eBay, CL, etc. selling strategy

D

Don Y 10 hours ago

A non-profit -- with which I've been affiliated -- asked me for suggestions as to how to expand their income stream by selling kit online (in addition to locally). They're interest was in trying to understand how it has fared in the past.

[They've tried many times to do this -- usually with little success]

The items they are selling have very low acquisition costs (most are simply donated). And, much of the processing labor is gifted.

I stress these facts to them and they have habitually (over the years) ignored them -- instead, trying to determine "market prices" for their items (and then wondering why they aren't selling!)

At times, in the past, the person(s) responsible for online sales have been paid a commission (a mistake, IMO -- *I* don't get paid for the efforts *I* donate so why should they?). This, I think, causes them to drive the asking prices up as it maximizes their "take".

Of course, if you're not selling anything, then you'll quickly decide not to waste your time on this "volunteer" endeavor (i.e., if NOT paid, they would be doing it because they wanted to gift their time instead of make some money!)

My thinking has always been: "what will you recover from the item (and what 'processing' will be required to do so)? Pick a figure some epsilon above that and you're ahead of the game!"

For example, a surplus PC is worth about $10 -- after you've disassembled it into the recyclable components (which uses time from volunteers -- and floorspace for them to do it!)

A disk drive is worth $0.50/pound -- regardless of capacity or working state.

Cables about $0.10 -- again, regardless of their original use.

So, selling an HDMI cable (often in original packaging) for $1 is a huge (percentage) profit -- even if only a dollar or so.

But, selling $1 items that require shipping makes them quickly expensive. So, sell MORE in a lot! (But, how many people want to buy a dozen HDMI cables for $10? Plus shipping)

Items with greater intrinsic value tend to be heavier (who wants to ship an 80 pound server? and who's going to crate/package it for shipping with the assurance that it will arrive intact -- lest the purchaser gripe about a broken item)

But, more valuable items tend to require some verification of their integrity. You're not going to want to purchase a tablet that is locked. Or, that has a battery that can't hold a charge. Or, that someone has rooted into some bizarre state.

So, you need someone to assess their suitability for sale/reuse. (Those "someones" are few and far between. Spending a lot of time on *one* item when you can make a bigger impact on dozens)

Add a commission structure atop this and it just drives sell prices up. Which makes it less worth the "volunteer's" time.

The easy items to reuse/resell are things like cables, disk sleds, wheelchair wheels/casters, etc. Things that have few moving parts or non-obvious ways of being damaged.

THEN, you have to not be mercenary about pricing -- some large discount off of other items that you are competing with else you'll just be another of the listings that never sells!

Any ideas as to other items or strategies to help them "move" kit? Remember, moving it to the recycler is an out-of-sight-out-of-mind activity -- no need to store it somewhere WHILE waiting for its disposition. Nor fear of someone opting to dispose of it thinking it's recyclable.

How do *individuals* who sell deal with this? It's likely a "side gig" and one that you don't want to put much time or effort into...

Vote

L

Liz Tuddenham 4 hours ago

[...]

Stick it in a shed. Fifteen years later, try to remember where I put it because I have now found a use for it or it has become a collectable item.

Vote

B

Bill Sloman 2 hours ago

Your thinking on this hasn't gone very far.

You can't sell anything for any useful fraction of what it might be worth until you know exactly what it is. Until you know that, you can't know what your market is and where you can advertise to potential buyers, and you can't set any kind sensible price.

It's very noticeable that Amazon started off selling second hand books.

The books have author(s), publisher and title printed in the front of the book. Amazon exploited the internet to make this information available to the whole world - they didn't have print and publish catalogues.

Amazon now sell a much wider range of junk, and they aren't all that good at classifying what they are selling

If you get presented with random lumps of equipment, the process of identifying what you have got is a lot more difficult than it is with books. The gear may be marked with a manufacturer's trade mark and a serial number, if you can find it, but there are lot more manufacturers of stuff than there are publishers of books.

You do need to think a bit harder about exactly what you are trying to do.

