Can you make a profit on Ebay?

Years ago pretty much anything that was listed sold on Ebay and people knew they had to include shipping in their costs. Now with the saturation of just about everything being sold on the site and those who ship for free how can there be a profit in this especially if the item sold for only 2 bucks. Out of that comes a listing fee and commission for Ebay.

Profit on ebay is easy! My general rule is that unless I can sell an item for 20.00, I won't list it.(Or list it in bulk to make up for it) There are exceptions, such as small items that can be shipped for a few bucks like CPU's and RAM.

Knowing your shipping options is important. You need to be able to look at an item and decide the cheapest way to ship it. USPS regional rate boxes are a lesser known option that can save a ton of money.

I list items if I can get more than scrap value on it no matter the selling price. This month I have made over $100 profit where it would be about $2 in scrap. Make sure to do your research. Look at the sold listings before listing any item. If you can't make a profit or it seems that it doesn't sell fast then I scrap it. Always factor in EBay Fees / shipping / paypal fees before selling.

On the low end, my margin can slide below 15%. On the high, it's more like 70%. The lowest margins tend to be for books, which I sell more of than anything else but the markets are so flooded you can't really expect to get rich on them. I ship for free just so I can get an automatic five star rating for fees but sometimes it can be a challenge. I tried to establish a quarterly average margin for everything but without a store, eBay deletes the broader sales data within 90 days. That makes it difficult to keep anything but a running tally in a separate spreadsheet. I just haven't reached the point, yet, where my volume justifies that much more work.

To be clear, when we say "margin," I like to think everyone understands it refers to the amount of money, expressed as a percentage, representing the actual profit from each sale, but that consensus may not be the case. It's not a dollar amount; if you say you have a $1 margin, that doesn't tell much. If you are making $1 on every $3 sale, that's pretty good (33% - a 50% markup) but making a $1 on a $50 sale is not a good sign, unless you sell hundreds per month and they come prepacked for mailing.

Low margins are not a terrible thing with high turnover in play. Wal-Mart, for example, tends to have small profit margins, item to item. But they are banking on massive turnover rates to work in their favor. If one store spends $350K on inventory at the beginning of the month, and they sell it all at a 10% margin inside that month, they clear $35,000 after all overhead, labor, and shrink is accounted. Not too shabby. Few of us could manage Wal-Mart's inventory levels but even at lower levels, the model holds water. I have the same attitude about books. As long as they sell quick and I can pack them out easily and swiftly (and the Media Rates stay easy to remember), I will keep doing it. At least, they add up to a few more dollars per month than I would have seen, otherwise. But once you start getting into things which don't fit into Flat Rate boxes or ship cheaply as Media or First Class, you have to have more insulation in the margin.

I cant keep up with everything between dismantling and listing on ebay. I try to list several items like 10-15 a nite. All I can handle. That said my average before shipping is about 2k a month or 25 grand a year. Factor in shipping costs, returns, etc....clear perhaps 19k - 20k.

Curenntly run two accounts with vpns to hide ip so they dont get linked together and closed down. So that is only one account. The other one is slow moving crap that might take months to sell, but will eventually.

I have been as high as 4k a month. But really was 2k after buying the crap and pay labor to dismantle...

I pretty much sell auto parts I get from scrap cars I buy. I really dont run general scrap, but used to part out the white goods like washers and sell parts.

I also was dabbling in selling flat screen tv parts. But the cost to buy them from people including gas wasnt worth it really. Plus high amount of returns due to people having no clue how to fix their tv. So return a good item I would have to resell.

Now this is online money. This doesnt factor in scrap money which is cash bla bla bla.

So realistically as a scrapper.....I think I average 50k or thereabotu a year between ebay and scrap money even with the the low prices. If I had help and could list everything i have in inventory....i probaly got 20k here.

But alasa only got 4k up right now....:>

It takes 6 months to know if you actually made money on eBay since a customer can return an item for up to 6 months from date of purchase. eBay always sides with customer and refunds money automatically if you refuse. I had a custom that waited just over 6 months once to complain about a purchase. Luckily I was protected at that point. Who waits almost 7 months?? crazy If you have more volume you can afford to lower prices. If you have one or two items, you will likely be priced higher and have to wait longer to sell. However, I sometimes pay a little more if the seller is closer to me as I know on average I will get it sooner. So there are many many factors in this loaded question. Happy selling!

Yes you can make a profit on ebay.

Short. Simple. an Direct.

Is it worth it all? Only you can decide. Some folks love it, some hate it. Most on here that use it, do well.

Either way...good luck to ya!

Sirscrapalot - Rock you like a hurricane. - Some Band nobody ever herd of............../end sarcasm

First thought about making money on ebay is by selling stuff as all the responses have shown. But lately I've been making money by buying. Not a whole lot 50 bucks here, 100 there. But with the great prices offered by some of the buyers here, I've been picking up lots of scrap computer stuff and all I have to do is rebox it and print a label. It is hard to win due to (I'm guessing) home refiners paying well over what the buyers here pay out. But you can win quite a few. I have the best luck with the "make offer" auctions. I got a box of 30 lbs of ram for what came out to be about 12 bucks a pound. Quick easy 50 dollar score. And best part is, I usually do my bidding at work while in the bathroom. Nothing better than getting paid to drop a deuce, except getting paid twice while doing so. Lol.

One can do very well buying off eBay an selling elsewhere to.

In my old life(business) I'd do the same. Buy on there an resell elsewhere(not online), profit, rinse & repeat. As our older members know, I at one time sold on eBay. Not scrap related stuff, but stuff I bought wholesale(True Wholesale.). This was before I got into ewaste/scrapping. Nowadays while I don't sell on there anymore(I prefer face to face sales) I do still buy now an then, but even that's rare for me now.

