Forum

Margins
 

I have been seeing a lot about margins on here. I sell about 3 types of items on ebay, but 100s of each type.
My margins are 700%, 1000% and 1300%, with most of my items BIN with Best offer accepted. The silly thing is I turn down some best offers when I would make $17 profit on the offer and others if I get full price I only make $4.50, I have to re-evaluate my best offers.

What margins do you guys get.

Re: Margins
 

Realistically, 20% on average after all supplies and everyone gets paid. You must be selling some seriously shady phake stuff.

Re: Margins
 

Reason why I love ebay, margins!

I use to see more than 500% returns on vero items I bought from dhgate.

i was selling vero items like cartier glasses and Michael kors watches.

But my PayPal account got suspended because i honestly made some avoidable mistakes on ebay that got me a 91.5% seller feedback

Ebay and PayPal really can't stop you from selling vero items but it depends on the catergory and brand and your account history...

Re: Margins
 

traditional brick and mortar gross margin should be 100%,with jewelry 300%,thats why you see dept stores mark down their jewelry 50% and still make a good profit.
Then comes internet,gross margin is now lower,but should not be less than 50%.
take that 50% and subtract paypal/ebay fee and dont forget to pay yourself
Many sellers do not pay themselves,and claim they are profitable,just think if someday you cant tend to your so called profitable business and have to hire someone to do so,how much would you pay him?
I bet you after paying hired help,your business is not profitable.

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They're actually pretty good at shutting down counterfeiters, lol. Especially now in the age of Managed Payments.

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Absolutely not, only about 20% is vero, the other 80% came out of my imagination and I had produced by factories overseas, one of my specialties is custom made HO (1/87 scale) Circus Wagons like my picture on here.

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You would be wrong, $3 items sells for $33, 75 cent items sell for $11 and 80 cent items $9.99 and I sold about 50K this year. Only working one day a week, I just retired from my real job and will now work 5 days a week at this. No drop shipping just 4-5 lead time for overseas factory to produce in quantity.

Re: Margins
 

Also just had a reorder from a regular customer, $750 for 50 items and I ordered 100 for $315 including DHL shipping. So in 2 months he will buy the other 50, $1500 sales, shipping $7.45 for each sale ($14.90). He pays by certified check. $1500-$315-$15 =s $1170 profit.

Re: Margins
 

Nice.

I usually aim lower, at around 10% so I'm competitive, then I just focus on shifting large volumes. Works out a lot better in the long run.

Re: Margins
 

Your right but if you look at many name brand items on ebay are listed and up for auction some to few of them are new sellers. I experienced first hand this year that ebay and PayPal will target some vero listings but it's really a matter of transaction history Positive feedback besides I wouldn't not recommend selling designer brand items even if it is authentic with receipt they will still take down the listing.

It's the algorithm they have set in place for vero items

Ebay will always be top place to buy counterfeit whether they like it or not

Re: Margins
 

$3 (item cost) + $3.09 (zone 9 first class 1-4oz shipping) + $4.29 (eb/PP fee) + $.10 (bubble mailer) = $10.48.
$33 - $10.48 = $22.52 so isn't that more like 200%?

$.75 (item) + $3.09 (shipping) + $1.43 (eb/PP) + $.10 (mailer) = $5.35
$11 - $5.35 = $5.65 so isn't that also more like 200%?

:juggle:

I guess I'm curious now. Do you hand deliver all of your items?

Re: Margins
 

That's not true. :bored: They didn't really care before because they weren't processing the payments.. but now they are. I think that's going to make a huge difference in their enforcement.

I've been doing it a lot longer than a year and I've been watching the marketplace change the whole time. eBay taking down your listings isn't the only thing you have to worry about. New IP protection companies popup every week and they're ruthless on eBay because they know what goes down there. Yes a good metric high feedback account can survive dozens of VeRO takedowns but I can tell you from firsthand experience, it eventually becomes not worth the effort and threat of being sued.

The reason eBay became a flea market for counterfeits is because they've always had a laissez-faire attitude about their marketplace, since they weren't handling the $. They put the "seller is responsible for all listing content" clause in the TOS, made sure to respond when companies reported counterfeiters, and raked in tons of $ from fees. But they've also killed their reputation in the process and now everybody shops on Amazon. :pound:

Re: Margins
 

Around 100% margins are normal for my stuff.

Re: Margins
 

good for you,how many sellers are like you??
I bet not many.
you should also start paying yourself so you know how truly profitable your business is.
When I FIRS start out,I paid myself $1k ,on paper only,I nevertake the money out of mybusiness,but it gives me a more acccurate picture of my business,I also charge rent for the part of the house used for business,but no overtime or lunch .
you should also book your travel expenses,long distance phone call,money transfer,lunch,drinks,freight ,customs duty

Re: Margins
 

@Kajunrook Just curious, what kind of items do you sell?

Re: Margins
 

The word you, and most other people, are looking for is Markup. Profit Margin is the sale price minus cost. Markup is how much percentage you add onto the cost.

It's amazing, to me, how many people don't understand this simple concept.

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It's almost as irritating as the people who don't know the difference between sold and made.

Re: Margins
 

I am not offering free shipping, the customers pay the shipping but yeah you need to deduct ebay and paypal fees. I was talking about markup I guess rather than margins.

So 33 - 3.70 ebay minus 1.10 paypal is 27.80, the shipping cost includes packaging and label. But your math is wrong, a three dollar item with 200% markeup would be $9 and $22 is 2.5 times that so 500%

Re: Margins
 

OK I misspoke, but a$3 item selling for $33 plus $4 shipping is $37-3.49 shipping, -$3.70 fee, -1.75 pp,-12 cents package, 5 cent label minus $3 cost is $24.91 profit on an item I paid $2.79 for. So you do the math, 2.79 invested return of 24.91

Re: Margins
 

whether it is markup or gross margin,all roads lead to Dasmascus,what is your profit before tax?

BTW,I dont know how long you have been in business,but a factory which custom made goods for you,will use your design and sell to others as well.
On Ebay,they sell designer handbags ,they ask each other if the handbag is knockoff or authentic,some look very good but that designer has never used such a buckle,or color or zipper,minor details which tip folks off.
A factory which makes handbags for designer A,could also make counterfeit handbags of designer B,since it has the knowhow and material -take some of the leftover leather,cloth,zipper,buckle,frame of design A and make designer B handbags,either someone approach them to do so or they decide to crank out a night shift and make extra money,why not?

Re: Margins
 

you would retire your regular day job for 50k a year on ebay................................:shocked:

50k a year is a joke.

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Yeah I know they can, but most of mine are pretty specialized, one factory actually changed their name to my company name on Gmail acct because I bought about $20k of their stuff last year, I thought it was funny, they do list some of my items for sale, but the price is twice what I pay them for it.