Sellers nightmares continued.This can't possibly be right 😢

[jardy]

I love ebay.I love supporting the local Charity Shops,buying,selling,packaging -the lot.It's been a rewarding hobby for me.I suffer terrible anxiety and I am hopeless at figures but a few months ago I started meticulously saving every receipt and keeping a folder every month ready for my tax return which kind mumsnetters helped me with. However it seems absolutely bizarre that I appear to make a huge loss each month.Here is May's example.
Expenses
£624 ( this includes post £126,Paypal fees £134.66,ebay fees £172.12
Profit: Sales : £362.13
Loss:£261.87
I registered as a Business Seller because I thought you had to if buying stuff for profit.I can't go on like this as I am sinking into debt.What am I doing so badly wrong? No flaming please,I am extremely sensitive and bear in mind I do support my local charity shops .
Thank you so much if you can throw light on this situation.Perhaps you are similar and can show me what you do.I would be extremely grateful.

Hi OP, I find this website really helpful when deciding what price to list an item at :)

finalfeecalc.co.uk

Why would you do this to yourself ? Are you running a charity ? No one is really gaining from it sort from people maybe getting a bargain and you are going at a loss , never mind the fact you aren’t charging for the time you spend doing this ? There must be better hobbies out there .

And are you sure you haven’t developed an addiction to buying in charity shops ?

If you're registered as a business seller, then you also need to be registering with hmrc to do a self assessment tax return.

Hi Jardy. I haven't RTFT but please don't forget eBay charge 10% on postage costs too so £4 postage you pay eBay 40p! It foxed me for ages, such a rip off! Maybe try listings on buy it nows at higher prices, where you know you will make a profit x

Thanks folks.I was never any good with figures.I got in a tizz a while back trying to fill in a self assessment form.I know it has to be sorted by January.Why do I do it? I find it interesting and absorbing.I've got better and slicker at loading pictures and descriptions.i get a thrill when I sell an item for more than I paid for it .I love packing the item beautifully.It makes me happy to read lovely feedback.I am helping the Charity Shop and enjoy interacting with the disabled people who work there.The Post Office staff give me a Christmas Card,I give them an Eid Card.I have made quite a few quid which I put in my current account.Ich yes I have become a little addicted for the above reasons.Also although I keep every single receipt for tax purposes I am thinking of paying someone to fill the assessment in for me,I'm finding it too difficult.Thank you for replying.

Hi Chester
Bless you.It doesn't make any sense why my ebay fees are massive.I wonder if I am been hacked?

If you are aiming for a profit you need to look at the type of things that are selling.

Go to search and type in the type of item. Then select sold items and scroll down. This will give you a better idea of what you should be on the look out for when buying things to sell.

Remember, eBay will charge you a business seller rate and also take a % in commission, postage is included in this calculation too.

PayPal I allow a generous 5% to be safe.

You need to factor any petrol and parking costs if you are not within walking distance of post office or courier drop off place. You need to subtract the cost of the product you have purchased and any pretty wrapping too.

It's quite a shocker. You need to charge much more than you think to break even.

Say you listed 100 items a month, divide your monthly premium for business selling by 100 and deduct this from profit.

Decide your price and postage and deduct 15%. This accounts for eBay fees, PayPal fees.

Calculate your journey time if In a car and work out actual costs including wear and tear on the vehicle and any parking, divide by the average amount of parcels you post in a single trip, and apply the portion to your costs for this item. Dividing up the cost of a bus journey is more straightforward.

The reality is that if you have a sharp eye you can make a slim profit sometimes a decent profit. If you don't you'll definitely make a loss.

My advice is stick to the market you know best.

Only list on £1 or less fee days (not relevant for a business seller but advice for others)
Are you paying for extras on listings?
Do buy it now with offers not auctions.

Really look at what sells well. Large sizes for example.

I don't sell much on eBay but you need to sell the popular "big" brands, Boden, Phase 8 etc. Wallis, to me, is a middling high street brand.

I don't know where you are in the country but if you went to say, Knightsbridge, Chester, Stratford or Leamington Spa and had a rummage charity shops there, you would probably come away with some quality things which would sell for a decent amount.

Even if you spent a night in a budget hotel and went to a few in a "posh" area it might be worth it.

You need to think about your time as well.

Thank you Purple and Great.
If you have a minute please could you let me know how much the extra fee is on 100 items? As I am registered as a Business Seller but only doing it as a Hobby.Great advice and appreciated.The time thing-yes it is a major concern.It's taking over too much so I am really going to cut back .

I feel I am gaining a handle on things now thanks to the good advice.Thank you.

I mean re my question I just wonder whether because I am a business seller the fees are so high.I am using the Calculator now to work things out per item.

Could you just sell on gumtree or do a American style ‘yard sale’ or when I mi Ed house I hired a local hall for £15 for the morning and sold EVERYTHING, I advertised it on Facebook.
You will still get the buzz you enjoy from selling that way but hopefully make some money.

You say you sold your family tent.
This is personal and not part of your business.
Please don’t be paying tax ( or including the income) from your personal sales in to the business accounts.
Maybe have a separate ebay account ( in your husbands name?) for the sale of personal items that you have worn or used. Don’t include these in your business exp!

Are you including a buy it now or make me an offer option with every listing? That's an extra 50p I think.

