How much demand is sufficient?

For a product to be successful on Ebay, what sort of a sell-through rate would be acceptable? How high does the demand for the product have to be?

Thanx

Roshanne

Hi Roshanne,

It's a very hard question to quantify with any certainty. Let's say for example that you have one product that you make a mark-up of 7% on, then another that you have a mark-up on of 55%.

The product with the higher margin could net you more money even with a much slower clearance rate than the other.

I would be using a sell through rate just to indicate a possible market personally. For example, something that had X listings with low sell through would be a concern, but that wouldn't stop me looking closer at the product in regards to margin and marketability. What I mean in regards to marketability is just because other's are selling a product that may not be doing so well, that doesn't mean they are marketing it correctly, and I've seen plenty of opportunities where tweaking the marketing of a product has increased a sell through rate.

A sell through rate is something that I would suggest concentrating on a lot more when you have a basic stock profile, and you are looking to start fine tunning. If you start out by adding the sell through rate to your overall equation right from the start, then you risk placing an emphasis on that rate alone, and that could well make you over look products with good margins where the sell through rate isn't of prime concern.

Yes, I agree. . it is more about margin that sell through rate. W/ ebay fees from 10-18% (when you add pay pal), sellers should think margin margin margin. It kills me when I see new sellers enter the computer and electronics game, who fail to calculate margins. They are in so big a hurry to sell their items, they don't take time to calculate cost of goods sold. I know that a good deal loose money, cause I can tell they are buying from the same source. While they quickly go out of business, another always seems to be entering the market, thus driving the prices down.

Margins, not sell through, is the big question in my mind