Question
Okay, I am going to be a bit nosey here, but I am rather curious about something.
The way we do our selling on Ebay is that we set a certain goal for Amount of Net Sales for any given month. I keep track of all expenses incurred for the month, including material cost, listing fees, Paypal fees, etc, etc. etc. I deduct these costs from our Gross Sales (less shipping), and then try to list enough items to meet our quota. I keep a running total going 24/7.
For instance in the summer we list enough items to attain a net profit of $1500 per month. If we go over that, then wonderful, but after we meet our quota, then we simply slack off on listings a bit, (but not entirely), but we continue to hand craft items and have them packed and ready to slap a shipping label on it when it does sell. If a buyer emails us and requests a widget like the one in auction # xxxxxxxxxx but in a different color or size, we will request 10 days lead time to hand craft the item for the buyer. 99% of the time, the buyer is okay with waiting to be able to obtain a quality hand crafted item made to fit their needs.
After Sept. 1, we kick it up a notch and from Sept. 1, until March 31, we set our quota at $2500 per month... with many months coming in showing a net profit of between $3000 and $4000, especially November, December and January.
Do you set monthly sales goals in Net Profit, or rather high numbers of items sold.??? We only sell maybe between 150 and 200 items avg. in busy months. I really don't like the process of listing, so we don't do a huge amount of different items. We have about 40 different items that we are able to offer , discontinuing some as the popularity wanes and designing new ones to introduce.
I have seen many sellers that list and sell items for less than $10.00 per item and have hundreds of items listed..... with a whole lot of them end with no bids. It would seem to me that those folks are busting chops to eke out a living on Ebay, as is seems that they have to list and sell a LOOOOOT of stuff to have a profit of just a few thousand dollars a month.
Just curious..
LL
Answer
As for me when I was on ebay my first month I sold 500.00 clear which was good because that was unwanted items around house
next month I sold about 800.00 with some product I bought and more unwanted items
I personally have never set a quota I do it for fun I just always make sure I dont get burned I would like to have a certain goal to stive for but I am still getting used to ebay only been there two months
sounds like you are having wonderful sells congrats
Answer
WE have been Ebaying for 4 years this month. It ended up saving us from filing bankruptcy after an illness that rendered me unemployable. We are senior citizens (strike 2) and we just dabbled in Ebay for the first few months, and then when we figured out what people wanted, we commenced to making them. We still ask folks from time to time what they would like and we try to list things that are in vogue...
This will probably be our last year actively selling on Ebay as we now have all of our debts paid up to date and some even paid off. Imagine we will use it to make some extra money for vacations and the like.. We live modestly so don't really need much.
LL
Answer
I hope when I get my account back I can make some good money I had a car wreck two years ago leaving me mainly disabled I have pins.rods.plates etc so ebay is all I can do really
and hubby works over 16hrs a day 6 days a week want to try to end that
Answer
We basically set our net sales quota goal the same way you do LL.
I do light tracking daily & weekly to make sure we'll hit our monthly goal.
It pays off to know you are on track.
chloe
Answer
When we first started to sell on Ebay, we had no idea what to do, how to do things, but with more time than money on our hands, and a computer at my disposal, I sat down and just chose auctions that sold similar items to what we could make ourselves. We did not want to go out and buy a bunch of stuff wholesale for reselling. That is an area we no nothing about. But at the same time, we did not wish to clone someone elses idea... so we just started small and progressed from there....Many people asked if we made this or that, and so we rolled with the flow of ideas and suggestions from friends, loved ones and total strangers...
That first few months were mostly experimental.. and then we decided that because most all of our items were selling, that we needed to do this full time... so we began to negotiate with large companies for large amounts of materials... and got a waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better price thus more money in our pocket.
It has been a roller coaster ride, and one that I would do again... as I said... we were next to destitute and with my husband being over 70 years old and I was fast approaching social security, we needed this venue for earning money..... And we have been blessed. We went in and used our Christian upbringing and ethics and brought them to Ebay and proudly proclaimed our total belief in Him. He helped us with this wonderful miracle that has brought
us out of dire straits to being fully independent senior citizens again.
We do like to hear how others handle their ebay "businesses" and we like to compare notes... curious old coots that we are.. lol
LL
Answer
Whilst I do this for a living (and NEED to make a living), I have considered myself "semi-retired" for the last four years (I have been on Ebay for more than 6.5 years and am rapidly approaching 3,000). Until the last 15 months I thoroughly enjoyed Ebay and the lifestyle it allowed me. I could jump in the car and drive 6 hours to an interesting auction without notice, and the hunt is still thoroughly enjoyable. For these reasons I have not particularly treated Ebay with a business attitude - so long as my bank accounts are healthy and I have stock ahead of me.
However, I have maintained a simple weekly target in Australian dollars for my turnover when I am working Ebay full time. I also tally the stock cost (just stock not including fuel and other expenses, but also including the items that do not sell) against the gross turnover to keep an eye on how I am buying. Over previous years I have maintained the target easily, with some weeks being substantially over, and contributing to a healthy bank balnce - at the same time I was averaging between 15% to 30% cost against sales turnover. This year, a few things have changed. The number of American buyers has substantially fallen, while the exchange rate for the Australian dollar has substantially risen. I am now only meeting the target figure about one week in three, and my average is well down but still viable. There are less auctions worth travelling to, and my costs are also lower. I have been selling more collections and accumulations this year - which has lowered my clearance rate. This is not a problem as I list items that I would not buy individually to list, whereas a low clearance rate on individually bought items is a worry.
As much as I enjoy the lifestyle, I have lost confidence in the Ebay market place. This afternoon I did my first scout locally for a commercial premises available to set up a local auction room. If I pursue this alternative I will give away Ebay almost entirely (only listing occassional more unique feature items as they become available). I am yet to confirm which direction I take.
Kind Regards, Kevin
Answer
same as you, except when we go over our goals we KICK IT UP a notch or two or three, it means the bidders are out and we strike while the iron is hot.
We also run other businesses so this is not always the easiest thing to do, but we try. Works for us
I also run a lot of ten dollar aucitons right now with maybe a 30% sell through on some stuff, this summer I had a 10% sell through on one item, makes no never mind, I toss it in the store awaiting October or November rush, then I cancel them all out of the store, toss them on auction and take the wheel barrow to the bank.....cash flow now, pre-prepped auctions for later.