setting up an eBay shop - advice?
Discussion
My GF & I are looking to setup a small eBay shop selling pet related products. Being completely honest there will nothing especially unique about what we will be selling, it will be just another supplier of pet related items.
For those of you who have setup something similar are there any major do's & don'ts? We are not looking to make our second million by doing this but merely fill the piggy bank for 'whatever'. If it happened to be a fantastic success then great!
ta
For those of you who have setup something similar are there any major do's & don'ts? We are not looking to make our second million by doing this but merely fill the piggy bank for 'whatever'. If it happened to be a fantastic success then great!
ta
My advice would be go in eyes WIDE open. Ebay and paypal between them charge a lot of money. You regularly see stuff on ebay that must be making the sellers pennies if anything at all.
I'm just letting my ebay stuff run&expire at the moment and moving over to ebid. Ebid is brilliant its got to be the next big thing. No listing fees and only 3% final value. I sell the same items cheaper on ebid just because you save such a huge amount on fees.
Looking at going onto Amazon too as have heard good things.
Ebay is dead really. You do get the customers but you get the bare minimum profit and a lot of idiot non paying awkward moaning customers. The whole complaints procedure is heavily weighted in favour of the buyer too, further eating into your profits.
Unless you go massively into it like russy01 has IMO its bordering on being a waste of time. Theres no middle ground really. I think a lot of sellers genuinely don't understand the amount of fees they are being charged which makes it difficult to compete and make proper money.
Having your own website is the best option really. The only thing your really paying out for then is transaction fees.
I'm just letting my ebay stuff run&expire at the moment and moving over to ebid. Ebid is brilliant its got to be the next big thing. No listing fees and only 3% final value. I sell the same items cheaper on ebid just because you save such a huge amount on fees.
Looking at going onto Amazon too as have heard good things.
Ebay is dead really. You do get the customers but you get the bare minimum profit and a lot of idiot non paying awkward moaning customers. The whole complaints procedure is heavily weighted in favour of the buyer too, further eating into your profits.
Unless you go massively into it like russy01 has IMO its bordering on being a waste of time. Theres no middle ground really. I think a lot of sellers genuinely don't understand the amount of fees they are being charged which makes it difficult to compete and make proper money.
Having your own website is the best option really. The only thing your really paying out for then is transaction fees.
king for coins'.On a BIN Auction for an £11.99 item your charges are 20%!
Handy little tool for seeing how much you get ripped by the terrible two:
http://www.newlifeauctions.com/calc.html
I sell T Shirts at £11.99
I basically get £9.55
There are sellers on ebay doing similar items for £9 from which they get £7 which is terrifyingly close to the actual cost of producing the items.
On Ebid for a £11.99 item the seller will get £11.14 after paypal fees.
Its only a matter of time until ebay topples.
Handy little tool for seeing how much you get ripped by the terrible two:
http://www.newlifeauctions.com/calc.html
I sell T Shirts at £11.99
I basically get £9.55
There are sellers on ebay doing similar items for £9 from which they get £7 which is terrifyingly close to the actual cost of producing the items.
On Ebid for a £11.99 item the seller will get £11.14 after paypal fees.
Its only a matter of time until ebay topples.
Ebay has it's place for the moment, as it's the first place people go to find obscure and hard to find stuff they can't find in shops... For this reason, if you are offering something unique, the huge audience means that it is likely to go for more than it's retail price.
It amazes me how some shops must operate on profits of pennies per item for common stuff where there is massive competition... As said above, Ebay is always ridiculously in favour of the buyer, so bend over backwards to make sure buyers are happy, as a negative feed back can do long term damage, as it is very visible to potential customers, let alone the various penalties used by ebay for low rated sellers.
If you are selling pet stuff that is already available, maybe from several sellers you have a range of problems. You will be a newish shop that people won't trust, and be prepared to pay more for somewhere with lots more feedback, so you will have to undercut the others somehow, or offer something new.
Best of luck what ever you choose!
It amazes me how some shops must operate on profits of pennies per item for common stuff where there is massive competition... As said above, Ebay is always ridiculously in favour of the buyer, so bend over backwards to make sure buyers are happy, as a negative feed back can do long term damage, as it is very visible to potential customers, let alone the various penalties used by ebay for low rated sellers.
If you are selling pet stuff that is already available, maybe from several sellers you have a range of problems. You will be a newish shop that people won't trust, and be prepared to pay more for somewhere with lots more feedback, so you will have to undercut the others somehow, or offer something new.
Best of luck what ever you choose!
russy01 said:
our shop is 3rd biggest in country http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/JadlamRacingModels
How did you work that one out???Edited by thisislife on Sunday 21st March 16:08
Your account manager meant 'In your category' you're the third biggest!
First2save is the biggest in UK and another company of theirs is second - both by mega margins - 750,000 feedbacks....
Back to ebay. Margins are virtually non existant. Customers - the ones who purchase something incorrectly (this depends on the category you're in and the purchasing demographics) but generally everything is your fault as a seller, despite putting every effort in to putting every detail in the listing, it's your fault. Accept that and you're on to a winner.
