how does ebay sellers make money?

raggie33

*the raggedier*
Joined
Aug 11, 2003
Messages
12,084
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
 

3_gun

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 27, 2021
Messages
540
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

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 1, 2004
Messages
11,212
Location
Tulsa,OK
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

Flashaholic
Joined
Aug 9, 2015
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18,288
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My own little Idaho
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

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
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945
Location
Phoenix, AZ USA
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).
 
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raggie33

*the raggedier*
Joined
Aug 11, 2003
Messages
12,084
so far its working perfect i mean amazeing perfect beam for me seeing the road and for others to see me.
 
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