I was out shopping today for one of my special projects when I came upon this pair of beauties at a Barney's outlet near my house -picture courtesy of Net-a-porter. There are Christian Louboutin Gres Mule 70 sandals in gold. They were $266 including tax. I considered buying them to post on eBay for a minute, since they were a pretty popular style in the Spring/Summer line and I was fairly confident I could sell them. If I had decided to buy them I would have listed them on eBay at first as an auction for a starting bid of $319, which would have enable me to roughly break even, if not make a couple of bucks. If I had sold them to client, depending on their budget, I would have sold them for about $315, for a $50 profit.This isn't the first time this has happened, although it kind of makes me wonder. Am I SO GOOD at this that I manage to find these items for a much better price than everyone else, OR are other sellers pocketing $150 to $200 per item while I drive 100 miles every weekend and spend HOURS on my computer for a measely $50?
One way or another I have to look into this because I'm clearly under pricing my items, and potentially missing out on a much bigger profit opportunity by doing so.
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I would venture a guess that it's the latter, not the former. The time you take to get these finds is worth something. Your buyer is willing to pay that fee because it means THEY don't have to go out and find it themselves.
Here's to higher profits for you! :)
Elisa, you're under-pricing, but that's the point of your business: to undersell your competition. The real snag is that you're under-pricing by too much, and not maximizing your profits. Competitors' margins are irrelevant. They could be getting their stuff for $3 for all you know, but the point is that it's selling, and for higher prices than what you're listing yours for. If you price your things at just under theirs...but you know all this already. The issue is that you have to make snap decisions to buy something or not when you're out shopping, and guess at what you can sell it for.
What you may need is a real-time way to find out what the item you're looking at is selling for before you buy it (or not.) "There's an app for that." ;) Can you get your hands on a mobile device that has browsing capability or applications to connect you to eBay or other market-making sites so you can check prices before you drive 100 miles back home? It might be a good investment...
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