Forum

How in the world are these guys selling so cheap??
 

I will try to post a link in the morning but I keep seeing auctions for .99 with free shipping from Hong Kong. (it says shipped from hong kong allow up to 8 weeks for delivery) either way its cheaper than any shipping for just in the states.

How can they do this?

Its for small promotional key-chain flashlights I was thinking about getting to add to packages. Just dont see how its done. So even if they get a rate as cheap as .99 which I dont see. they are getting Nothing for the product? All their stuff is like this so its not just a "get you on the hook" type sale.


I cant ship anything like that for less than around $1.70 ish or what ever it costs now. Plus you have to add what you paid for the product and the markup on it.

the sellers are willing to lose a little bit of money to build feedbacks

This get so annoying. I see these Hong Kong sellers having duplicate listings ending every 30 minutes and they never get them taken down.

I list something 3 days apart and get the duplicate listing removal.

the rules are different for these sellers. I just looked at one sellers I follow and they have 4300 items listed auction style. In the first page I see constant repeats of the same duplicate items.

I cannot see them losing money to gain feedback. This seller already has 20k in feedback and does the same as the op states. Many 0.99 items with free shipping.

Yeah, They have all their auctions like that so I dont see it being used for feedback.

Even if they were its not work a couple bucks for each feedback received. Thats what it would cost for product, a little markup and the cost of shipping. would be triple wha they are chargin g.

yeah it always puzzled me how they make money on these items i bought items for 50cents free shipping from hk before. i dont know how much 50cents is worth in hk money maybe a little more.

You all are looking at this totally wrong anyways.

Auction style listings can be duplicate and wont be taken down. Only BIN cannot be the same.

I see it as legit way of buying feedback, emails or who knows what other marketing scheme is behind it.

It all comes down to basic math really, example:

1,000 items for feedback @ $1.00 loss ea.

100 items for profit @ $100 profit ea.

that's $10,000 profit minus $1,000 loss for a total profit of $9,000.

again that's just an example.

I think they are trying to keep DSR's up, while making money on other more expensive items.

In the UK you can get substantial discounts on postage. Thus an item that would cost 55p to post can be reduced to as low as 35p.

This is a numbers game pure and simple. If you post out 2000+ packages a day spread over several account names and you make 10p per unit that's £200 per day

£73,000 per year PROFIT

I have used this system but it needs someone constantly packaging and eventually I moved on to a different way of working but you can certainly earn £50K a year if you set this up properly. Think outside the box and you will see how it works

It's that well hackneyed anology - "the profit is made in the buying"

Yes - they take a bit of loss in order to move the bigger profit items.

No rsot - no one 'takes a loss' - that is a total fallacy - in this day and age everything has to make a profit unless you are a huge multi national conglomerate with multiple income streams

Hey Grannyt how can you get a substantial discount on postage in UK? i'm guessing it's not from Royal Mail is it lol?

I do agree with GT on that, no one takes a loss nowadays. It has to have some profitable aspect that you can't see, think outside the picture and look at the bigger picture and again, it's all about math guys as jblunts said. If you have thousands of listings gaining 50p for each, you end up having huge profit and paying less for shipping. It is a competitive market out there. plan ahead, research and calculate and you would end up doing good

Yes it is - but you need to be doing volumes - research my friend, research!!

GrannyT you are VERY good in math :shocked: Question what happens when customers says did not receiving product they bought ? they use normally hong kong post customers does not have to sign anything.

I bought a wireless mouse for 99 cents and a webcam for $1.99 from Hong Kong on eBay before. I was completely baffled as to how it was possible.

The only conclusion I could come up with was they shipped boatloads of these items to USA somehow for dirt cheap and was able to make some profit. I'm sure the items costed pennies to make as the quality was low.

You send it again

One way to make money on Ebay is to buy small quantities from these people and sell them on stating that they are in your country. Buy every day if need be - just use a different account from the one you are selling on

I know one person who makes £25000 a year from cheap cosmetics - not much but a living

£25000 a year is nice I don't even break 10000 and how can they afford to get products at such cheap margin but keep the moq low:)

Research zzzz - as always. It's called being in business

easy to make that money if you sell foo foo dVd on am a z a m

More then one reason. Making 30 cents profit is pointless to us, sure. But if you sell 500 items a day thats pretty good in China. That money goes further. Some do it just to get your info too. I receive the odd promotion [free cruise or whatever] to stealth names and address that could only come from someone I bought off ebay

Shipping from China I suspect is pretty cheap. The items are pure junk most of the time too. Literally costs them 10 cents on the dollar anyway. Just because a wholesaler charges $1.20 for a cell phone case doesnt mean they are not also selling the same item on eBay for 99 cents. I suspect all the dealers you see on dhgate have ebay accounts as well... They make the items they sell. Just run by staff

I also notice as a certain item becomes less available it goes up a little. A PC remote that I have bought 4 went from $3.99 to $7.99 when there were less sellers. They manufacture this crap in HUGE numbers and just piss them out until stock gets low and move on to next product

I bought 4 things from a Chinese eBay for 1 cent, with free shipping and they had a ton more listed at the same price.
I just bought an iPod wall charger for $2.50 with free shipping and they live on the other side of the country. It's hard to imagine 2.50 covers eBay fees, PayPal fees, the cost of the item as well as the cost of shipping.

Yeah I've bought 100's of items from china for .01 with free shipping, after the fees they're obviosly not making a profit on those, hence another purpose was intended.

It is not just on ebay that you can buy for $0.99 with freeshipping. It is on actual web stores as well. such as focalpoint .com and just google china wholesalers.

their loss is my gain.

during the holidays esp, these cheapo chinese sellers can pay off big time for us local boys. people dont want to wait 2 weeks to get their crappy item from, china but they love that same crappy item when its already in country and available from me

I haven't even bothered to sell most of mine yet, I've still got a huge box of ds pens, screen protectors and iphone cases, unless there's a large profit involved just seems like a waste of time.

i do the same thing for my compnay sell 100s items at a loss but make massive profit on the bigger items.They are not making profit on those 99 cent items china post costs about 1usd for a letter international they are making a loss 100% , like bluntz said its email marketing or more than likely to sell some higher end items .I do this on my stealth accs too then you can shift alot more risky products.

So I sell designer sunglasses is it best to buy really cheap items and sell those first just to get seller feedback up? What kind of items can you sell in those quantities without ebay shutting you down. Cant you just sell digital pics for a penny and just keep the auction private or does ebay frown on that too? I am not new to ebay but obviously still have a lot to learn, id appreciate any feedback or comments

Digital items can get you shut down, starting out selling generic sunglasses and accessories would be a good idea.

I have learned alot of what jbluntz sells in these days hmmm lol. terapin :violin:

0.99c they sure make profit on most items.

But look at the thousands of styluses being sold every day under 0.06c, among thousands of various other stuff selling for almost a penny. Reality check duh!

Good point - so what are they doing?

Granny T's alway's got the good comebacks..

Of course they make profit with 99 cents.Why sell something if you don't?

20 dollars can buy you a week of food in China. Not in high end restaurants and stuff,but street food is incredibly cheap.

Its not people from china its people dropshipping from sites with free shipping like dealextreme and they just put there location as honk kong in the listing ,thats why they show up in your countrys listings