posted on March 8, 2007 09:55:54 PM
I'm going nuts trying to figure what my percentage should be! I usually take 35% of the gross, and then take the rest of the fees out, when selling on eBay. But Amazon's gross and net amounts, then adding in their shipping allowance, are so cockeyed that I'm going nuts tonight trying to decide what my consignor should get from some sales.
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People who want to share their religious views with you almost
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posted on March 9, 2007 08:33:43 AM
I have listed books on consignment with Amazon in the past. I take 30% of the selling price plus the shipping. The consignor gets 70% of the sale price minus the Amazon fee.
posted on March 9, 2007 09:15:15 AM
I don't take consignments anymore...too much hassle for little return. After I learned my lesson I charged 50%. But won't even do it for that anymore.....most people think their items are worth a million, they don't understand auctions, and have no idea of the work involved.
I even did a few freebies for friends...one "friend" complained that she only got $24.99 for her item...she had told me to start it at $24.99 because she wouldn't take any less for it...so she got what she wanted , full price, no deductions for fees or labor and still wasn't happy.
posted on March 9, 2007 10:13:26 AM
Thanks, ewora. That might simplify things for me.
Mingo--Yes, I know! But this woman's mother, born at the turn of the century, had fabulous taste in books, and I accepted 6 boxes of them to rummage through. I have two boxes left to look at, have listed some on Amazon, some on eBay, and am returning two boxes of un-sellable books to her today. They could bring a few dollars but not worth MY time; I'll urge her to learn how to sell them herself. The other two boxes I have here in my eBay office will be gone through in my own good time.
In the last 6 months I sold a large lot of cookbooks for a woman here in town. I warned her and warned her that, even though they're "old," they might not bring much. I sold my heart out on them and they didn't bring much! She was disappointed. This consignment selling is usually just not worth the effort.
_____________________
People who want to share their religious views with you almost
never want you to share yours with them.
posted on March 9, 2007 11:19:56 AM
Selling on consignment doesn't work over the long haul, and if you need proof, here it is:
The highest profile consignment/auction dropoff store in recent memory has now completed its transformation into a retailer of overstock and liquidation ( read: "returns" ) luxury goods.
That's right, the UPS Store connection that was to have saved AuctionDrop by providing outlets all over the country where people could go to drop off their goods has failed entirely, meriting only a tiny "Consumer Division" footnote at the bottom of the page.
I forget..is it $12 or $18 million in seed capital they've blown through now? Oh well.
I especially like the part where they've tightened up their returns policy, because now they're selling stuff that is frankly broken. One bidder recently bought nearly 20 inoperable rear-screen projection TVs...local pickup only. Gee, AuctionDrop's starting to sound like...bargainland_liquidation.
fLufF
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[ edited by fluffythewondercat on Mar 9, 2007 11:20 AM ]
posted on March 9, 2007 12:02:06 PM
Fluffy: Interesting to see what's happened to that drop-off eBay site. Didn't we all predict problems when all that first began?! How could people working in such a place have any idea what the item is, let alone how to list and describe, where to list it in eBay sites, etc. Those of us who sell one-of-a-kind items could have predicted all that, knowing how much research we have to do before listing something we know nothing about. But did anyone ask us? No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o.
_____________________
People who want to share their religious views with you almost
never want you to share yours with them.
posted on March 9, 2007 12:10:12 PM
I don't know if consignment is as dire as y'all make it out to be, but for what it's worth, I sold my eBay Drop Center last year
I still work there part-time, though, and after a miserable period, auctions and items-for-auction seem to have picked up.
