Making a profit on Amazon

hairyslug

Just looking for some help because I think I'm missing something in my calculations.
The items I sell range from €10-€100, on eBay they sell with what I consider a good markup for the work I put in. They are a household brand and as far as i know I am buying them for the same price as atleast some of my competitors.

I haven't ventured over to Amazon yet as I just can't compete with the prices there. Going by their calculators, my profit would be around the €1-€2 mark for everything I sell if I was to match their prices. If I go with FBA the profit drops slightly buy I don't need to do as much work (the profit gets destroyed once I pay the shipping fees to Amazon. I can see why their is a massive pull to Amazon with the free shipping they offer but I don't think they increased number of sales for much less profit is worth it.

ohnonotgmail

One word. Volume.

hairyslug

cheers, I had thought as much and can see it being a possibility in the long term but shipping 1000 items over to them of the 1 product to get maybe a 2% return may not be worth the work.

To bring my own thread off topic slightly, how are some sellers successful (and I use that in the losest of terms as I do not know what there finances are like) by selling FBA at a higher price than amazon.

What I am selling is available in Ireland and the UK but for whatever reason, all other retailers in Ireland have a large mark up on it. The UK seems to be a lot tighter with competition.

ohnonotgmail

can i assume you are based in Ireland?

hairyslug

yeah, based in Ireland, have been successful on ebay with another venture, this time, the majority of sales will be to a small niche, usually with a large mark up, UK obviously has a larger market but can access that through FBA.
Irish retail stores are providing the same stock for up to 300% mark up, thats a more extreme end of things but the minimum mark up I have seen is 100%.

And while writing this I have answered my own question.

By looking at the price range of stock in sell, relatively low, FBA is screwing me over, I increase it to the higher end stock and im ok.

Still I wonder why people will buy from a more extensive supplier when a cheaper option is one click away

ohnonotgmail

well i'm glad we got that sorted Selling low value items using FBA from Ireland just doesnt make financial sense.

rubadub

If we knew what it was you were selling you would get a lot more answers, or even just some more vague clues.

They could be selling fakes. You might say no fakes are out there, but you might be surprised, I was shocked to see fake versions of things my company make.

They could have different descriptions so people do not want to buy the cheaper one as they are unsure. e.g. people may list phones that memory cards are compatible with, if they do not see their phone listed they may be wary to buy, many buyers are very ignorant.

They could be getting them far cheaper than you, I always find it odd how people presume to know what others are buying for, the people selling here for "300% markup" could be making less than you.

A few euro a day profit might be a lot to someone in an area with living expenses a fraction of yours.

I am unsure how this all works, are you importing stuff to Ireland and then shipping it to the US? that has got to be incredibly expensive. I can get stuff sent from China by registered post and the overall cost, including postage is cheaper than what I could post it to my next door neighbour for.