ebay fee for sellers too high

[timoinsects]

1) the fee for sellers on ebay is too high.
2) the ebay system of calculating seller fee is of extremally complicated i believe they must be on purpose.
3) the ebay has much limitation for sellers.
4) bad service, the tel calling to EBAY wasted much money,ebay cooprate with telphone company to eat extra money on tel calling.
etc etc.

ebay is God.

.................................
so..........

has anyone ever tried to sell out from ebay by using a own auction website?

or....
anyone ever had the thoughts to built a World Largest Insects Specimens Auction site or charge less fee (than ebay) for free service? insectnet has a auction part but i found seems not run so well?
if anyone build such a auction site,the sellers participate in,i believe in the beginning period the sellers would be just a few or few,but after a period running,the sellers and buyers(collectors) know this site then we saved and often vist and go on commercial.
then the mad ebay was avoided.

need your ideas.

[wollastoni]

Timo < I am afraid radusho is right. It will be hard to compete ebay, you can try other websites like InsectNet Auctions or EBid, but it will be hard finding many customers.

Personnaly I sell on ebay and I propose to my customers my pricelist out of ebay. This way, ebay helps you find new customers and you can sell many specimens out of ebay free of fees.

[admin]

The auction page on InsectNet is totally free of charge, but we don't have the huge audience of eBay. Tha way around this is, once you place a listing here, advertise the hell out of it in The Insect Classifieds and Facebook. That's what I do and I always end up getting more for my items than I expected, with no fees an commissions.

[prillbug4]

I don't care about e-bay, I don't buy insects on-line anymore because of the terrible data. However, a 1979-1980's Washburn solidbody guitar with two tone wood would be nice if I could find one. I loved those guitars when Washburn made them, they were very comfortable guitars with alot of sustain, not like the cheap crap they are making nowadays.
Jeff Prill

[wollastoni]

Jeff < there are still some serious dealers with very good data on ebay.

Some international dealers like David Cassat or Jens Jakusch, some local collectors (including many members of this forum like thanos), some people who make collecting trips like Chris Nock...

You just have to avoid unknowledgeable sellers but there are easy to identify in the way they speak about their specimens.

Personnally I have saved a list of 20 favorite sellers on "My Ebay" and I check their listing everyweek. I rarely try new sellers except when they seem serious.

[prillbug4]

I don't care. I prefer to put my own data together.
Jeff Prill

[wollastoni]

I understand.
It depends where you live and what you collect.

[insectcollection]

A few years ago, someone attempted to create an insect auction site. It lasted a few months. Same 2-3 sellers. Not much traffic so they were sold at a lost. InsectAuction.com? I don't remember it's exact name.

[wollastoni]

Right

I would add that sometimes ebay enables you to sell at a better price that expected (when 2 or 3 guys fight for your specimen).
These kinds of gains can cover part of ebay over-fees.

[bobw]

It's all a matter of luck. I hate eBay, but it doesn't stop me using it.

Bob

[Deleted]

I will not buy insect specimens on eBay anymore totally given up on it now as a seller though it seems to be an unavoidable evil with no viable alternative at the moment.

[papilio28570]

I think Ebay is reliable and inexpensive. Last year my fees paid to Ebay was 11.49% of sales.

If you simply add 12% to the price of what you are listing, your problem with Ebay is solved.

As I said in a different thread, if you are not making enough profit on Ebay, you either have a bad business model or you need to raise your prices.

[wollastoni]

Question to ebay buyers :
- what is your limit in terms of shipping costs ?

Question to ebay sellers.
- What is the best strategy : to put the lowest shipping fees possible and to add 0.50 USD per additional items

[nosorog]

Feb 4, 2013 9:10:54 GMT -8 wollastoni said:

Question to ebay buyers :
- what is your limit in terms of shipping costs ?

My personal preference - up to $5 of shipping per $20 worth of insects. It means that if I have to pay $20 for shipping then I'd spend at least $100 on the specimens. If the store/seller doesn't offer enough variety for me to get those specimens then I walk away.

[papilio28570]

The shipping fee should depend upon your costs. You should not make profit or lose profit due to shipping. People will know by your shipping terms if you are honest. Also, there are different rates between countries if you are selling internationally. Example; to ship the same 16 ounce (454 grams) and then an 8 ounce package by US First Class mail from my location in North Carolina:

New York $5.85 $2.92
California $6.85 $2.92
Canada $10.55 $8.55
Japan - China $16.75 $12.75
Europe $16.75 $12.75
Australia $16.75 $12.75

Now, you have to add your costs for boxes, cotton/foam sheets, tape, address labels, and finally your gasoline or other expense to deliver the package to the post office.

My cost for postal fees last year was 12.51% of total sales. The other costs mentioned above runs shipping up to about 20% of total sales in my business. As a seller, I offer free shipping but in actuality, the shipping is already included in the price. Most of my customers are not collectors and are usually buying as a gift. If they are intelligent, they know that shipping is part of the one price they are paying. It simply "feels" better when you see a FREE SHIPPING tag on an item. If they are dumb, they think they are getting a super deal.

So, to answer your questions, as a buyer, I have no limit on shipping costs as long as I feel the seller is being honest about his costs. Of course, I ship a lot, so I know when a seller is trying to make profit from shipping. Insect buyers also buy a lot of insects over time and they also know when they are being taken for a ride.

Free shipping is impractical for a seller of papered specimens, so I believe it is best to offer a set shipping fee with a COMBINED SHIPPING option for customers who buy more than one specimen or species. I do buy more butterflies when there is a set shipping fee because it averages down the cost of each specimen.

As an insect seller, above all else, you must be accurate in your description about the quality of the specimens you are selling. An A1 specimen is A1 and nothing less. As a seller of butterfly art, I do not care what the price of the butterfly is as long as I know I am getting an A1 butterfly when I order one. I return to the same sellers over and over again and mostly buy off the wholesale or quantity lists to reduce my costs.

My suggestion is for you to prepare two shipping boxes as you would normally do. In the first box place one specimen, and in the second box, place 10 specimens and then take both boxes to your post office and get shipping costs for various destinations...Europe, Asia, USA, Australia, Canada, etc. You could do the same with a third box of 20 specimens... The important thing is to get data.

I maintain a spreadsheet where I track all expenses and all income. I have this data for every item I offer and I have a separate spreadsheet for each year. If you know how to build a spreadsheet, do it. The information you accumulate over time is invaluable regarding your business decision making over time.