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profit margins
 

What type of profit margins are you guys operating at?

I've found some item that offer between 25-35% but i'm unsure whether to buy for such small margins.

At what % do you guys think isnt worth your time and effort?

My markups are around 800%-5,000%

I'm around 90-95% profit margin.

WTF to both of you guys! specially stealth though

The key obviously is to sell what no one else is selling or very few people are selling. It just takes time, patience, and experience to find your niche. I sell plenty of items that the market is flooded with and do fine, but I also have hundreds of items that I can control the market with. It all come down to finding your niche, and basic supply and demand, with a little marketing experience.

i work mpst of my accounts on 30 -40%

but that % times hundreds of sales a week times 10 accounts is a fair few dollars

It's all about the bottom line.

Margins are important but not the be all and end all of running a business.

With high volume you can afford to have lower margins but with low volume you need the big numbers.

You really need to research your market completely before investing any appreciable amount of money into stock.

Thats all you need to read arshavin

Profit ranges for various items.
 

Usually small items or info product items can get you insane returns..

Also, as he said, items that no one else is selling..

I used to sell TONS of info products on ebay..

But, Ebay sucks a lot on your profits.. So, even if you are selling info product CDs on some topic (such as Commercial Real Estate Investing), you still have to pay Ebay 10% to 15% of the price you sold it at..

If you are selling something like electronics, etc.. The most profitable way is to buy from companies like Genco Marketplace at 30% of wholesale (bid starts at 10%). They sell overstock, returns, closeouts from the chain stores.. GENCO ATC : Product Lifecycle Logistics.

However, dropship wise, you will be lucky to get 10% to 20% profit range, hence no selling it on ebay, unless you cherry pick a few products that you can make say 50% profit range on..

By dropship I mean sell it on ebay, then buy it on amazon and ship to customer, etc.

There are many sellers that do that.. I have seen them.. As I would do it directly on my website.. So, i would sell on my site and buy from ebay and amazon..

And often you would see about 15 listings on ebay with overbloated pricing compared to the amazon pricing and it was relatively obvious they were just dropshipping it.

I am operating at 25 - 35% profit margin after eBay + PayPal fee. The products I am selling are genuine products and I have very little competition in my niche so you can imagine :cool:

finding stuff to sell at ok margins is like banging your head against a brick wall

It all takes time arshavin, nothing ever comes easy. It took me literally experimenting with 40-50 different products before I narrowed it down to 10, and even out of those 10 I only really make most of my profit on 5-6 of those 10.

I experimented with over 20 items and out of them I found 1 product range which would yield me profit and was profitable.

In the beginning It can be very hard but once you have the cycle rolling it's easy.

thanks for the replies guys

I lose money on every product I sell. I just like working like a dog and getting nothing for it.

Profit margins are important but for me what I make at months end is what I look at.

I dont mind working 12-16 hours a day as long as I make a decent profit and still have time for my family and things I like to do.

In another thread this was discussed that there are no profits to be made anymore and that is simply not true.

I hear street beggers make a good 20k a year, I might take a part time job asking for change at the off ramp. Problem is, most are already taken.

Agreed. Except the 12-16 hours thing...:nono:.. But a old saying i have is if i can make money off of it then its worth it to me. Even if its $5 on one thing. That was $5 i didnt have before and it adds up

To get started and be competitive you have to spend hours like that to build your business.

If you only want to put in an hour or two then this is not the business to be in.

Especially if you are running stealth and need to keep up with the everyday changes.

I put in 12 hours "min" every day and do other things in between time of pictures, listings, emails, packing etc.

Im with Sandy... I spend a lot of time doing this. But I love it at the same time. Sometimes I feel like a kid playing monopoly. I want all the houses including boardwalk...

Oh yeah if this is your main source of income. I couldn't see spending that much time tho. This is part time job for me. I have a good local base. People know who to call when they need something. I do this 4theloveofthegame

Exactly!

It is like a big game and you know me I dont like to lose. :cheer:

For what eb and pp put me through years ago I feel I owe them a great big butt kicking many times over.

Feels good to win and defeat eb and pp at their own little games.

For Sandy_D:

WIN:

I can see rsot playing this song every time he makes a sale!

I prefer this one myself.

We will fight to the end in defeating eb and pp at their own games.

I have now changed my business model entirely and am wholesaling to other people on eBay/Gumtree, cash on collection, so no more idiotic PayPal to contend with. Even by "wholesaling", I am making 233% on every lot sold, and am now making money far faster this way. It's just that I found a real wholesaler far cheaper than the ones that everybody else uses, after months and months of searching, and sell them for slightly cheaper than the "real" suppliers do (after taking into account shipping fees/customs fees/etc. that they would pay on top when importing from China/Hong Kong). But it has now paid off big time and I make 1000s of pounds every day now. So although I am selling for under half of what I used to individually, I am now making money far faster; about 3 times more than what I used to make before each day.

And the best part is, I get to say bye-bye to PayPal and their "parting ways" nonsense just as you decided to quit your job and make selling full-time... those jackasses won't be missed.

well done mate sounds like you have struck gold!

Interesting! I have been on the search for wholesalers to make my selling more profitable in the markets I am in...however, I never thought to dig deeper and find a niche wholesaler that no one uses yet.

The whole US market of a specific product being supplied thru u... 23423 $$$$$$$$$$$$!

SYes, it's amazing he's even got the time to come on here and tell us mere mortals how good he is. ;)

I don't know if you were talking about me, but I simply posted my solution to the "problem" outlined by the OP, where I made my profit bigger by finding the right supplier and changing my business model; my "novel" solution where I make more money even though the "margins" are significantly smaller than before. It does not make me any "better" I wasn't trying to promote myself, so you do not need to make that type of comment to people. I found that quite insulting.

Gotta love the interwebs. You can make as much as people will believe. :)

Catch 22.

Post your business and get comments.

Not all will be reasonable.