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Has anyone had experience with buying items bulk from sites like AliExpress or AliBaba and selling them on eBay? Would like some tips as I'm just starting out.
Buying Bulk and Selling on eBay, Tips?
LoSkizzled on 15/08/2016 - 07:44
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+1. Spend only what you can afford to lose are there are many scammers out there, especially if you're selling small items without tracking. In my experience, I've only "lost" an item once and "sent wrong item" on another. YMMV
Postage kills it if you're not drop shipping. Australia Post is minimum $1 for a letter and many ebay products sell for $.99 with free shipping. Go Figure…
I have sold maybe 500 items and 1 person has swapped the product and I had to send another… Another buyer claimed they didn't receive a DVD set but when I told them that an investigation proved they did receive it they stated they purchased 2 DVD sets and it was the other seller that didn't send it… Djsweet has fees calculated to the tee.
There are lot of factors which needs to be considered to answer this question.
- Are these items small or bulky- Postage is a big factor if item value is less than $20-30
- Branded (known) or unbranded items.
- How much margin can you see compared to similar items selling on ebay after ebay+paypal fee?u also have to declare your income if your sales are more than 20k for the year
Actually don't bother cos the ATO comes to know as ebay tells then anyway !It is actually $10k now. Anything over that eBay sends the data to the ATO and it all gets matches up.
Don't underestimate the cost of returns. One return can cost you more than your margin on several sales. And if you play hardball on returns, you could end up with negative feedback that will stop you from trading.
e.g. Imagine you buy an item for $5, sell for $20 ($10 + $10 postage). A return for a faulty item means that you are out of pocket by $25 ($5 for the item + 2 sets of postage), which is your margin on 5 sales.
Also, in the initial stages, I would over-service to build up the feedback score.
if you're wanting to start out small then buy stuff that fits in a $1 or $3 envelop
look for niche market product.
don't buy anything electrical or with moving parts - this will avoid broken/faulty items and returns. I sell stuff that can't be broken (well, would be difficult)
check what the other sellers are selling on ebay (look at completed items to see how many are being sold) and search aliexpress wisely to find the least expensive supplier.
work out whether it's worth your time to list and sell. I view the profit vs effort as a "per hour" amount. that way, if something takes 5 minutes to pack and send and I'm making $5 profit on it then it's worth selling. but also look at profit ratio. I wouldn't buy and sell an item costing $50 to make $5. I look at items that cost $1 and can sell for at least $5 profit. that way it ensures a higher return.
I look for products that I can buy a quantity of and then the first 25% of sales covers the cost of the entire order + fees. so everything sold in the final 75% is profit.
then there is the question of "do you want to sell few and make a larger profit per unit? or sell more for a smaller profit " (volumeprofiteffort)
I started by selling OTG cables. buying for 25cents each and selling for $9. So ~$6.50 profit after postage and fees. Initially it was excellent and I was selling a few a day. I'd pack and label while watching TV in the evening after the kids were in bed. but too many sellers got into it and the sale prices dropped and, for the effort vs return, it became not as viable and I moved on to other products that would provide better returns.
the item (s) I'm currently selling on ebay cost $17 each and are being sold for $65 each. after fees and postage I clear $40. I'm selling about 1 a day. Niche product, with a demand, very few sellers and inexpensive supplier.
Do you sell under your personal account, or a business account? I'm selling a few things, but no where near the margin you get. Thing that annoys me is buyers googling me and finding personal information I prefer they didn't know - which some clearly do based on messages. I'm thinking I need a business account so they can't see my name but business name only.
Just curious what do buyers bring up regarding your personal info? I havnt had this problem before, sounds creepy haha
Yesterday person noted my place of work (which is completely unrelated to sale, and something i don't want others knowing) - I think he was trying to show he knew about me, and therefore it meant I wouldn't rip him off. In the end I fully refunded him at a loss, so maybe that was his plan. Not sure. Other times had people state my name to me, with no other purpose than showing they know my name.
Yes.
It is very hard work, as you need to sell A LOT OF STUFF to make any money.
Things you need to budget for when working out your mark up:
* Ebay fees (10% of sale price including postage)
* Paypal fees (2.6% + 30 cents)
* Postage! Most people seem to expect free postage these days
* Scammers and Faulty Items (people who recover their payments and still receive the item - I budget for about 1 in 10 sales)
If you still think you can make any money after doing this all the best to you.
Enjoy the ecommerce life :)