How do they do it

[stevebills]

I have seen uk sellers say selling cheap items like cat scratcher
For £2.99 free postage and how do they make a profit
My postage is £2.75 per item under I kilo
Then theres product cost let say there paying £1.50 each
Then there's eBay fees and PayPal fees
And then there labour cost and packaging cost
No what I'm getting at is this is where most people would
Be in a state of losses
Pls explain how they do it
These are uk sellers not Chinese who get free postage

Thx
Steve

[ilcarletto]

They might not be looking to make a profit but just gaining good feedbacks for the account... just an idea.

[RosieTosie]

Originally Posted by ilcarletto

They might not be looking to make a profit but just gaining good feedbacks for the account... just an idea.

Good suggestion ilcarletto, just one of many different ways in use for keeping accounts sailing along well with no big hiccups good well imagine.

[quizmaniac]

Good question, ive just bought some sim card adapters off amazon for 55p from a uk seller and the cheapest postage will cost them more than that.

These aint new sellers and have sold loads so dont really get how its worth it for them even if the item cost them pennies.

[stevebills]

I did think it was for good feedback and follow up sales

[stevebills]

I have just been told that some people do a sales pitch in other places say Facebook and offer the item for a dollar for the first 100
if they click on there Amazon or eBay item and leave feedback in 30 days and this can generate lots of sales but I have never tried it myself

[Play]

Originally Posted by quizmaniac

Good question, ive just bought some sim card adapters off amazon for 55p from a uk seller and the cheapest postage will cost them more than that.

These aint new sellers and have sold loads so dont really get how its worth it for them even if the item cost them pennies.

It's called negative rating dilution. It isn't really called that, I just came up with that name. A great way of keeping your selling metrics in shape.

[sax4]

They are called "Loss leaders" where a product is sold for little profit, or a loss as a way of enticing buyers into their store. I do the same thing on Amazon

[rsot]

http://www.aspkin.com/forums/ebay-di...tml#post799649 - related

[spindoctor]

I've been doing the exact same and taking a £0.50p more a less loss on every sale. Just to dilute a negative I received.

Just picked a few things up from charity shops or pound stores.

[RR2]

For feedback or to invite buyers into the store. It's generally this.

[stevebills]

Yes it must be feedback as the more feedback the more sales you seem to get its a trust thing and u don't always have to be the cheapest but it helps

[NigelLikesCheesecake]

Originally Posted by sax4

They are called "Loss leaders" where a product is sold for little profit, or a loss as a way of enticing buyers into their store. I do the same thing on Amazon

Same as the Supermarkets do with cheap Alchohol

[cool customer]

Originally Posted by NigelLikesCheesecake

Same as the Supermarkets do with cheap Alchohol

Totally. Tin of baked beans for 8p? Go on then, might as well grab some milk too, and some bread. Bacon sarnie would be nice so I'll need some bacon. Before you know it that 8p tin of beans just cost you £5.00, £4.92 of which did create profit.

[MountainMan]

Hi Steve

What you are asking about falls in to a number of answers and you can find out which answers apply by looking at the volume of items listed on that account and then also looking at the volume of feedback and what the majority of those feedback relate to - is it that item for example?
If this is it, then it is used to counter bad feedback or "dilution" of DSR scores at the back end.

However, a lot of sellers on eBay, up to recently were making their money on the post; either not declaring the correct amount or the correct cost.
There is a couple of famous cases from last year, notably Babz Onlime, who was eBays poster child for success with a business that was turning over £20 Million per year.

For years, he was not declaring all the items he was sending and he could do this because Royal Mail was send 3 to 4 trucks per day to pick up items.
Though, as soon as Royal Mail, went to PLC and had share holders to answer to, it suddenly detected this practice and has since shut around a 100 major players in the UK down.
Babz had 2 accounts and each had 150,000 feedback coming on it per month - so in essence you could suppose he was transacting around 500,000 sales per month on each account.

This is how it is done!

[e2free]

Originally Posted by MountainMan

Hi Steve

What you are asking about falls in to a number of answers and you can find out which answers apply by looking at the volume of items listed on that account and then also looking at the volume of feedback and what the majority of those feedback relate to - is it that item for example?
If this is it, then it is used to counter bad feedback or "dilution" of DSR scores at the back end.

However, a lot of sellers on eBay, up to recently were making their money on the post; either not declaring the correct amount or the correct cost.
There is a couple of famous cases from last year, notably Babz Onlime, who was eBays poster child for success with a business that was turning over £20 Million per year.

For years, he was not declaring all the items he was sending and he could do this because Royal Mail was send 3 to 4 trucks per day to pick up items.
Though, as soon as Royal Mail, went to PLC and had share holders to answer to, it suddenly detected this practice and has since shut around a 100 major players in the UK down.
Babz had 2 accounts and each had 150,000 feedback coming on it per month - so in essence you could suppose he was transacting around 500,000 sales per month on each account.

This is how it is done!

Totally agree

and these are only who investigated rest still doing these things