Low room for profit with eBay and PayPal fees

Hi All,

I sold an item today on eBay.

It is $74.90

Today unfortunately I realized, paypal was taking transaction charge.

So, let me give an example:

My sale price $74.90
My wholesale price $53.90
UPS Ground Shipping Service Price $11.50
53.90+11.50 = $65.40

eBay fees 10%:
74.90 - 7.49 = $67.41

paypal fees: 3.4%:
74.90 ~ 3.4% = $3.22

So, summary here:

74.90 - 7.49 - 3.22 = $64.19!!!!

What the?!?!

I am pure loss $1! So, what about my profit??

Forget it..

I'm losing hope about this business.

Please advice me, what can I do for fix these?!

Is there another way for make a profit without paypal?

I really really need help!

PayPal fees are almost impossible to skip around, of course you can try and promote other payment options such as EFT (electronic funds transfer), but the reality is that most customers associate PayPal with safety and may choose not to deal with you if that payment option isn't offered.

My advice, you just have to build that PayPal transaction fee into your price to cover yourself.

Thank you Mark. But this is really a hostile attitude to sellers. Paypal and eBay wins all the time but not small sellers like us.
I can not accepts EFT cos I am in abroad. Only paypal I guess..

I can't already sell on Amazon.. Ohh..

What will I do?

Maybe I can sell more expensive for cover my profits like you said. But with this way, how can I compete with other sellers? Any suggestions?

Have you considered trying a bundling technique?

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No. What is that?

Follow the link, that will take you to the post I have written on the subject. It might be a marketing technique that you can make work for yourself.

Hello gunduzcihat!

As you, I'm starting on this business, but do not loose your expectations. Market is huge so yo only need to put a price that result in profit for you. I know that compete with other sellers and experienced sellers is hard but is not impossible. What I always do is to multiply my sale price by 0.18 and that result is the fees paypal and ebay take so try to be at least in break even, you can check this calculator too : Link hidden: Login to view.

You know we can do it!..I had an experience with some cartoon backpacks I bought for 14.90 USD and sell them for 26 USD if you do the numbers you can see :

Sale Price: 26
Fees: 4.68 (26 * 0.18)
Cost of the item: 14.90
My Profit: 6.42

I could sell that week 4 of them, but my list ended :( ...and loose the popularity I think. But you know, this is a business that can work only need to work hard and learn!

I've lost money some time, but took it as experience cost and that is invaluable because happens one time and never happen again!. Keep going my friend!

We are in this business !

I am just starting a business too and learning the ropes. Its quite overwhelming at times especially since I'm not sure what I am doing or what I'm going to sell that people want to buy. I'm considering dropshipping mainly because I'm just learning the ropes and don't have a big budget. Any advice please?

Hi Lesley and welcome to the forum,

There is a wealth of information in here and we're always happy to assist where possible. I suggest reading through the forum, plenty of good advice and suggestion throughout and maybe going through our Training Centre might also help

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Thank you Mark, I have been reading quite a lot of SaleHoo literature and watching some of the training videos. I just found the forum today, so I will be reading some of the suggestions. Thanks again.
Lesley

Welcome Lesley, just give us a shout out if we can be of any help at anytime :)

gunduzcihat wrote:Hi All,

I sold an item today on eBay.

It is $74.90

Today unfortunately I realized, paypal was taking transaction charge.

So, let me give an example:

My sale price $74.90
My wholesale price $53.90
UPS Ground Shipping Service Price $11.50
53.90+11.50 = $65.40

eBay fees 10%:
74.90 - 7.49 = $67.41

paypal fees: 3.4%:
74.90 ~ 3.4% = $3.22

So, summary here:

74.90 - 7.49 - 3.22 = $64.19!!!!

What the?!?!

I am pure loss $1! So, what about my profit??

Forget it..

I'm losing hope about this business.

Please advice me, what can I do for fix these?!

Is there another way for make a profit without paypal?

I really really need help!

Hi Max, welcome to the forum.

Was there something we can help you with?

Even without the PayPal fees the profit margin on the item you were selling was so slim why would you even bother? The profit would not have even covered your labour to:
1. List the item on ebay
2. order the product
3. package & post
4. Answer customer enquiries about the product.

Not to mention if a customer says the product was damaged on delivery or poor quality & decides they want a refund & you have to pay return shipping costs.

I wont sell an item on ebay unless I can sell for a minimum of 100% markup (unless it is a very high cost item of a more than a couple of hundred dollars then I may be prepared to work on less markup).

Hi All,

I am an Ebay seller, While trying to build your business, I suggest garage sales. yard sales , flea markets etc. Sell those items in addition to your new items and you will be able to cover costs. You can pick up a video game at a yard sale for 1.00 and sell it on Ebay for 20.00 which is a nice profit. Right now the Ebay market is flooded with items because of the holidays. hang in there and don't give up!.

Klassy Gurl