How To Combat The Asian Sellers On Ebay
Sellers from Asia are everywhere on EBay. Selling in every category for prices that are much lower than UK sellers can source products for. For example, I’ve seen sellers from Hong Kong selling products for £15.00 that I can’t source for £20.00. If you’re new to EBay, you can look at these prices and become disheartened, believing you can’t compete. Don’t despair.
You have many advantages in your favour. First, forget about trying to competing on price. You cannot. Nor should you even try. I’ve seen guys in business forums bragging that they make £5.00 on a hundred pound sale. I wouldn’t even bother. It’s not worth the effort, such a low profit margin is not a viable business model, it’s more like a hobby that pays some pocket money.
The objective of a business is to make a decent profit for the effort you expend. 5% in my book is not a decent profit. I like to look for at least 30% upwards. So how can you compete against the Asian sellers?
It’s easy really. The sellers from Hong Kong will be charging very high shipping costs. They might be charging £12.00 for example for a product you can ship for £2.00 that adds £10.00 to the cost of their product.
You can also wipe the floor with them for speed of delivery. Shipping from Hong Kong can be slow and unreliable. You, on the other hand, can get your item delivered the next day by Royal Mail first class.
There’s also the possibility of buyers buying from Hong Kong of being hit with a VAT bill. And there’s the added problems of returning the product if it is faulty.
You can offer your customers something they will be willing to pay for: security. If you are selling in a market where there are many sellers from Hong Kong make it clear in your listing that you are a British seller.
Emphasise the quick and safe delivery and the ease of access to you should anything go wrong. Make a point of stating that there is no additional cost associated with buying from you. The price you see is the price you pay.
All these things will negate the cheaper priced product from Hong Kong and ensure you maintain your profit margin.
Never try to compete on price on EBay or you won’t be able to create a viable business model. It’s not only the Asian sellers who sell cheap. You also have companies who are dumping stock, companies who use products as loss leaders, to get people to their websites, where they will up sell to them. And of course, you have some people who just don’t know what they are doing and sell too cheap to make a realistic profit.
You’re on EBay to make money so avoid getting into a price war. Set your margin and stick to it. Most buyers don’t just buy on price; they also want reliability and security.
We have the same problem in the States. It is very discouraging when I go to sell an item that you get wholesale for $45 USD (27.64 GBP) and then, you add in eBay fees which are about $2.60 USD (1.59GBP) for a standard listing at this price with a buy it now, and right there you have to sell over $47.60(29.24GBP) to make a profit. This item retails for $90 USD (55.28 GBP) and I find it on US eBay for $14.00 USD(8.60 GBP)from an Asian seller! You can’t compete, but people will buy from them first usually, because I have to make a profit and they can go way lower than I can go. I cannot make any profit – I would actually lose money – a lot of money. And like you say, a few dollars is not worth it, when usually I can only sell any item for a $5 USD (3.07 GBP) markup at best, because there is always someone low balling. As a business owner, you are in it to profit and not just making pocket change. You are right, we can offer quicker shipping, however, with our economy the way it is people seem to be going for cheaper, not speed. Seems like unless you have an exclusive item or just do it for fun to make some pocket money, eBay is not worth the time anymore. Some of this stuff they sell has to be knock-off, because I can\’t see how they can sell brand and designer names for so much less than legitimate business owner’s the US and UK. If they are genuine items, wow, they are getting HUGE discounts on the prices of products that we US and UK sellers cannot get anywhere near, even wholesale. I would not mind competing with them if their auctions wouldn’t be put up there as legit brand names(when some can’t be), rather saying that they are knockoffs or look-a-likes and at least people could decide whether they wanted the genuine article or a cheap knock-off.
You’re right about trying to make a profit on ebay when you are competing against sellers from abroad selling fakes. It’s impossible. With ebay fees now reaching
levels that are making selling on ebay prohibitive it’s getting harder for genuine businesses to compete. I think Ebay has shot itself in the foot with its price hikes and other rules. I use ebay to bring people to my website. I have made the decision to reduce my listings on ebay and just keep a core presence with the aim of bringing people to my website. as a selling venue ebay has certaainly made it difficult for sellers. They’re working on the principle that they are the big player and there’s no competition so they can do what they like. This is a false belief, as the amount of sellers leaving ebay proves.