posted on September 8, 2001 07:46:40 PMWhy give your items away when you could be selling at a higher price and make more $$?
What I'm talking about isn't "giving my items away". If I buy out a shops merchandise when they go out of business, I have 2 choices:
1. Hold out for top dollar, and take a year to sell the load of merchandise a peice here and a peice there without knocking a whole in the market.
2. Sell at or below wholesale (but at a good markup compared to what I paid), sell it all within 2 or 3 weeks, Make good money, and go on to the next deal.
Time is money, cash flow is king. I can hold out for top dollar, and turn the money over once in a year, or wholesale, and turn the money over a dozen times in a year.
Edited to add: Which do you think makes me the most money? If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
posted on September 8, 2001 07:49:29 PM
is your time free ??
turning your capital over 12 times a year,how much time is involved versus turning over once a year??
posted on September 8, 2001 07:57:23 PMturning your capital over 12 times a year,how much time is involved versus turning over once a year??
That's a silly question. A Year, that's how much time.
This whole discussion is silly, People want other sellers to conduct business in a way that won't hurt them? That's just plain silly. The people that made coal oil lamps in 1910 would have loved it if Edison hadn't started selling light bulbs.
This sounds like price fixing to me, instead of honest competition.
As far as being a 'black market dealer' I just wish I had a connection to get MIG's and MIRV's and Red Mercury. And I certainly wouldn't sell the stuff on ebay either. Won't deal drugs either. Too much hassle with the gestapo and the clientele, and simply not enough profit margin over the long term considering the amount of work to be done. I just wish I had the adventurous life of a smuggler. For now, I'll have to settle for being an ebay vendor.
I feel your focus is simply misdirected, perhaps from watching too many cop dramas where all the problems of the world are blamed on the 'bad guys' breaking the rules instead of the jack-booted beaurocrats making them.
The problems we are facing are derived from a very old problem called Market Dumping. In the REAL WORLD this can be a marketing strategy, and is technically illegal, at least by Amerikkkan rules. But eBay is not the real world, and it is not necessary drug dealers, or tax evaders, or child molestors who are precipitating this crisis. Its your average K-Mart mentality person who is dabbling in a market he really knows nothing about other than the urban legends he hears from the media. He is killing the market because of his ignorance of market pricing and market forces.
Microbes,
I do not take issue with you. You appear to be selling at a *PROFIT* enough to sustain your business and pay your bills. I don't see you dumping things for 75 cents and expect to make a fortune on volume. Your strategy may depress the retail market slightly but certainly not kill it. Just like Dollar Stores do not put Macy's out of business. They are still turning a profit.
The market can survive closeouts.
posted on September 9, 2001 03:53:27 AM
microbes,
i am asking if time is money to you??
if you acquired a nice lot and posted it on your website or B& M store and sold them within one year versus listing them on ebay in rapid fire succession and sell them in 30 days,then acquire 11 more lots using proceeds from prior lot,which one is more profitable if you pay yourself what you think you deserve or what you feel someone would pay you??
as for kmart mentality that some sellers do not know what their items are worth,i believe they know and their attitude is where it comes from,there are still plenty left.they do not think like an antique dealer,they dont think the world is running out of antiques or collectibles,what they do know is that quick turnover enable them to capture that mighty dollar and deposit in their bank,inflation is pretty low in this country,there is not much loss in purchasing power keeping that $$ in the bank altho interest rate stinks.
I actually agree with your strategy particularly when there is a lot more of the same item out there to find.
As a fast turn over creates more cash that allows you to buy more items and do the same thing.
In the area I am talking about there is a limited supply.In most cases no more than 50 items are ever listed and everyone is different with a different date,seal etc etc.
In this case getting the most you can makes sense.
I have also done it both ways and there is good sense for doing either but again based on availability.
posted on September 9, 2001 05:56:13 AMi am asking if time is money to you??
Of course it is.
sold them within one year versus listing them on ebay in rapid fire succession and sell them in 30 days,then acquire 11 more lots using proceeds from prior lot,which one is more profitable
Wholesaling, and moving it quick is much more profitable. I could maybe make 2X as much on a lot retailing, but the other way makes maybe 6X as much money.
Query: which would your rather have this week, 20 nickles, or 3 dimes? Same thing next week, and the week after...
I have also done it both ways and there is good sense for doing either but again based on availability.
Exactly. If I have only one of something, I'll try to maximize it, but if I have 50 of something that I'm into cheap, I want all 50 to sell quickly, and then reinvest.
posted on September 9, 2001 07:24:58 AM
Morning All,
I have just come back from taking my summer vacation from eBay. Yes, I still made enough last year to be able to take the summer off and have just got back into the swing of things here at AW and on eBay and have found this thread to be an interesting read.
Now for my 2 cents
I have sold the same type of items for the last few years and all in the same category and have become one of the most respected dealers for the items that I sell which would put me in about the same position as imabrit.
I have noticed a lot more people jumping on the bandwagon over the last couple of years and have survived the onslaught and ups and downs. I have experienced the same type of phenomena that imabrit described where a lot of the dealers go to $1 start NR and even tried it myself for a while.
I did not like the way my business numbers looked or how I felt wondering if I will make money on my items so I went back to my old tried and true.
I list my items for what I can live with and off course most of my items go above that with some really taking off which leaves me with a decent bottom line.
A good friend of mines that I got going in the same category (yes..imagine..a dealer who showed someone else how to horn in on his business! )and he has chosen to go down the $1 NR path
I can report that my friend gets way more hits on an item and more early bids but he also has some tense moments when items sell for way below what they should and the elation when an item that started for $1 goes very high.
The main thing is that we have both found that in the end, we each end up with the same amounts of items sold the first go round (about 90%) and that we each make a simillar profit. I think it is the bidders who determine what we sell items for and a lot of this worrying about starting price strategy is basically needless.
This is NOT to say that newbies getting into a category cant hurt us, because what usually happens with these auction happy starry eyed newbies is that they dont try to emulate how the more established dealers got successful. The top dealers get successful because of the proffessionalism and service that we provide. These newbies see the money some of us make and they buy inferior quality items, dont research them properly and just list, list , list without thought to the fact that the bulk of good business takes place AFTER the auction closes and WAY BEFORE the item was ever listed.
Unfortunately, this will always be true, no matter if it is on eBay, online or in a B&M. The internet has brought prices in a LOT of collectible categories down. Items that I sell now for a $50 average used to sell for between $500 and $1000 25 years ago, $200 and $500 15 years ago, $100 and $300 five years ago. The funniest thing is that the supply is always dwindling even as the price shrinks which means that even though I love being at the top of my game in my category, in order for me to remain a SELLER, I better find the next thing to sell or find a different way of making my shekels.
Have a good day all - chris
PS- When i DO decide to get an item from imabrit's category, it WILL be from imabrit, who I see as the GOTO guy in that category.
posted on September 27, 2001 01:20:42 PM
It's happened again. I have saved a box of a particular collectible all summer. I have done wonderful with this line for two years.
Well the crazy sellers are at it again. They have destroyed this market for what??
I would start these items at 14.99 and they would sell for that or double.
Sellers are listing the items for 1.00 and 1.98 and selling for 3.99, 3.50. Why?????
I can only assume that there are alot of people who are very BORED, are independently wealthy and like to spend their time scanning, listing, packing and running to post office, oh yes and paying ebay fees, etc. etc.
Well onto another catagory. What a shame.
[ edited by mildreds on Sep 27, 2001 01:43 PM ]
and have just got back into the swing of things here at AW and on eBay and have found this thread to be an interesting read.