Having a successful business on eBay is what most sellers are looking for. They believe that eBay is the gate to realizing their dreams. Yet, there is a hidden side of eBay that most sellers do not see. With thousands of people browsing eBay everyday, you get to believe that advertising on eBay is very cost efficient. This is, however, half the truth. When compared to other forms of advertising eBay is really cheap. But there are some hidden costs that eBay sellers rarely pay attention to when they make a sale.
Obviously, when you start your business on eBay, you become aware of the fees that you have to pay, like those required for listing your items, for enhancements and the final value fees. Add to that the fees collected by PayPal, if it is the method of payment that the buyer prefer. So far everything is crystal clear. Yet, there are some costs that you do not see. That is why I like to call them " the invisible costs".
Allow me to clear things up. If, for example, you purchase a lot of the items that you sell on eBay from flea markets and garage sales, then this means that you spend a lot of time going to these places, in addition to all travel expenses you pay to get there.
After buying these items you will be needing more time to research, take pictures and list your items. Then, once a sale is made you will spend more time and effort in packaging and posting the sold items. By doing some calculations you will find that every sale you make on eBay takes about one hour or more of your time.
Keeping track of all the time you spend on your eBay business is what you need to do to work out exactly how much a sale on eBay costs you. Record the time from the moment you go out to buy items for your eBay auctions until the moment you return home. Also at home remember to write down the time spent in listing, photographing and packing. Moreover, add any expenses other than the cost of the items that you buy to sell on eBay.
After a few weeks from doing so, you will get an idea about all the time you spend on your eBay business. Estimating how much you should be paid for every hour is what you should do next. If you are working for someone else, you could be paid $10, $20 or $50 an hour. But you are your own boss and you get to value your time and effort.
Suppose you work for 6 hours a week at $20 per hour, then your weekly salary will be $120. Suppose also that you sell 30 items per week, then this means that every item you sell costs you $4 of time. Add that to the cost of the item, eBay fees, PayPal fees and the shipping fees, and you will get an accurate figure of how much an item really costs you. In that case, you will be able to discover the exact amount of profits or losses you made on each sale on your eBay business.
Now you are probably wondering how to fix this problem. You can try to make the best out of your spent time on eBay by using any kind of software to speed up some of the tasks that you do and possibly also by reconsidering the way, through which you get your items that you sell on eBay.
Keep in mind that criticising eBay is not what i am doing here, in fact it is quite the opposite. I am just trying to present all what you might face while selling on eBay. Making real profits is what you were looking for when you started your online business, and eBay is surely the place for you to do that.
Obviously, when you start your business on eBay, you become aware of the fees that you have to pay, like those required for listing your items, for enhancements and the final value fees. Add to that the fees collected by PayPal, if it is the method of payment that the buyer prefer. So far everything is crystal clear. Yet, there are some costs that you do not see. That is why I like to call them " the invisible costs".
Allow me to clear things up. If, for example, you purchase a lot of the items that you sell on eBay from flea markets and garage sales, then this means that you spend a lot of time going to these places, in addition to all travel expenses you pay to get there.
After buying these items you will be needing more time to research, take pictures and list your items. Then, once a sale is made you will spend more time and effort in packaging and posting the sold items. By doing some calculations you will find that every sale you make on eBay takes about one hour or more of your time.
Keeping track of all the time you spend on your eBay business is what you need to do to work out exactly how much a sale on eBay costs you. Record the time from the moment you go out to buy items for your eBay auctions until the moment you return home. Also at home remember to write down the time spent in listing, photographing and packing. Moreover, add any expenses other than the cost of the items that you buy to sell on eBay.
After a few weeks from doing so, you will get an idea about all the time you spend on your eBay business. Estimating how much you should be paid for every hour is what you should do next. If you are working for someone else, you could be paid $10, $20 or $50 an hour. But you are your own boss and you get to value your time and effort.
Suppose you work for 6 hours a week at $20 per hour, then your weekly salary will be $120. Suppose also that you sell 30 items per week, then this means that every item you sell costs you $4 of time. Add that to the cost of the item, eBay fees, PayPal fees and the shipping fees, and you will get an accurate figure of how much an item really costs you. In that case, you will be able to discover the exact amount of profits or losses you made on each sale on your eBay business.
Now you are probably wondering how to fix this problem. You can try to make the best out of your spent time on eBay by using any kind of software to speed up some of the tasks that you do and possibly also by reconsidering the way, through which you get your items that you sell on eBay.
Keep in mind that criticising eBay is not what i am doing here, in fact it is quite the opposite. I am just trying to present all what you might face while selling on eBay. Making real profits is what you were looking for when you started your online business, and eBay is surely the place for you to do that.
