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I used to make 20% on "VERO" items, now I make 35-40% on legit items.

I fell for vero items before I joined here but never touched my good account with vero I stick to ebaymotors. No 21 day hold. Money is released soon as u print shipping lAbel. I've been using 1 account 14 months. Every payment is cc now. I give customers 25.00 off order. They all say hell yeah send me invoice.

can anyitem be sold in motors?

Do only searches in motors show the items in motors? ie if list product X in motors and some searches for X in ebay, will they see my item?

THanksS

Yes correct. But has to be a motor part or power sport etc to be sold under ebay motors. But when I'm in motors which I only sell I search iphone cases and other things out if curiosity , and it brings normal ebay right up. Same company same format. If I have had ebay app on iPhone and stealth got killed. Safe thing is to download the ebay motors app 1 extra life per se. Lol

I'm more concerned with the demand and liquidity of a product then the percentage of profit per item. I operate under the assumption that if there is an infinite number of profitable orders, I could fill the orders.

Man I like your thinking. I just wish I could keep enough in stock! I would be loaded by now!

25% avg no risk no inventory

Are you dropping shipping?

Great thread, sorry for bringing it back from. Figured it would be great to update this rather than start a new one. I've been also the same. I used to get excited when my iPhone rang couple of times every hour with Paypal notification of payment. Also it was nice seeing my bank account go up $200 a day, however at the end of the month when I paid my bills for my inventory, it went drastically down to leaving me with barely any real profit. Gross profit makes you excited, but in reality it's just ⊗⊗⊗⊗ money you don't own.

Not to mention deal with heavy volume makes for more angry customers, more problems, and more people trying to scam you and as result lowering your accounts value (Negatives, cases, stress etc...)

I've been starting to phase out of the volume sale. Now when I get home, I have only a few items to ship vs the 30-40 items I used, but I'm keeping a little more. I do miss the volume rush though.

The eBay fees now make it much harder to make money than it 5-10 years ago. But I agree, I just try to maximize the profit on every item I sell. Some items I have make small markup maybe 5-10% profit other I am in the 30-40% range. For me as long as I am selling items and the customers are happy and not bitching. I am happy to sell anything that I can turn for a profit. I don't get caught up in the numbers. I am one of those that cares more about inventory turnover than anything else. I figure if I have a base price for most items and I have good turnover the profit will take care of itself. (I.E. I would rather sell the same items 10x for 8% profit margin than once time for 30%) Turnover is always my biggest concern.

At minimum I expect to at least earn $10 after PP/ebay fees and original cost. My goal though is typically $20-40/item. This means my original price varies widely, anywhere from $1 (amazing garage sale find) to $60 (clearance higher retail item) for example. It's a tough balance because the higher my original investment, the higher the dang ebay/paypal fees and the lower my paypal threshold goes.

Time is valuable though and I'd rather make more for putting in the same amount of time. Ironically I've found that mid-range priced items seem to have the sanest buyers (knock on wood!). It seems the times I've sold something at a loss is when I get the biggest PITA buyer on the planet. lol

Like others here, I always do what I think is a reasonable price even if others have theirs at 25% the cost of mine. I've found as long as I'm willing to let it ride, it will generally sell (I try to do good research prior to listing so I know what's selling and what's not before I even bother).

Buy gold from someone who thinks they're selling you coal.

I like at least 50% and better to hit the 300% which is typical of antiques if you can find the right item.

Closeouts etc I depend on volume and make less but make up for it is large amount of sales and average 500-1000 profit per skid/pallet most times.

I usually prefer to make a minimum of 50% and more. Anything less and I'm not really interested.

I make about 350%
I'm a busy guy so I try not invest in things that aren't too profitable.

It depends on what ur selling. Certain markets average 3% so if you are doing 5% u are way ahead. Sometimes making 50% isn't enough. There's a lot of factors that go into something like this. Market, volume, etc

^^^ That's right. Making %100 on an item that's $1 means making $1. However making 5% on a 5000 item is $250 far superior than the 100% on that $1 item. I think the rule shouldn't be the % but rather the actual cash return. I think $5+ should be the smallest profit after all said and done to keep.

LOL

Hopefully we all think this way.

Nothing worse then going backwards.

I tend to do 50% profit, no stock outlay, off the shelf item.

Personally, I think about the term "value add". I learned this when I started in the corporate world.

I only buy items, I can add value to.

It's like, you buy a board from the sawmill. If you sell it on EB, you'll make about 20%. If you sand it first, then sell it (thus adding some value to it) you'll make 30%. If you'll clean up the edges, and make sure it straight and clean on all surfaces, as well as sand it (adding more value), you'll make 40%. If you'll turn that board into a baseball bat, you'll make 100%. Turn it into furniture, and you're in the 300% ballpark.

So, to me, when I look at buying an item, I consider whether or not I can add value to it. If not...I move on. Too many other people simply flipping items.

The only exception, in my opinion, is buying in bulk. It's hard to buy 1 chainsaw, and flip it on EB and make a profit. But, I can buy a pallet of 20 chainsaw's (at a volume discount), and then flip them one at a time on EB, and make a decent profit.

About a year ago, I bought $7K worth of product in bulk. Now, I'm selling it and making about $3K/month on it....and I'll be making that $3K/month, for about the next 2 years. When I add value to this product, the profit goes thru the roof.

I'm confused.
If it's "off the shelf", isn't it in stock at some point?

I don't outlay for the stock so I don't have funds tied up in stock, I sell 20 - I buy 20.