pardon the long read , but.....
for me , after expenses, a single card that sells for $1 on ebay results in approximately a $.50 net.....
things you have to consider :
you aren't required to offer free shipping ...i charge $2.25 , so that $1 sale brings in $3,25....
ebay fees begin at 10% , but if you are a volume seller (not even talking power seller) , you get extra discounts....after my discount , my fee comes to 7.2% on the cost of the item , so a $1.00 sales with $2.25 shipping comes out to $.30 ($.23 on the shipping and $.07 on the item)....
the pay pal fees are where you can cut out a big slice....if you're selling low-end items , you should use the micro-payments plan...instead of 2.9% + $.30 per transaction , the rate is 5% + $.05.....for my $1 sale , that drops the fee from $.39 down to just $.21.....any item whose TOTAL comes out to less than $12 is cheaper using the micropayments....anything OVER $12 is cheaper using the regular plan....simple way to keep costs under control is to have one ebay/paypal account for the cheap items and a second set of accounts used only for the higher priced items....
as for postage , absolutely HAVE to go with bubble mailer and tracking ....without tracking you won't be able to meet the requirements for top rated and top rated plus seller levels which are required to get the discounts.....you can go into a post office and pay $2.32 for a package without tracking and add it in for another $1.07 , but again , if you're doing volume sales you will definitely be cutting that rate down by printing labels at home...a simple printer and plain white paper and now your cost for the same package is just $1.93 WITH tracking...
i did an in-depth analysis of all my shipping supplies several years ago and have tweaked it as i've had to re-stock....three years ago i replaced new top loaders with rigid cardboard cut to appropriate sizes with a large office cutting board to cut the cost a bit....by eliminating that expense , my total cost of all supplies (mailer , paper , tape , sleeves , printer ink for the label and packing slip) comes out to just under $.30.....i also don't have to burn gas to take packages to the post office or spend time waiting in line since all of them can be picked up by my carrier ....most can simply be left in the box for pick-up ....the exception is an international package which must handed directly to a postal employee (the carrier qualifies so you no longer even have to take items in to get the customs stamp)
so now we have a $1.00 sales bringing in a total of $3.25....take out $2.74 in expenses ($.30 to ebay , $.21 to pay pal , $1.93 to the usps , and $.30 for supplies) , i'm left with $.51....
other points to ponder regarding what that $.51 means :
cost of acquiring the item - most of the truly low-end items i sell is acquired in bulk , usually for less than a dime a card and often for less than a penny a card , or is off-grade material advertised and priced low due to the flaw(s).....obviously some are items i pulled myself so that's a bit harder to quantify , but in general the cheap stuff will still leave me with a net of $.40 to $.50 per single card....
the big issue is the cost of your time....it takes time to list and ship...the fact is you'd have to do lots of sales to make enough money to make it a truly profitable endeavor and that means many hours of work which could pretty much be seen as a full-time job" with them is not the same as real "work"
one other thing that comes into play is multi-item purchases....each time a buyer buys more than one card , the average expense per item drops , leaving more profit....(with an additional charge of $,25 per extra item for shipping , a sale of 2 cards at $1.00 each ups my net to $1.60 while a sale of 3 cards ups it to $3.07 - the rapid increase in profit margin is due to the fact the cost for postage and supplies - other than soft sleeves - remains essentially unchanged for up to 15-20 cards)
so , in conclusion , you CAN make money selling cards at $1.00 each but it requires lots of effort , a high volume inventory , and the ability/desire to use every possible discount possible (without lowering the quality of service)...like with burbank , the key is to have so much material that even with an incredibly low sell-through rate you'll have enough people finding what they need...for every one item that earns you that $.50 profit , you may have a hundred or even a thousand items just sitting there gathering dust waiting for that one perfect customer in need to come along....
A $1 sale on ebay = a loss for you.
Using $1 as the sales price
Fees-
Ebay $0.10
paypal $0.33
Postage $0.49 (pwe)
That's $0.92 in fees before you include the cost of envelope,toploader, penny sleeve and the cost to acquire the actual item your selling.
Anything under $1.49, you basically doing it for zero profit.
