Mail order delivery prices for mugs...!?

[chongsta]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of starting up mail order with the mugs on eBay.

Can anyone help with pricing please? So far ive got:

mugs at approx: 89p
Polystyrene boxes: 37p
so far postage is coming in at £2.87 recorded mail
Total=£4.13

Then add the price for the mug at say £5.00 and this is getting a little silly! its now £9.13

How come ebayers are selling mugs at £5.00 and delivery at anything from £1.80 - £2.50 ? and lets not forget the ebay and paypal cut, is it worth it for literally a few quid?

Is anyone here selling on eBay?

Any advice is good here, i just cant see any point when the outlay is so high. I guess the only thing to do is to charge about £6.50 for the mug itself but im thinking thats a little pricey, or is it?

Cheers all
Dave.

[John G]

Hi,
I Wouldn't bother with the recorded mail as its pointless - the mugs too big to go through a letterbox so the recipient has to be in when its delivered. The postage is too steep @ £2.87, 1st class is £2.14 or even drop it down to 2nd - ebayers just won't pay it.

There's no way your going to get £5 profit off one mug, on ebay you'll be lucky to get between £1.25 and £2.00 clear profit. That does take into consideration your printing costs, bubble wrap, box, heat tape, fragile tape, sub paper, your ebay listing fees, final value fees, paypal fees and your vat if your registered.

Seen some full wrap mugs on ebay recently for £3.00 + postage @ £2.14 - now they must be making next to nothing unless they are getting the consumables for free.

[Paul]

Hi Dave! Very good qustions here ;)
I used to use sublisuplies smash proof boxes and they fantastic. 11oz mug in one of them costed me £1.85.

i just cant see any point when the outlay is so high. I guess the only thing to do is to charge about £6.50 for the mug itself but im thinking thats a little pricey, or is it?

no. price is fine. for that kind of personalized gift £10 is still fine. dont forget we r sitting on front of the computer and doing pictures up. and rest of work.

so £6.50 is good price but unfortunatly there r lots of gits ruin this business... :( shame...

There's no way your going to get £5 profit off one mug, on ebay you'll be lucky to get between £1.25 and £2.00 clear profit. That does take into consideration your printing costs, bubble wrap, box, heat tape, fragile tape, sub paper, your ebay listing fees, final value fees, paypal fees and your vat if your registered.

you know how to kick stright in the nuts mate :lol: but is true...

[chongsta]

Cheers guys, very helpful I must say.

Well ive done some more digging around and found one guy doing a mug for £3.00 + £2 recorded mail! doesnt add up at all.

what i wanted to avoid is the "wheres my mug" scenario with the savvy ebayer playing the "missing" game! ive had it with my canvases in the past and that all soon stopped when i started using recorded signed-for parcels :)

I wanted to use the same for this set up as well. Many sellers are now doing £7.99 all in, but that still sounds cheap to me unless your shifting a few hundred a month (which is the aim). I guess its down to how good your designs are, its a true saying that your item is only worth what the customer will pay, so if i charge say £9.99 (profit of £6.00) all in then im happy, if i shift it great, but im not breaking my balls if im selling it at £7.99 and clearing say £3-4

@John

1st class is £2.14 or even drop it down to 2nd - ebayers just won't pay it.

What would you suggest mate? and where can you get cheaper?

what might be an idea is to do some deals,e.g. buy 3 mugs for £15+£3 PnP. Its an idea......in fact! bugger it. Im gonna list all mugs at £9.99 and see what happens :shock: :o :D :lol:

anymore tips/advice?

Cheers
dave

[Paul]

bugger it. Im gonna list all mugs at £9.99 and see what happens

whats your designes if you dont mind to tell us? If your designes r unique then people will pay £10. but if you going to print customer photographs only with some wording then i would live it mate... ebay fees will finish you off.


Paul

[John G]

Hi all,
Do a search on ebay for a similar product your going to offer - your going to compete against this market so your prices have to be spot on. Don't forget your fees - I doubt you'd make £6.00 profit off a £9.99 mug.

Paypal alone would be approx 55p, ebay listing would be either 20p, if you have a shop or 40p if you don't, and final value would be approx 76p. That's fees of £1.71 with postage of £2.87 (recorded)
Total to list and post £4.58

Now you have your consumables, mugs @ £1.17 if your not vat registered, your boxes @ approx 30p, paper @ 10p per sheet and the ink to print anywhere between 10p and 40p depending on printer and print. If your vat registered you would have to charge £1.49 vat
Total to print £3.46

This takes it to £8.04 and your selling at £9.99 giving a profit of £1.95

Above is for a one off personalised xpres mug - savings can be made by selling more than one mug to the same buyer or using cheaper mugs..

[chongsta]

Cheers guys,

Yeah i see what you mean lads. It seems that people on ebay are doing this for pennies then! literally pennies! Of course selling off your own site will reduce the dreaded fees and that helps a lot. Im not VAT regd so that also helps. i get my mugs a little cheaper than what i said i did coz i have a deal with a supplier but i was costing at top end. Im also looking at buying a few boxes from china (again a friend that imports).

Seems i need to do a few more sums?

So, does anyone sell mugs on ebay or their own sites?

cheers
dave.

[Andrew]

Got to agree, ebay prices are crazy. I was looking at high vis vests earlier and people are selling items with the aim of making less than £1 per sale. Also, if you come up with a decent design that you think would be worth a bit more then suddenly others will copy it and undercut you.

[Karen.]

Ebay can be worth it for advertising, but not for making a profit. Aim your market at companies for advertising and you will find the messages for 100s or so start to come in. That is where the profit starts to be made.

[jennywren]

I have a website but we don't offer the mugs from there due to the high cost over overcoall cost. I did send 5 boxes of 36 mugs to Scotland but breakages was to high. We only do them if they collect. I've no idea how some of them on ebay do it so cheap