This is crazy

[tight fart]

My business has changed a lot over the last 30 years, items I used to sell for £40 made in the UK now come from China and I get less than £20 for now.
But I've just purchased 5 torx screwdrivers on eBay from China delivered for .99p it's mad that that's possible in any business model, it would cost more than that to park in most high streets.
(I did try the local shops, maplins, tool station etc but nobody stocked them either)

[AyBee]

It's been like that for a while. I'm not entirely sure how some of the things I've bought in the past have made any money for the seller because I'd imagine the shipping costs to be greater than the purchase price.

[droopsnoot]

Not just for stuff coming from overseas either - I bought some bolts from a UK seller, five for 99p with P&P included, arrived in a nice new Jiffy bag with £1.17 post on it. I assume it's a loss-leader, that they think I'll remember their prompt service when I want loads of bolts and place a bigger order they can make money on.

[LordHaveMurci]

The amount of people I do business with who have complained about their missus wanting to do something from home & setting up an eBay 'business' only to forget about basic things like fees & postage.

Trouble with eBay is the really low entry point, anybody can sell a few things & think they're a tycoon before realising they're losing money rather than getting loaded innit.

[anonymous-user]

This seems very common these days. I had one customer who would buy 100 of a product off me. One day they came back but asked for a discount to the degree that I would make a loss on each one. They continued to explain to me that they had been selling each one they had off me in the past for LESS than they paid. I explained my business worked slightly differently, in so much that I sell things for slightly MORE than they cost me. Looking at eBay listings I can only think most people make up a price & sell it for that, making a profit does not come into it.

[Charlie1986]

It happens all over, We don't sell on Ebay but you can get our parts 50% cheaper on line which they will make a loss on,

We have had customers who have taken there business away to china for the cost of parts then come back when they have problems or the quality drops ( this happens a lot the first 100-1000 will be perfect to get the business then it will start to drop off). We as a company have spent millions on our testing and will push the boat for the customer who will then expect this when they source the best price.

We have had customers try and pass fake parts and blame us on the faults they are having. Then wonder why we wont commit to production runs for them

[Foliage]

I think you shouldn't forget that some people aren't good at businessing.

[hotchy]

Not only do they make a loss on the 99p items half the buyers will pretend they never got them to get a refund.