malaysia who is sending me a Western Union Money Order for a 6.49 comic (paypal does not like Malaysians to use their service, too much fraud I guess), so hopefully I will be able to cash the MO without paying a huge fee (if not, then I will send the buyer the comic anyway, and just impress upon him that he needs to find a friend who has a paypal account he can use to send folks monies).

 

But yeah, at the end of the day cash is cash, whether it comes from someone in Germany or the U.S. Heck, I state that I only do U.S. shipping...but I have this whole paragraph in my TOS explaining things to potential international bidders. This "U.S Shipping Only" ebayer just sent out 4 packages today via GPM/Airmail to Austria, Germany, and Canada (two different customers, one a repeat customer). I have also sent packages out to the Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Italy, France, Australia, Israel, the U.K., Canada, Belgium, and Macao.

 

The only thing that makes me cringe is if an international buyer wants to buy something bulky like a bust/toy (ridiculous shipping and handling costs to send that type of stuff out, even if I am willing to use surface mail the costs are still very high).

 

The lowest opening bid you will ever find on my auctions is $1.35 (used to be $1.30, but ebay bumped the fees up a nickel)...I figured out that even with paypal and ebay fees, I can still make a teensy-tiny bit of profit on such an auction (a bit more if the person uses a money order/cash).

 

Enjoy Your Week

Christopher H

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BassGMan

BassGMan

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You could have donated them to Comics4kids.org and taken a tax writeoff for the full guide value of the books. confused-smiley-013.gif

 

[quote

 

Seriously Fantasy? I have never heard of this before. I've got plenty of quarter bin type comics that guide for about $3.00 or so, hundreds of 'em in fact. Could I send a long box in to this organization and receive....say $1,000 in a charity donation tax writeoff? This is of course assuming that the books will "guide" at that amount. -------Sid

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Rob

Rob

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The lowest opening bid you will ever find on my auctions is $1.35 (used to be $1.30, but ebay bumped the fees up a nickel)...I figured out that even with paypal and ebay fees, I can still make a teensy-tiny bit of profit on such an auction (a bit more if the person uses a money order/cash).

 

Yeah, I think the moral of the story is not to start your auctions so low. I'm sure the 99¢ winner would have paid $1.99 or $2.99. but I'll never know, since he had no competition.

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comicmankev

comicmankev

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If the buyer uses auctionpayments.com or a similar service, then the MO will be in the sellers currency.

 

As for the other point. Import tax is 17.5%, but there are extra fees including a handling fee, and holding fee. The final total is about 25%, and they charge all the above on the declared cost AND the posatge cost. I bought about 40 POS CGCs recently, and got hit with a $500 excess bill, beacuse the package was soooo heavy!

 

What I mean to clarify is, that in my opinion, it is fine to buy/sell abroad. But make everything clear upfront. State you will only accept MOs in your own currency. state that you will have to clarify shipping costs before auction ends by potential bidder providing address and using the online calculators on USPS. They may not be 100% accurate, but from my experience they are ALWAYS overpriced! (but it gives the seller/buyer a guide).

 

If I take insurance, I still ask the seller to mark it as a GIFT, this is usually a good method of avoiding tax, even if the declared value is $5k.

 

As for not being worth the extra 50 cents. Well, put it another way. If your one of these budget/cheap shops that sells cleaning products for 'everything under a dollar' then thats how you make your money. you sell 100,000 products for 0.99 in a year, you've got $99,000. if you raised your prices and got $1.49 per item, the you will have netted $149,000 in a year. Each little bit may not seem a lot, but over time, it all adds up. And at the end of the day, an extra 50 cents on $1 is 50%, theres not many that can make that sort of profit thumbsup2.gif

 

But of course, you can do what you will, I just think it is only limiting yourself to only ship to your own country.

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quicksilver

quicksilver

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Eermm, excuse me but : "Import tax is 17.5%, but there are extra fees including a handling fee, and holding fee."

 

There is no such thing as import tax in the UK on comics, or VAT, or extra fees !

I've been importing from the US for over 20 years, and I can assure you that this is the truth. Toys are taxable, but comics are not - check with customs !

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chromium

chromium

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Eermm, excuse me but : "Import tax is 17.5%, but there are extra fees including a handling fee, and holding fee."

 

There is no such thing as import tax in the UK on comics, or VAT, or extra fees !

I've been importing from the US for over 20 years, and I can assure you that this is the truth. Toys are taxable, but comics are not - check with customs !

 

Lucky you, import tax + VAT + fees comes to 32% in Belgium...even on my own books which I get back from CGC...

If I get my books back and they are insured for $1000, I end up paying $324.00 duty....

Look at it this way, if I never insure anything and I lose one out of four packages, then I'm still ahead...

Good thing none of my 300+ packages have gone missing the last 2 years...

Literature in Belgium is not taxable, but once a book has pictures, it's considered a toy...go figure makepoint.gif

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