Here is the question posed by an Evilbay customer.

I owned/operated a performance shop for 5 years and now I am
a ???? Parts Manager so I could setup a wholesale shop
somewhere but don't want to go through the hassle. But, you
can gain my business if you give me a deal. Please respond.
What else do you offer for the 914? I have a ?.? 914 side
shift 901.


I am not sure how to answer. The potential buyer is refering to a fairly expensive product sold by me and manufactured by a member of this board. I have made an agreement with the manufacturer that I would sell at retail. If it sells through eBay I get hit for an average of about 16%, taking into consideration all my fees and all my sales. If I knock off just 5% or even the shipping I will be selling the item for a LOSS or break even. Now this buyer will probably buy outside evilbay which means that I will probably only pay 3% to paypal and could knock off 5% and still make more than if I sell it on ebay but that would be going against the agreement that I made with the manufacturer. What would you do??

I ask this question because I get this question more often than you think. Here is another series of questions/statements that I got from another evilbay buyer.

you can buy them online for the same amount with less freight dude

I told him to buy from the manufacturer and he replied

I noticed you're offering the part for the same price that ? ???? sells them for. I'm located about 200 miles from where they are produced thus lowering my freight cost to must lower than what you have posted.
If the item has never been used I'd be interested in taking it off your hands for a lower amount than I can buy them direct for.
Interested? Do you have the ??? ????? that ????? ?? when they ???? also. An option on the ?? site for $??.

Please advise

tks

I explained to him that I was a "retailer" and that I had commitments to many of the manufacturers that I sell for and that, again, he should go to manufacturer. He responded with the following...

jonathan,
traditional formated retail sales via internet is a oxymoron. what drives the price of traditional retail sales up is overhead such as buildings, insurance, operating expenses, employees. all sales outlets have to carry some inventory so that issue becomes a wash. therefore your prices should be at least 20% lower.
nice store and you have with a lot of parts. wish you the best.

regards

I have not responded to this because it is obvious that he does not nor will he ever understand the way it works in this particular neiche nor regular retail. In his response he has forgotten that before you can ever think about buildings, insurance, operating expenses and employees you must first think about the COST of the item. If I as a retailer only get 20% off retail how am I suposed to sell at 20% under retail???

Does this all boil down to giving evilbay more money or keeping it myself?? regardless of the agreements that have been made?? Do I ask the manufacturer?? Do I ignore the question??

I will be interested in seeing how everybody feels, sellers and buyers.

BTW I only sell things that I feel are top quality and feel that the items that were refered to above are worth every penny of retail and I beleive that everybody else who has them would feel the same.

Lastly, I want to say that not every part is like this and there are many parts that I can deal on and that have a better margine. These parts, though, are not the parts that most people want to get real deals on.

Sell the parts so you are being fair to the buyer, and fair to yourself. To do either party wrong means bad juju.

If you aren't making any money on them, charge more, if you would make a killing if only you could sell them... charge less.

You already knew this of course.

BJH

My feelings on this, you appear to be the retail outlet that the manufacturer has chosen. If the others wish to sell the items, they need to deal with the manufacturer direct (competition to you) or accept the mark up. It seems simple to me. Does the manufacturer wish to move more merchandise? If so, then refer the prospects to him/her. If not, then it appears the only road for these guys is to deal through you.

If you are looking for a way to distribute more of this product through you to other sellers while taking a cut then you will have to face the fact that you will either have to tell them NO or you will have to make less per part.

My advise would be that you can't please everyone, especially if you want to make some money out of the business. The first guy with the BMW shop is just giving you a line, he isn't going to give you any more business unless he gets it at a rock bottom price. The second guy, you told him honestly that he should go to the manufacturer. There are still a lot of people who will buy on eBay because it's easier than looking up all those small parts guys, and because it can be fun. But eBay charges some hefty fees to sell your stuff on their site, so if you can't make anything on a sale, don't do it. It looks like you sell quality stuff at a fair price. You should get enough business to make it worth while. Don't worry about the knuckle heads who want you to give them stuff at or below cost. You don't need that kind of business.

I am not really the retailer of choice, anybody can talk to these people and probably get the same deal as I do and then go sell on ebay. I am just the guy that saw a hole on ebay and filled it. I guess I did not realize till later that the hole could be filled with a nickle.

easy answer: DONT DO IT


i've been in the software business for 30 years and this has come up more times than i care to recall.

not once (like never, zero, zilch) has a transaction as proposed above turned into something that i myself benefitted from.
the "buyer" get's the deal and you'll be left with the bill. every single time, not matter how good it sounded in the first place, how much "more business" they promised.

you'll *always* end up with the short stick.
Andy

I run two eBay accounts .... personal & company. While I try to offer the best price I feel comfortable with, and hopefully great customer service; But it's my game and more importantly .... my rules. I've had emails to the tune of "your and idiot and know nothing". My reply is "Obviously my research was incorrect." Thank you.

In your case, I would have looked at it as the guy wanted to really get jobber price. At that point, I would have contacted the Mfgr and told them that I had a potential distributor and I would like a better price based on the quantity he was willing to take. MONEY UPFRONT!

Anyway, I'll shut up now.

I have given a deal to one person, actually a group of people, once before. I only did it after asking and receiving permission. Truth of the matter is that once that sale was done I do not think I got any more sales out of it. Now I could have because I did not know the names of everybody who was involved but I sure have not gotten the email that started ot with... 'Hi, I am one of the guys that you gave that great deal to on the .....'

Really it is the repeat customer that I try to keep happy. With my ebay sales my 'repeat customers' run about 15% to 20% each month. That is the guy that I like and the guy who is buying parts that I can give a deal to.

My take on the first guy is that he is only out to get one of any given part for his car. If I feel that way I tend not to do much but there have been times where I felt that a person really was looking to purchase for re-sale and I have passed them along to the manufacturer. Tell me you want 2 or 3 of something and I am listening.

I see it as a 1 time purchase and wouldn't budge on the price.