Vote

D

Don Y 1 hour ago

They'd fill a 10x10x8' shed every two days!

They are always WANTING to sort out how to generate more cash from this stuff -- the extra benefit being that a sale ALSO diverts it from the recycle channel!

But, there is simply too much stuff and triaging it takes more skill than they typically have on-hand. You need people who are aware of the types of items that are donated to be able to set them aside -- for further evaluation, etc. And, with the volume of stuff coming in, you have to do this daily -- there's no room to let stuff pile up waiting for someone to come in and look it over.

Anything "captured" has to be "processed" in a few days -- sold, refurbished, recycled, etc. It's not like a normal retail channel where YOU decide when stuff will arrive on your loading dock, based on how quickly you "move" it. I keep telling folks that as much stuff that comes *in* has to go *out*. And, when you're receiving thousands of pounds of kit every day...

[I used to repair LCD monitors for them -- when such things were novel. In a week, the backlog of monitors would fill a room! And, there's no way I'm going to repair that many in the *coming* week! I refurbished electric wheelchairs and powerchairs for a while -- until the "stock" of such devices accumulating made it clear that there was no real market for them -- even FREE! Another guy used to build Linux boxes -- same problem (who the hell wants all of these FREE Linux boxes???)]

There was a guy there, many years ago, who was on hand every day AND handled the online sales. It was a huge task as you have to create the listing, stage photographs, set the item aside so you know which item goes with each listing, handle queries from potential buyers, deal with shipping, lost items, items damaged in shipment, disappointed buyers, etc. Nevertheless, he made a gallant effort for several years!

Some folks (initially) *seem* excited to take on this activity -- as it has the potential to generate a fair amount of "commission cash". But, the timeframe and experience needed to recognize what you might want to sell makes it difficult. Those of us who can recognize the value in particular items have no desire to take on this task. Nor are we available often enough to do it for someone who doesn't have that skillset.

That's the problem with many non-profits -- you don't have much control over WHO volunteers or WHAT they will want to do (and, as they are there by choice, not paid, asking them to do something they don't want to do risks them not returning).

[The local food bank treats volunteers as pseudo-employees -- requiring them to report for assigned "shifts", etc. That tends to rule out a lot of potential volunteers who don't want to be constrained to a "non-paying JOB!"]

Each time I've been asked this question (online sales) -- I've been there for many years -- I end up giving the same recommendation: if you KNOW someone who can use it, offer it to them for a song. Otherwise, just move it out to make room for tomorrow's stuff! So, make lots of contacts and track who might need/want particular items -- but, tell them they have to come NOW if they want it!

Vote

T

Theo 34 minutes ago

The way I approach it is something like:

Know what the item is. Since I'm mostly selling stuff I've previously used then I already know something about them (condition, etc).
See what price the item is currently or recently selling for (search ebay for sold prices, check Amazon for current prices in a similar condition)
Work out roughly what shipping is going to be. eg here there are various bands, eg a 'large letter' is up to 2.5cm thick, a 'small parcel' is

46x36x16cm up to 2kg, etc which have a fixed price. Subtract that from the selling price.

If that price is less than my hassle-budget, pile the item for moving on. (eg for books my hassle-budget might be £5-10 after shipping, but could be higher for things which are more annoying to pack)
If the price is greater than the hassle budget, list it. As photographing things is annoying (needs a clear space and daylight) I tend to collect things and do this in batches.
Pack up orders as they come in.

What would be nice is to get the cadence up so that there's multiple orders per day, as packing several items doesn't take much more effort than packing one. But I don't list enough to make that happen, and I don't have enough space to have a separate photographing and packing area, which would also streamline processing. So my hassle-budget is typically fairly high and a lot of stuff doesn't get listed.

Packaging tends to be reuse of whatever shipping boxes have recently been received (I fish them out of the recycling bin) which saves cost but adds time if you need to hunt for a suitable box for each item. If you buy new boxes it saves time but costs additional money.

Theo

Vote