posted on June 10, 2001 08:24:51 PMA pays higher fees to sell his items than B does, with no way to show that it improves bids, aside from the "feeling" that it does.
Now you understand! There's no way to prove that accepting or not accepting PayPal or any other type of payment will help or hurt you. There are just too many variables when selling on Ebay. Many of which you have no control of. So, when deciding how to handle your Ebay sales you just have to make an educated guess.
I accept PayPal because I think it makes me extra money. Which seems very likely. It doesn't seem likely that it costs me money.
We're a sizeable seller though most of our business is at business to consumer sites direct and not eBay.
There has been a form of exodus happening for years for Person to person points of sale. Things get so complex and "itchy" for them safety wise they simply go elsewhere even if it costs them a few bucks more.
All that aside does accepting credit cards increase business. The answer is yes, thats why walmart and every business uses them. No its none of the issues any message in this forum have said. Anyone awake out there?
Folks use credit cards because they dont have the money. That simple. Credit cards are (intent):
1. Spend money they dont have (microloan)
2. Convenience in purchasing.
3. Purchasing safety.
Thats what credit cards were all baout when they first became realized and took off like wildfire.
Great for business, people buying things when they dont have the cash.
Opening up mail order sales to a huge new frontier.
Providing consumer protection for items bought. And banks get to charge the buyer interest and the seller processing fee's... Its a BIG business credit yes?
1 & 2 are the case no matter what payment service you use. Yes it will increase sales unless one's a sales shmutz and has no clue what they are doing.
Number 3 is the issue. Is a buyer or is a seller safe in using the service and I think the myraids of complaints you see at Auction Watch are but a very small segment of problems as 99% of eBay'rs dont even know the place exists.
We wont use it for reasons I have described many times and do not feel like re-iterating. Suffice to say its the same reasons you wont see Gateway, Buy.com, barnes & noble or any other business that does its homework using it. The same reasons the bank that issued you your credit card wont take a charge from your card and say send some eBay seller the money.
Is it more expensive? Sure. Everyone's gotta eat ya know?
One common falicy I have saw is "is it cheaper than a merchant account". At least in our case no, we pay 2.35% for Visa/MC, 3.5% for Amex/Discover. Amex and Discover are not available at paypal, call em' and ask why you'll get enlightenment. But we do get many Discover and Amex customers as well.
Can we do international charges? You betcha.
Money deposited to our account in 48-72 hours on all charges.
A big difference is we dont pay that .30 per transaction. We do pay a one time "batch closure fee" so when we are done processing for the day, we close the batch and get charged a quarter for that.
As I showed before, I will revise it as its now going to 2.2% rather than 1.9%
$1000 worth of items sold lets say at $10 each. Total sale, $10 if you will.
$1000 @ 2.2% is $22 + .30 per transaction, thats 100 transactions or $30... Total paid out to service $52 of your $1000 or 5 items sold to pay the fee's (not counting eBays fees of course).
Our account... 2.35% or $23.50 + .25 batch closure or $23.75 total.
Some merchant account may get better or worse milage. Shop around, its important.
Beyond this however is IF you pan on being in business or ARE in business the fact you have a merchant account and keep it in good standing can open ALOT of doors for you in selling. You are a MUCH more credible entity instantly.
We sell at 14 business to consumer points of sale that never would have opened up to us without our merchant account. That simple.
We cant process orders without it and tell ya what... Saying PP or eBay to business related sales sites INSTANTLY will disqualify you from attending 99% of them.
The other benefits are simple, you, your card processor and backing bank control your business and deal with issues such as disputes. They have interests. The consumers bank deals with issues of disputes too. YOU are in the loop be you a consumer or seller. That makes a big big difference. We get cards that decline and we can resubmit, get voice validation, we KNOW who passes us bad cards and goods ones.
Anyone who's attended AW and read these various threads at the site (I dont post much but I think AW News is the BEST, they are informative and provide exceptional service/coverage) will notice several things consistently by sellers.
What people YELP about is not necessarily the fact everyones in their pocket. Heck everyone's in Walmarts pocket too. In fact we are in a country where people are in your pcket even if you do nothing at all LOL.
I tend to see the Yelpers yelp because of the control over them. They have limited places to sell (not like the old days) and due to those limitations more and more sellers appear thus causing them to not make as much dough. AS the myraids of person to person sites that "kinda worked" fold up people are left little in the way of choice.
At the sametime consumers/sellers get pressured into using services that cost them more money but they may make more sales.
We started at eBay and love the place to death. Its wonderful and a real vision brought to reality by Pierre and Co.
But if your looking at your sales at eBay as Income and not so much just a bit of spare change you really need to look at becoming a business. It doesnt mean your whole life or policies change. It means you are doing business AS who you are (A DBA). So the name Josie's Trinkets is the exact same as Josie James in the laws eyes. But you are in business. Yes you need worry about some more accounting and keeping records and such. At the sametime you are now BUILDING your income. Opportunities abound for small business. You can go to businesses local to you and make eBay stuff for them. Or get out to other sites and make deals. Businesses deal with other businesses.
Supply for instance. What the private seller can find to sell as compared to a business is just night and day and so are the prices and generally speaking a "decent" profit margin is 100-400% low ticket goods, high tocket goods vary. Wouldnt you like a business where you can put 10 bucks in and get 20 back? 40 back? We've had items we bought for $2 sell upwards of $80, 4000% return. And when sales wane someplace as a business on the net just go hunting for others. LOTS of em' out there just waiting for you. Venture capital (though harder to find now than 2 years ago)... Loans from your bank for the business. Tax deductions. All fee's we pay to eBay, other sites, card processing, even web access, web hosting, online shop's all tax deductible.
