What kind of margins to look for with intent to sell eBay mostly?

Yeah, keep it simple. Some sellers Im sure have all kinds of spreadsheets to get expenses down to a science.

But the truth is as you say: Cost of the item + 13% (Paypal/eBay fees).
So if I buy an item for $1 and sell it for $30, I estimate my profit to be about $25.

On long tail items, I try to keep my cost of good sold at 10% – 15% of selling price. Hopefully selling and listing are 15% or so. Try to break even on shipping and fees, Then, if you’re lucky, you will keep about 70% – 75% of your selling price.

It all sounds good on paper…

If you start out with items that you can find for $1-2 (or less!) and sell for $20 or more, you pretty much can’t go wrong. You haven’t risked much, and you’re learning with every transaction.

Dont forget about shipping costs too if you are offering free shipping. Once you get over 1 lb in weight, your margins are going to be cut drastically by shipping. Well I shouldn’t say drastically. If you do sell a $1 for $30, and it weighs 2 lbs, you will still come out like +$15-$18 on it.

I try for 10-15% COGS, but there are some things that don’t fit that formula. Example: a pair of new, steel toe work boots I bought for $20 that should sell for $100, and a purse I bought for $15 that sold for $50. Higher COGS, but worth it because of higher selling price.

Buying something for $1 and selling for $5? Not worth it. Buying for $10, and selling for $50? Worth it, IMO.

It really depends on your sell price. On items with lower prices like $10-$20 I want to spend as little as possible, at most $1 but if I can get away with 25 cents that would be better.

Higher end items I’m willing to go up to 25% of the end price. The other day as an example I got a print for $25 but it was also framed. I felt I could sell it for at least $100-150, turns out it’s worth a lot more than that but I am willing to pay more for a higher sale amount.

Honestly where I am at now tho I have almost not Cost Per Item because I buy table lots for $2.50-$10 and each table can have 25-100 items worth almost anything (I get lucky and find at least one item worth my whole auction bill sometimes). Makes it hard when I add up my COGS cause a lot of times I paid like 5 to 10 cents for a item. It’s a trade off tho cause I have to put a lot more time into packing all that stuff up, storing it and then sorting out the junk to be donated, where if I was at a yard sale or a higher end auction house I would be buying individual items and not having to deal with all the extra but I like to find the diamonds, it’s a rush!

If I can offer a suggestion, first determine how much net income you need or want to make on an annual basis and work your numbers backwards from there. A point that I feel many people miss and causes them to over buy and over price their inventory.

You’re correct in considering margins as a factor, but more important is your markup, sell through rate and inventory turnover.

You want to strive to have your sell through rate as close to the categories average as possible. If it is too low, it’s a sign that your over-priced or in a thin market and need to get your head out of the clouds. Too high, you’re leaving money on the table with low prices and should take advantage and raise your prices.

Typical retail inventory turnover is 3.2 – 3.9 times. If you just start with eBay recommendation of sell it within 16 month or forget it, I believe that gives you roughly 0.65 times.

Looking at these items will more than help you in determining how much you need to sell and equally important how much to spend.

Hi from the U.K.

My aim is a minimum sale of appx. £24.99 and a 4 to 1 cost ratio i.e. pay £6 sell for £25. This works for me.