posted on March 7, 2003 07:06:27 PM new
This is to all the Sellers who sells in aBay or eBay out there :
By knowing that if we do all the work like purchasing of materials, sorting them out, scanning them into clear pictures and finally listing them in whatever kind of bay by the 2 hands of OURSELF, and make about 30% profit from it, has anyone of you actually expanding it : say getting helpers to do sacnning or even listing work and all you do is to focus on e-mail & customer service and sourcing for new material to build up the stocks ?
Does this means that the 30% will get a double or trible return ?
posted on March 7, 2003 07:13:05 PM new
If your sell thru is poor and your profit only 30%, how could paying someone to help you possibly improve your profit?? If your sell thru is high, then possibly it would help, however with a gross 30% profit, I doubt it..even a net 30% is iffy...You must realize every auction that does not sell lessens your profit on those that do overall...
posted on March 7, 2003 07:44:27 PM new
I have never figured out what is a good rate of profit. I have had auctions where I have made 600% profit, & some where I have only made 10 %. As long as I am making a profit after accounting for all of my expenses, then I am ahead.
[ edited by sanmar on Mar 7, 2003 07:45 PM ]
posted on March 7, 2003 07:59:13 PM new
to singapore007..
Your question is moot...what percentage or hourly rate would you pay a helper?? Again, sell thru is an important consideration...Paying someone would cut your 30% (net or gross??) to what..??? Sounds like you have a math problem to me.. I sure would not pay someone else to help with only a 30% profit..My sell thru, ie volume would not compensate it..If your 30% grosses millions annually, that is different...I assumed you were just a little guy like most of us...I can not afford a maid, cook or an Ebay helper.. Great for you if you can, but IF you can, why are you even asking????
posted on March 7, 2003 09:17:56 PM new
"what percentage or hourly rate would you pay a helper??"
The absolute minimum, of course.
Jay and Marie have (according to reports) two near-minimum-wage employees who do their shipping. They're grossing (according to reports) over $1 million a year. No way to tell what their actual profit is, of course.
--
"I find myself having to apologize for being an American." --Belinda Carlisle, ex-Go-Go
posted on March 7, 2003 09:50:23 PM new
This is to answer kiddo2's respond :
You ask : "what percentage or hourly rate would you pay a helper ? "
That depends where you are sunny boy. I can't tell you how much they pay in the US by I sure can tell you how much I am paying now to my 3 helpers : RM$0.10c per scan of a cover or A Postcard / Poster Stamp, that's about 0.026 cents in US Dollar !
You ask : 30% (net or gross??)
That's a solid net !
And you said " ...I assumed you were just a little guy like most of us...I cannot afford a maid, cook or an Ebay helper ".
Well I have all that + a driver ! And I am now looking for a office to Register my Business OFFICIALLY so that I can further hire perharps 15 to 20 helpers !
Sometimes posting questions in places like this can really see all kinds of people, and I mean all kinds of people !!
[ edited by singapore007 on Mar 7, 2003 09:53 PM ]
posted on March 8, 2003 04:11:04 AM new
Referring back to Jay and Marie...I've got a friend who works at BidPay (actually, she's one of just a few that actually runs the BidPay side of things...the dept is surprisingly small!)...she went to a conference and met Marie. Guess for all their sales, actual clear profit isn't as high one might think, especially for all the hard work and time they have to put in. I'm not saying they're hurting for $$, but with an operation that big it basically dominates their life.
Edit: Of course, this is totally off this posting's original topic. Sorry
"Who's tending the bar? Sniping works up a thirst"
[ edited by koto1 on Mar 8, 2003 04:14 AM ]
posted on March 8, 2003 05:42:44 AM new
There's an LA Times article about Jay and Marie that is quite interesting....see the link to it from their AboutMe page.
--
"I find myself having to apologize for being an American." --Belinda Carlisle, ex-Go-Go
posted on March 8, 2003 02:41:53 PM new
I thought Jay and Marie were a Tomcat and a Feline. But then again is Fluffy a Tomcat or a Feline, inquiring minds want to know.
posted on March 8, 2003 03:37:05 PM new
You only have 267 auctions over the last month or so and a little of 600 FB in over three years ( If that is your only selling ID)Seeing as you auction the same type of merchandise a cut a paste type listing will work great and it takes little to no time to do the scanning and uploading. If you intend to stay in stamps it really shouldn't be that hard to triple your stock and maintain everything your self. I run between 500-1200 auctions a month and have no help at all and do everything myself. A few simple spreadsheet programs and using AW just to store and launch my auction works great. No Post management tools or assistants required. If you want more profit and more stock then a little hard work is required. If you don't need the extra income and basically want to make 30% on more stock by hiring people all you are doing is paying them and not reaping any more profit for yourself.
posted on March 8, 2003 03:57:48 PM new
I think the OP has raised an interesting question. I say "think" because I'm not exactly sure what he's after, but I believe it's something like a formula for calculating if additional labor will in fact produce additional profit.
Having had people working for me, I can empathize with that concern. If you want to sell sell sell on eBay, you might not be happy with having to manage helpers and it can be that you have to spend too much time keeping them focused in order to be cost-effective.
One of my helpers was a friend. Yes, I made that classic mistake and now I know why experienced folk warn against it. She felt that since she had previously been making a high-five-figure income that she could do pretty much as she pleased. She was not happy when I pointed out that taking 30 minutes to get the knots out of a $1 chain was not a good use of her time. (Toss it in the scrap bin and move on.) She cost me sales because I was having to show her two and three times how to do simple things (like scan) and field her complaints about the office equipment. She hated everything because it wasn't what she was used to in the big corporate environment. Silly me, I thought she'd just be grateful for having a job after running out of unemployment compensation. I fired her when she tried to pad her hours. Guess I should have remembered she tried to do that back in that old corporate environment, too.
On the other hand, I did get an assortment of good people (strangers, thank heaven!) from temp agencies. When you're paying $15/hour, you make darned sure they're being productive or they're out the door. I had three of them in for one day and they saved me a week's worth of effort. It was glorious.
I wish I could get you a definitive answer, singapore007. But I don't think anyone can guarantee you'll double or treble your profit with more help. It just doesn't scale that easily.
--
"I find myself having to apologize for being an American." --Belinda Carlisle, ex-Go-Go
Sniping works up a thirst"