First2save is the biggest in UK and another company of theirs is second - both by mega margins - 750,000 feedbacks....
Back to ebay. Margins are virtually non existant. Customers - the ones who purchase something incorrectly (this depends on the category you're in and the purchasing demographics) but generally everything is your fault as a seller, despite putting every effort in to putting every detail in the listing, it's your fault. Accept that and you're on to a winner.
Edited by ACEparts_com on Sunday 21st March 20:01
Well you do need to work it out becasue my eBay company is 4 times bigger than yours and we're only 10th in the UK lol.
Have also attended those award ceremonies/dinners, head offices in Richmond, received xmas champagne and been invited to eBay development meeting but turned that one down as i got to learn that the usual bunch of sellers that turned up were absolute dreamers.
Not trying to pi** on your BBQ Russy01 just squaring off the facts.
My advice to the OP is go for it but im +1 on what AceParts says.
BTW i dont class overall feedback as making someone the biggest, its their monthly feedback that shows their output. Total feedback just means they have been going years.
Have also attended those award ceremonies/dinners, head offices in Richmond, received xmas champagne and been invited to eBay development meeting but turned that one down as i got to learn that the usual bunch of sellers that turned up were absolute dreamers.
Not trying to pi** on your BBQ Russy01 just squaring off the facts.
My advice to the OP is go for it but im +1 on what AceParts says.
BTW i dont class overall feedback as making someone the biggest, its their monthly feedback that shows their output. Total feedback just means they have been going years.
Right some obviously very experienced Ebayers on here so i'll ask her as opposed to starting another thread.
Quick question.
Thinking of starting a small Ebay shop shortly but the recent comments on Ebay & Paypal always backing the buyer worries me somewhat and i'll tell you why.
I'll be selling something that will need to be installed, An electrician or someone with a bit of nounce can easily do it but if its not done properly it can go wrong, but say i get some balloon who buys it decides to save a few quid and tries to do it himself and then proceeds to screw it up, comes back to me saying its faulty goods, Paypal refund his money and i'm out of pocket and get negative feedback.
How would you get around this and prevent (if possible) this from happening?
Thanks chaps.
Quick question.
Thinking of starting a small Ebay shop shortly but the recent comments on Ebay & Paypal always backing the buyer worries me somewhat and i'll tell you why.
I'll be selling something that will need to be installed, An electrician or someone with a bit of nounce can easily do it but if its not done properly it can go wrong, but say i get some balloon who buys it decides to save a few quid and tries to do it himself and then proceeds to screw it up, comes back to me saying its faulty goods, Paypal refund his money and i'm out of pocket and get negative feedback.
How would you get around this and prevent (if possible) this from happening?
Thanks chaps.
Fact is a lot of really big sellers are leaving. Ebay are making things soo difficult for sellers but i think we're missing one vital point - many of these 'businesses' wouldn't survive anyway, ebay just hastens their demise. If you're gonna fail you'll do it 100 X faster on ebay!
There's lots and lots of people out of work now and if they're prepared to make 40p on an item you were previsouly making 60p on, they'll get the sales and you won't. Simple as.
Once you've posted it to a lot of these poor out of work sods, they might say they haven't received it and then get their money back.
It's that cut throat.
There's lots and lots of people out of work now and if they're prepared to make 40p on an item you were previsouly making 60p on, they'll get the sales and you won't. Simple as.
Once you've posted it to a lot of these poor out of work sods, they might say they haven't received it and then get their money back.
It's that cut throat.
CHIEF said:
Right some obviously very experienced Ebayers on here so i'll ask her as opposed to starting another thread.
Quick question.
Thinking of starting a small Ebay shop shortly but the recent comments on Ebay & Paypal always backing the buyer worries me somewhat and i'll tell you why.
I'll be selling something that will need to be installed, An electrician or someone with a bit of nounce can easily do it but if its not done properly it can go wrong, but say i get some balloon who buys it decides to save a few quid and tries to do it himself and then proceeds to screw it up, comes back to me saying its faulty goods, Paypal refund his money and i'm out of pocket and get negative feedback.
How would you get around this and prevent (if possible) this from happening?
Thanks chaps.
There's a whole load of stuff that I wouldn't sell on ebay due to the risk outweighing the reward! By all means try. Amazon might be a better market place.Quick question.
Thinking of starting a small Ebay shop shortly but the recent comments on Ebay & Paypal always backing the buyer worries me somewhat and i'll tell you why.
I'll be selling something that will need to be installed, An electrician or someone with a bit of nounce can easily do it but if its not done properly it can go wrong, but say i get some balloon who buys it decides to save a few quid and tries to do it himself and then proceeds to screw it up, comes back to me saying its faulty goods, Paypal refund his money and i'm out of pocket and get negative feedback.
How would you get around this and prevent (if possible) this from happening?
Thanks chaps.
Edited by ACEparts_com on Sunday 21st March 20:35
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