Fair Commission~!

Hey,

So a topic that has come up quite a bit is the issue of fair commission rates.

The Average commission for a drop-and-sell eBay store is around 35%. However, because of the service we provide and the workload that some of the clients or items may provide this commission rate is definately negoitable. The only thing I would say in the name of fair play is that its not really negotiable to work consignment with anything less. I have made an exception to my own business outline once and only once and in compromising it, I found that it just wasn't worth it~!

People believe that what we do, is rather easy and that such rates as a little over a third of the revenue is just outlandish. However, from the perspective of someone who has been doing it for a while, working for anything less is just nuts.

Personally to be competitive and fair within my community, I have been charging 30%. However, seeing as how my business and what I do for people is just simply worth more than that, I have raised my rates. I now take a 35% commission of every item I sell on eBay. That rate breaks down as the price increases, to be detailed:

I take 35% of everything I sell on eBay, up to $500 and 25% of the amount over $500. Just to give an example, say I sell someone's MacBook Pro for them, if it sells for $2,500, I take 35% of the first $500, which is about $175 and I take 25% of the $2,000 over that, which comes out to $500. So in total, if I sell their item for $2,500, I will receive $675 and they will receive $1,825.

To me even writing it out and looking at the numbers it seems to be a lot. However, in all honesty, I can now sit and turn around and look at it from the complete opposite perspective:

For that MacBook, first of all, I am completely responsible for it, and being a delicate piece of equipment, it takes alot more care in handling than say a stroller or a vacuum cleaner.

Thats even before I have to take the pictures. Pictures, I kid you not, are probably the most labor intensive project there is.... because as stated in previous posts, THATS THE KEY~! Proper pictures are what can take your item from a $10 item to a $100 item. The reason for this is quite simple, the pictures are all the buyer has to go on, so if you make it look as fantastic as it really is, people will want to pay for it. If you make a fantastic item look like it was half assed, people will pay a half assed price~! Its that simple~!

So as if two reasons in themselves aren't enough, here are a few more:

Now that the pictures have been taken and I have made your laptop the next competitior for the cover of GQ, I have to list it. To create a listing that looks good is also quite a task, sure there are templates and they make it easy with software like Auctiva which can help you expidite the process, but auctiva is like a camera, it will help you automate it, but you have to choose the content..... No matter how good your listing looks, ultimately what you write or choose not to write can and often will determine the value of your item. Not only do you have to make it look its part, you need to make it sound its part too~!

So to lighten this up a bid, as I feel its getting as intense as I sometimes feel when I am doing this. While we look at the last aspect of it, I am going to write with a smile.

So often people look at the idea or concept of what we are doing here and dont' see the value in it, and I trust if you have read up to this point you can now get an idea.

The last thing on the list of things to take care of in an auction, is actually two things which I will unite. Its payment and shipping. Payment can range from the easiest to most challenging depending on the buyer and their preferences, and shipping is usually a pretty big task, especially with a MacBook~!

So with an item that is that fragile, as I am selling one now, I have been informed by the apple store that I cannot get a box from them as they contain specific numbers that are unique to each apple, and therefore they recommended that I get soft packing foam.

Soft packing foam is not the easiest stuff to come by, once located and procured, we need to carefully pack and ship something that is quite delicate, in a way that it will be prepared to potentially fall of a truck~! Haha~!

Once packed, we need to ship it out wil confirmation, insurance and let the customer know the tracking information, not to mention keep up with the customer as to when it arrives and their level of satisfaction~!

So, as you can see...... there is much more that goes into this business than one views from the outside perspective.

The rates are definately worth the service. If you are a trader and charging less that 35%, you are definately selling yourself short, especially for the amount of work that goes into it. However, the few exceptions to this are when dealing with items of extremely high value, which are anything over $10,000, and in such cases, any trader such accomodate their clients with a rate that is fair, which means both parties feel respect in the transaction that is taking place~!

To bottom line......In paying for the service, clients are paying for the experience and chances are, that experience, is going to pay for itself~!


Have a Wonderful Evening~!

Peace and Light~!

Teddy