This all sounds very messy!

I know someone who runs an eBay business selling secondhand rare books. They (her and her husband) travel round to charity shops and they know which books are rare and they sell them on for a huge profit. Personally I find it a little sad actually that charities are missing out on literally thousands of pounds by not realising what these books are worth (we are talking £££££) but what she’s doing isn’t any different to what you or anyone else is doing, just on a different scale. She has just purchased her third house (£600k plus) outright with profits from doing this.

But - you have to know what you’re buying. I literally wouldn’t have a clue.

I do know however that Karen Millen isn’t a “trendy” clothes brand / designer anymore. Maybe about 15 years plus ago. When you said you were surprised something of theirs didn’t sell for much it demonstrated you need to do more market research. Even in their own sale on their own website right now they are selling off dresses that were originally for nearly £300 for half price.

Things that do sell well on eBay are big brands like Clarks shoes that haven’t been worn much, anything Boden, Joules.

I do personally think eBay is at the end of its days. Clothing has become so much cheaper in recent years people aren’t prepared to pay money for secondhand clothes when they can go to primark and buy a jumper for £6 or a t shirt new for £2.

I am a business seller information eBay and your fees are far too high. I think you must have the premium picture box ticked or listing one item in multiple categories to get anywhere near so high in fee costs.
Download your last month eBay invoice and look at what they are charging you for.

How many items a month are you listing? Consider switching to an eBay basic shop (about £25 a month) and you get 200 free listings - no listing fees for these items just the usual final value selling fees (varies per category, I pay 11% of sales cost)
Then build free postage in your sales price and this will bump you up the listings and give you a small discount on eBay sales fees if you can be a "top rated seller" by eBay.

Start looking at the final screen when you confirm a new listing as eBay tells you what the cost of the listing is - aim to pay nothing for each listing.

Consider selling via Facebook / Instagram. There are successful business doing the same as you. Onces I have seen on social media tend to specialise -vintage kids clothes (80s/90s styles / teadresses).

Facebook selling groups are also free to sell. Find local ones so people will collect and pay cash you don't pay any fees or postage

Use a free online eBay calculator to set your prices so you aren't making a loss.

Avoid £1 sales - remember you are paying 20p per sale + 3.4% of your sales price to PayPal. So a £1 sale and you are losing over 20% of your sale is going straight to PayPal.

Use buy it nows as well as auctions. Auction items sell for less as a general rule. Buy it nows also offer you chance to run sales / multi-item discounts etc.

Look at the item title keywords you are using for items. Compare what successful sales use in their sales - search completed items on eBay and look at what your competition is doing.

I wonder if what you enjoy about eBaying you could achieve in another way - eg working in a. Charity shop

Did you know that on eBay you can do a search and filter for completed listings so you can see what other identical / similar items have sold for? You might find it quite eye opening. Charity shops generally get more for an item of clothing than you’d get on eBay. If you want to buy clothes, look for expensive brands like Boden, Hobbs, Jaeger, Cath Kidston, Seasalt, these clothes sell for good money on there. Lower priced high street brands just don’t. Monsoon stuff sells okay. Have a look out for anything that’s new with tags. Things that are vintage but still stylish.

If you live somewhere where there are more affluent areas, go to charity shops in them where you’ll find higher quality items. For example, locally there’s a well off area that has lots of charity shops and a lot of older people - there tends to be a lot of high quality and vintage items in there, but very few things like toys or kids clothes.

Car boot sales are good as prices are much lower than charity shops but you have to be discerning. You have to look at an item and think can I sell that for at least 2-3x what I’m paying for it. Check completed listings if you’re unsure.

You’re better to buy one thing for £20 that you can sell for £40 than buy 20 things for £1 that may not sell at all.

Pick a specialism and learn all about it. For me it was china - I knew what sold and for how much so when I saw some cups and saucers in a charity shop I knew what they were worth.

Very kind and helpful replies.I think I am going to sell this lot and wrap the whole thing up.It's got too messy and stressful.One poster mentioned Messy and that has hit the nail on the head.More trouble than it's worth.Thanks very much for helping me come to this conclusion.I'll take up another hobby 😊

Snickledon-kind of you to post such a comprehensive reply.The only extra expense as far as I can tell is that I schedule listings but that's only 12p each and I don't do it every time.I have 60 items unsold so re-list them-is this sending my fees soaring? I.e pay for the first listing and then get charged again for the second.I shall contact eBay and find out then let you know,also paypal.Thank you.

If you want to carry on I would:

• increase postage costs to include your fees as well as the packaging. I would say £4 for second class and £4.50 for first class
• stop wasting money on fixing the auction time. 11p per item will add up
• check your settings as a business seller and see if you can go back to being a personal seller
• be more careful with what you buy. Buy fewer items and set yourself a maximum price per item
• sell the stuff you have at home as you've already paid for them
• if something doesn't sell, re-list it again and again. I've had things on for 6 weeks and one day someone decided to buy it. Don't take it back to the shop straight away

I have made good money on eBay selling stuff I had at home, some of which I thought would never sell (like a swim costume that went for £15 inc pp)

Good luck

Are there charity shops near you that want people selling on eBay for them? This way you could still do it as a hobby but without the stress of tax returns, etc. Obviously you would have to factor in postage correctly but then anything over this would be a profit for the charity.