If you got the time, patience, an the will to deal with eBay, their hoops, the occasional bad buyer, etc....then go for it. Just know it's not all peaches and roses, but it's not all piss and vinegar either.

For those new to the forums and/or selling on eBay, do yourself if a favor an learn market research. There are programs out that will do it for you on sites like eBay and Amazon. You can also do it without a program..just makes it harder in my opinion. Work smart, not hard as the saying goes. Far as what program..consult the archives I've mentioned one or two in the past. As I don't work for them..I don't do free advertising for them either.

So yea..if you made it through all that above...Good luck to you future eBay sellers, and continued good business for our pro ones.

As always...YMMV.

Sirscrapalot - It is better to meet danger than to wait for it. He that is on a lee shore, and foresees a hurricane, stands out to sea and encounters a storm to avoid a shipwreck. - Charles Caleb Colton

No, I do not seem to be able to make a profit on ebay. Every time I list a product and it sells, it seems to go for exactly what it is worth. There is no gain whatsoever. Just once it would be nice to actually get paid more than what the item is worth. It seems to be an exactly equal exchange of goods and value.

Originally Posted by t00nces2

No, I do not seem to be able to make a profit on ebay. Every time I list a product and it sells, it seems to go for exactly what it is worth. There is no gain whatsoever. Just once it would be nice to actually get paid more than what the item is worth. It seems to be an exactly equal exchange of goods and value.

I'm tickled to death to get exactly what an item is worth. However, I rarely pay more than 10% of what it's worth. No matter what "it" is. For instance, in July of 2016 I went to an auction of a local business that had closed. There was 300 registered bidders present. I spent $296. I bought everything from a Toshiba phone system to mannequins. Filled up my truck twice and my 16' trailer once. Did I know what the wide variety of items was worth? Heck no, I just put a minimum value on any given item and base my buying price on that. Then I go home and do the research. In the following three months I received (sold on eBay) $3k for items from that auction. And I'm still selling items from that auction to this day. That sale was in the public domain. I didn't know anyone in particular or have any other advantage. I just went to work looking. They are out there! It's not easy but it sure is satisfying! In summary, if you only buy and/or sell what you know, you'll never know anything new! Wow, I love that summary. Dem dare words is some goodins!

Originally Posted by t00nces2

No, I do not seem to be able to make a profit on ebay. Every time I list a product and it sells, it seems to go for exactly what it is worth. There is no gain whatsoever. Just once it would be nice to actually get paid more than what the item is worth. It seems to be an exactly equal exchange of goods and value.

Okay, i just got around to reading this thread as I am an active eBayer. I dont mean to sound offensive to t00nces2, but I got quite a chuckle from your response. Of course the item goes for "what its worth", as it should in a free enterprise system. The trick is for you to obtain it for less than market value and sell at market. The profit is solely on your ability to get a good deal. I always research the value of something before I buy it for resale. Maybe your post was a bit of sarcasm. Either way I got a laugh...thanks!

Please see post above yours in regards to market research.

Will save you from those kind of things. Input your product, an get the info on it. Past sales, how many, what's hot/not, etc etc etc.

You can save yourself a lot of time an heart break with said program.

Further proof I'm right with my little motto tho..YMMV.

Sirscrapalot - Sitting on the dock of the bay..- Otis Redding

No surprise, buyer gets refund $812.00 and 18.7 grams of gold.

Hello Alloy2,

We finished looking into your case and we decided it in anagiota xxxxx
favor. Here's the case information:


Buyer's name: anagiota xxxxxx
Buyer's email: doroXX@mail.com
Transaction ID: 4RR2602289043841S

Transaction date: 23-Aug-2016
Transaction amount: $812.00 USD
Your transaction ID: PP813405786C64377

Case number: PP-405-240-865-901

Refund amount: $812.00 USD


We've already refunded them the money from your account and the case is now
closed. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough money in your account to cover
the refund, so your PayPal account balance is now negative.

That means your account activity might be limited until you bring the
account balance to (or above) zero. You should also know that any money
going into the account will go toward bringing your balance back above zero.

Sincerely,

Protection Services Department


Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you
will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account
and click the Help link in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

Originally Posted by ScrappinRed

Was it a "not as described" case? What reasoning did the buyer give? I would've been on the phone so fast with eBay fighting that...

`Item not recieved, processed shipping label through my PP account the tracking number is useless not worth the paper it's printed on.

I enjoy a good game, I've been check mated by a savvy buyer, I'll never get the money or the gold back but do have some recourse which could result in the buyer having the gold confiscated or possibly paying double duty plus a fine for defrauding customs.

After 18 years selling on ebay, I've had enough of the BS.

Last year the Goverment took half my pension leaving me $550.00 to live on ebay did not save my A$$ I did, had a great time on the Honda VT1100 and the sailboat life is a never ending adventure. Now for plan "B" growing garlic.

Today was my birthday and nothing is going to spoil it or any other day going forward.

CPC abbreviation for Canada Post Corporation.

I will tell you this
I was recently at a Get Motivated Seminar listening to various speakers.
I had met one of the speakers that makes 200-400 K a month on Ebay.
Using Amazon Prime
They simply use the Amazon prime system for resell items.
Amazon prime handles the shipping, and returns.

I use Ebay to sell items that I get if I'm out treasure hunting.
For instance I found a nice pair of JNCO jeans for 1.00 at a thrift store.
These jeans sold for several more dollars than what I paid
I am by trade a Mechanical Engineer, but I plan on optimizing my opportunity with Ebay
I've been to 3rd world countries before talking to street kids wearing **** rags and begging for leftover rice
America is the land or Milk and Honey and their service is one that everyone should use.
Ebay is a gold mine if your willing to hunt and play the game.