how does ebay sellers make money?

[raggie33]

i ordered a light for my bike from ebay 16 bucks shiped has front and rear. the front light has a speedmeter and horn built in the light is perfect beam patern its rechargeble. the speedmeter is acurate. i just dont understand how they make money. when i ship something like that its like 10 bucks shiping alone

 

[raggie33]

i also have a tac belt comeing for like 7 bucks

 

[3_gun]

Many work somewhere with a large shipping dept & just slip it in the Q for the company to pay. In a shop that ships 100s of items a day an extra 2 or 3 go unnoticed

 

[Lynx_Arc]

If you think about the materials in things electronics are cheap to make for the most part once you pay for the research to make something the biggest cost is labor. Likely the light costs around $4 to make and the cost to ship to a warehouse likely in California to be sold is another few dollars. The markup is often huge. I recall looking to get a remote for a sony blu-ray player and in the US it was priced around $12-$15. I ordered one from China for $3 and it was the exact smae as the other one I have. So basically the markup was around 250-300 percent. I remember back in the 90s when I got into mail ordering computer parts I needed a printer cable (parallel port) and ordered 2 of them that were 15 foot long for about $3.50 each with included shipping costs with all the other stuff I bought at the same time. I went to a computer store and they were selling 6 foot cables for printers for $25 each. I've seen Belkin cables selling for $15 locally identical to cables at the Dollar Tree. If you buy directly you cancel out 2-3 extra shipping charges and markups.

 

[bykfixer]

The cost to make the stuff mass produced in China is super low and often their gubment suppliments the cost to send it to America or other countries. And then there's all those clones out there as well.

When I was in the bicycle business I had an opportunity to buy carbon fiber Trek frames that ran $1100 each here in the US for $50ea (shipped) if I bought 500. Probably fakes, but never-the-less it showed me just how inexpensive goods from that country can be.

 

[aznsx]

IMO, even in current times, as always in my lifetime, low quality can be had over a wide range of price points, but high quality still doesn't come cheap (legally) - regardless of the distribution channels. Quality and procurement costs are still independent factors that must be considered in any example. In other words, low quality merch is cheap merch, and unless it's marked up a lot, it'll be cheap. High quality merch is rarely cheap (inexpensive).

 

[bykfixer]

When my dad called something "cheap" he was referring to durability/quality, not price. Me too most of the time.

 

[raggie33]

so far its working perfect i mean amazeing perfect beam for me seeing the road and for others to see me.