The Wholesale Forums

[Jabong82]

Our business deals in mobile phones, and we get a lot of emails from ebay sellers or small time buyers looking to sell on ebay. We always get the same response from ebayers saying "well with your prices, I can't make any profit on ebay", which seems rather strange because I feel we offer very competitive pricing on our phones and are cheaper than many of our competitors.

So I took a look on ebay today just out of curiousity, and I was in shock at how LOW prices are on ebay, furthermore combined with the massive fees ebay and paypal takes (roughly around 8-12% when u total all the processing, insertion, final value fees), is ebay possibly the worst place to sell consumer electronics???

It seems to me that many of these items sell below dealer costs, and then you get hit with the ebay fees.

For example, I saw a lot of (8) Nokia N95 silver models that sold for around $2,000 USD (about $250/pc). I can tell you that we purchase directly from Nokia and thats more than $100 below our cost. This may seem like an extreme case, but there are a lot of instances out there.

In an industry where margins are small, I just don't see how people can sell electronics on ebay. Well we deal in mobile phones, I am not sure about other electronics, however it seems like ebay is a terrible place to sell consumer electronics.

Anybody who sells electronics on ebay can share their thoughts???

[Inferno House]

Solution... change your market

[Jabong82]

I am not trying to sell on ebay, we run a import/export business here in the US. Its just I thought it was kind of odd that someone can buy 2k pcs of something from us and be perfectly fine with the pricing, however we get the guy trying to sell on ebay looking for 10 pcs and he complains about how ebay would put him in the negative at our prices.

We have no intention of changing industries or selling on ebay. I just wanted to know what other people thought.

[TAP]

phone selling on ebay could possibly be - refurbished, fake, unwanted upgrade or ghost stock!

[lighthousedirec]

Why worry?

Ebayer's are obviously not your target market, forget it and move on.

[MustHaveMobiles]

Lots of factors, there are a growing number of stolen handsets on Ebay. So much so that the rumours are that there is a rule change coming about bulk mobile lots...

Plus there are the scam factors to consider, lots of those applying to you would gladly accept an offer of 10 pieces of N95 for $100 a piece and as quick send the money hence you run away with the cash. Lots of ebay auctions end this way...

Not suggesting you are anyway into these practices, purely an example. I know the cost of handsets as I to was heavily involved in the handset business albeit in a majority b2b format..

[Jabong82]

Hey all and thanks for your responses.

lighthousedirec, I know it is not our target market, however it seems that in this industry people use "ebay" as the benchmark to which they measure wholesale prices.

In the end, we are indirectly effected with what goes on on ebay because it is the most popular place to sell goods. For example, many of our clients buy 500 pcs at a time, and most likely they take that 500 and split it up into several lots to sell to retailers, online stores etc. So somewhere down the line we will be affected by what goes on in ebay as these are the places these people are competing with.

My question was whether ebay was a place where consumer electronics could be successfully sold. I mean the scam/fake auctions + fierce competition + ebay/paypal fees I would believe make it very difficult even to break even.

But yes as mentioned, ebay is not our target market, I was just wondering if anybody who sells electronics on ebay could comment about their experiences.

[lighthousedirec]

I used to sell legit phones on ebay, and never tried to compete on rates, since it was impossible. You simply do your best, annoying I know when everyone in the trade knows such figures are unrealistic.

That said, I used to get a lot of repeat business from existing clients, plenty have been stung and appreciate an honest seller and are happy to pay extra for the piece of mind.

many of our clients buy 500 pcs at a time, and most likely they take that 500 and split it up into several lots to sell to retailers, online stores etc. So somewhere down the line we will be affected by what goes on in ebay as these are the places these people are competing with.

I understand your point, but it is not worth thinking about. "YOUR" customers buying in bulk WILL KNOW the true price of legit phones, the fact their is an endless supply of numpties on ebay thinking these scams are the right prices cannot enter the equation.

I used to sell through shops and markets and people would often say they could buy at a fraction of the cost through ebay, so I simply replied "So what? If thats the case buy it on ebay if you can happily wait for 1-4 weeks for it to arrive, if ever"

Normally they required it there and then and then understood they had to pay the correctr rate, in 7 years I only ever had around 10 clients walk away, so what? Tens of thousands paid on the spot. Retaillers moan about prices clients demand, it's up to a business to stand it's ground and hold out for the rate it wants, that's selling.

Any idiot can give away products for nothing, selling at the right price takes a bit more skill

[pablow123]

We've sold mobile phones on eBay over the last couple of years and were doing quite well like lighthousedirec stated customers are willing to pay a little extra when they see your feedback that proves you have sold many before and received good comments in your feedback.

Although we are now moving away from eBay but thats only because we are moving into the wholesale of mobile phone selling in quantity but eBay was i very good starting point for us and as allowed us to move on to bigger and better things.

[Jabong82]

I have actually taken a closer look at ebay for the past hour or so, and I take back what I said. I see a lot of these auctions are distorted. Many are selling used, refurbished, or counterfeit, so the pricing is off. The powersellers etc. pricing is in line with legit pricing. I guess its really how you sell.

That being said, some of these ads are really deceiving. Some will have all these fancy pictures etc. and in tiny tiny print it will say something like "this phone is slightly used" or at the very bottom it will say "this phone is made in china" (ie. implying counterfeit).

Oh well I guess I take back what I said about ebay.