Use part of your house for business?
America is one of the best places in the world commerce wise because the avg. joe/sephine anyone can go into business and get REAL breaks and help from government, banks and other business to get going. Look at Apple, started in a garage.
Dont fear becoming a business. Look at it as a new adventure in your life! A DBA costs like $25 to get and get started.
But in closing it has always appeared to me that alot of the sellers are not really focused on WHY they are upset. Its almost like they are upset as from every angle they are at one or anothers services/peoples mercy and thats a bad feeling. They way to change that "stress/distress" is to take matters into your hands and do what you need to do to solidify income by becoming more attractive to consumers and points of sale, the first step to that is being a business.
Restuarants, bowling alleys, dime stores, dollar stores, mom & pop shops do it everyday. So can you! You actually have an advantage as 99% of commerce (businesses) still doesnt even understand the internet. You have the biggest marketplace in the world right in front of your screen. Develop an email list, a website, get it indexed in search engines, go out to other business sites and make the deals to sell or consign.
Make the supply deals so something you get from some middleman now that costs you $8 you get for the $3.50 he paid. Expand out, diversify. Only YOU can control your destiny. If you let others do it for you well then they will control your sales and your income/future.
America is one of the few places on earth where you can take your future into your hands with your income and the government will actually give you a break in doing it.
You can take a $10 item say, sell it for $14 instead and say "free shipping" and come taxes write off your actual shipping as YOU paid it not the consumer, they paid $14.
If you sell items at a loss thats deductible. This is all of course assuming you run profitable.
Your taking the TIME now to run auctions and try and find ways to make better money and keep control of your collective destinys. Why not say, "Ya know what! This character is right! I'm doing it anyway! Why dont I take that next step and not only legitimize myself to buyers but at the sametime open up a whole new world for myself!" An adventure!
Believe me, the "businessmen" out there that you see with in tie's and such. The Bill Gates's, etc. of the world are no different than you. Alot of people look at "business" as hum-drum.. The reason why is that they have WORKED for businesses. Running your own business is a challenge, an adventure and what you create is yours! What do you have to loose????? The loss in most Americans lives is to never have tried. Your all pretty intelligent folks and I personally have confidence that ANY "intelligent" american can be a success on the web!!!!
Why? Well thats nuts! No its not. As Americans you have been and continue to be subjected to advertising, sales, information, technology and more! Your free enough you can walk into any bank and say "Lets talk business". Your all consumers too. You know when you see a deal! You know when you dont!
You all have all the facets needed to be successful web businesses. One of the biggest reasons web business big/small fail is because the owners, el' presidente's etc. think business like. You think consumer like and THATS why you get upset when your controlled and when others hands are in your pockets for fee's. As a business who is run by a THINKING consumer and not having the huge overhead of big business you have all the tools to become a successful small business with a nice steady income where YOU call the shots and you say, "Today I am going to lounge not work".
We farm our shipping out for example. We hired someone to pack boxes at .50 a box and haul them off to be shipped. Just a nice fella. At the end of the year we give him a 1099 form for his income tax and we write his money off, its a cost of doing business so we need not even pack boxes. It allows us more time to sell. To find opportunities or just to relax.
America is the market to the world (that may change) and its made that way by all of us.
Use that knowledge, you have a HUGE global marketplace right in front of your face!
Running your own show is fascinating, a real adventure, some good, some bad.
When we went into sales it happened for a reason. I am a VERY technical savvy guy. I can program these gizmo's inside and out and have for over 20 years.
One day I was at a party and I was talking shop with some folks and we were talking about business and technology and all this fluff. A old guy, had to be 85 at this party come shuffling up to me and I could barely hear him.
He said to me, "Son... youve got it all wrong. America hasnt changed at all. It does not matter whether its technology or growing potatoes and corn which he said was his trade when he was my age". He continued, "Americans now are no different than American's 50 years ago or the wealthy when his father farmed." Then he said it... He says, "Son. If you want a good life in America it takes money. To get money you have to be in the path of money."
And it hit like a bell. Work for someone else, they are in the path of money, the boss, bosses boss, bosses bosses boss are not. In order to be in the path of money you MUST be in businesses as all those other businesses are in the path of money. Those that fail are not, lots of reasons why. Those that are have a "chance".
We stared our business w/$1000 its grown 400%+ to the point literally no end in sight. At the sametime we dont want it to become our master either. So we are content if you will.
But think about... As I said your all pretty bright folks. Why not try and create the american dream with your own hands. Again, your trying anyway!
I just copied your whole post and saved it as "Inspiration".
Last month, my sales weren't so great on ebay and I was getting very discouraged. Thought about giving up at first, then decided I must just be doing something wrong.
I read the threads here every day and get some excellent advice and ideas from people who've been selling for years. For anyone who's paying attention, it could save you from making alot of mistakes and probably increase sales significantly. Rather than giving up, I redesigned my listing template, started putting more details in my descriptions, am using several pictures, instead of just 1 or 2, got a DBA and changed my user ID to my business name. Opened a small business account at the bank and got a P.O. Box for the business address.
Already, I see a big difference in sales.
I don't know which thing(s) made the difference, probably a combination. I've dropped Paypal as a payment option and, so far, no one has asked for it. I'll be looking into a merchant account as soon as I get my Federal ID number.
I read EVERY ONE of those suggestions here. It's amazing how great people here are about helping out new sellers. And any new sellers who want to succeed should be paying very close attention to these threads.
I bow to the pro's and thank you all for your help.
LOL.