Made two sales today, so thought I’d do a quick update with the breakdown of eBay sales. So without further ado, let’s get into the sexy, sexy numbers!
- Sold a premium version of Volo’s Guide to Monsters (a special release of a D&D 5E sourcebook) for $450. eBay final value fee was $45, purchase cost was $210, Paypal fee was $14.07, and shipping cost was $10.96. So net profit was $169.97.
- Purchase date on this was 06/24/2019, so holding time was about 8 months.
- Sold a 11 book lot of mysteries from the (sadly defunct) Rue Morgue publishing company for $95. eBay final value fee was $11.40, purchase cost was $2.75, Paypal fee was $3.06, and shipping cost was $9.37 (with tracking and insurance). So net profit was $68.42.
- Purchase date on these books were in two lots in 01/2020 (I think), so holding time was about a month.
- Total earning for the day: $238.39, and a few deductible miles from my trip to the post office to get these scanned in and on their way.
The big learning from these is that fees are super-duper high! eBay and Amazon are the worst channels for fees. 13.12% for volo’s and 15.22% for the mystery book lot were taken right off the top in combined eBay and Paypal fees – showing how you can easily sell things and still lose money if you’re not keeping your acquisition costs low enough. A very strong reason so many people are shifting to other channels to sell (like Facebook). Still, the prices you can realize for some items are higher on the larger channels because of the size of the customer base you can reach. It’s a balancing act, but a fun one. Next week will be the monthly update (I know, I’ve been slacking) so stay tuned!
