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Additions to the Challenge

January 21st, 2007 at 09:00 pm

Of the four items I had up for auction on eBay, only 1 item sold. The auctions ended on Thursday-- the same day eBay was running a 1-day special of $0.20 insertion fees, so I re-listed the unsold items at a lower price. Hopefully things will go better this time.

I thought it might be interesting to break down the costs associated with an Ebay sale. My item sold for $6.99 + $8.50 S&H. I always do a flat rate shipping cost. When I buy things on eBay I like to know the shipping cost before I bid, so I figure other potential buyers might be the same. Typically I end up making a small amount on the shipping, but the buyer for this particular was on the opposite coast from me and the actual shipping was $0.50 more than I anticipated.

Ebay Sale Price: $6.99
=+S&H $8.50
--------------------------------------
Buyer pays: $15.49
eBay insertion fee: -$0.35
Final Value fee (5.25% sale price) -$0.37
PayPal Fee: -$0.75
Actual Shipping Cost -$9.00
--------------------------------------
My profit +$5.02

For the purposes of the Challenge, I’m also going to subtract the money I spent to list the 3 other items that did not sell. The cost to list those items was $1.32, so I’ll add $3.67 to the Challenge. Not big money, but it cleared something out of my closet that I don’t wear. I had tried selling it to a used clothing store and they were not interested, so at least it’s gone and I have a few more bucks for the Challenge.

I’m subtracting the lost money because this is a Challenge, and I expect to win some endeavors, and lose others.

Last night I babysat for the same family that I sat for on Wednesday and made $50. That will also be added to the Challenge.

Old Total: $392.48
+eBay Sale: $3.67
+Babysitting $50.00
-----------------------------
New Total: $446.12

Posted in $20 Challenge | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Additions to the Challenge”

  1. living_in_oz Says:
    January 21st, 2007 at 09:24 pm 1169414675
    1169414675

    Dang girl, if I could $50 a night babysitting I'd be doing it every night!LOL

  2. threebeansalad Says:
    January 21st, 2007 at 09:54 pm 1169416497
    1169416497

    I agree- the babysitting money is good-- although last night I'd say I really EARNED the money-- the 3 kids each had a friend sleeping over (total of 6 kids) and they were all allowed to stay up until their parents came home (at 12:45am!)

  3. cherylyates Says:
    January 21st, 2007 at 10:12 pm 1169417544
    1169417544

    Thanks for sharing your ebay expereince. I've just started selling with mixed results, also. One helpful addition is to have a scale on which to weigh your stuff---I don't have to estimate th shipping now, and am pretty much on target at least with US mail. Luckily I didn't have to spend much on the scale: I found a old baby scale (goes to 20 pounds) in the dollar bin at an antique store. Works great!!

  4. LuxLiving Says:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 12:14 am 1169424864
    1169424864

    I often had good luck marking things UP when they didn't sell the first time. Don't ask me why, but it worked many many times!

  5. threebeansalad Says:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 02:27 am 1169432829
    1169432829

    Lux- Interesting thought! Marking up to enhance the "perceived avlue"... I'll think about this with future auctions. I also think the "Buy It Now" function can help acheive this.

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