Is eBay Store a good option to sell Smartphones in India?

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Ebay is a good place to start with. You could get a fair idea of how the ecommerce business operates. It would be helpful when you go big n start your own online shop. I do sell used gadgets on ebay occasionally and never got a negative feedback.

Ebay charges 6.6% on your listing price. (Paisapay 5.5% + 1.1% ebay charges).


Completely agree with Rajadeep. All you have to do is get a comparison of prices of phones across various sites. Ebay prices (for Manf warranty products) will generally not be the lowest. That is due to the fact that you have to pay Ebay almost 6%. Plus let us not forget the Listing fees. To get eyeball, you need to put up more than one listing. In Bold, Standout, etc. Costs bucks.

Ebay is a decent platform for low price high margin products or for products not generally found in big stores for cheap.

Like Big Boss said, smartphone and tablet accessories have a huge market, plus great volumes and good margins. Especially for products not available by the bulk. For example, I bought a silicone case for Samsung Y Duos Lite for 60 bucks in a wholesale market the other day, while it retails for about 120-150 on Ebay. So its a great profit. Plus since the phone sells a lot, u might get good volumes too.

Check THIS.

What you can do is try out Ebay as a seller without opening a shop. Get your near and dear to order accessories and simpler stuff through your listing. Do simple listings without any add-ons and the listing cost would be about 3-4 bucks for 30 days. Get a good reputation on and only then open a shop. Having a shop needs you to pay shop fees regularly. Don't waste that straightaway. Start off selling simpler things directly without a shop.

Its 4.95% for Paisapay service. And listing fee is different for different items. Listing for GSM phones is 1% + 10% tax on it which mean 1.1% while I believe CDMA phones are taxed differently, not sure on CDMA handsets. Apple iPods listing fee is 2.2%(2% + 10% tax on it). I don't know about accessories but I guess it would be 1% for them too.

Ebay does not collect commission on Shipping charges. That is why most sellers divert some costs towards Shipping. Why would it cost a seller 100 bucks for shipping a memory card when he can send by Speed Post for 39 bucks to anyplace? Or DTDC for 50? Its because, he sells the product at minimal profit and collects his profit from the shipping charges.

They have changed the policy on this. I am not totally sure but I think now you pay taxes for selling price+shipping instead of just selling shipping. I haven't calculated thoroughly but I believe it is that way.

right. i remember the times when sellers priced their products at 1 dollar but charged for it through shipping to get around ebay charges. i guess ebay took care of that workaround? :D

Yes they did. They have fixed shipping charges for specific item. For example you can't charge 200 for shipping an iPod even if it is iPod classic, which is on the heavier side. I suppose maximum amount you can charge to ship iPod is 115. This means lighter items might have even lower limits.

Now they automatically give a 5 Star rating in the shipping category for sellers that give free shipping.

Yes and some sellers are exploiting this service pretty badly.
 
"Its 4.95% for Paisapay service." 4.95% days are gone. It's 5.5% now and they may increase it by jan "Ebay does not collect commission on Shipping charges. That is why most sellers divert some costs towards Shipping. Why would it cost a seller 100 bucks for shipping a memory card when he can send by Speed Post for 39 bucks to anyplace? Or DTDC for 50? Its because, he sells the product at minimal profit and collects his profit from the shipping charges." No commission on shipping charges upto Rs.230. If you put more than Rs.230 the remaining will be automatically considered as listing price and the commission is calculated for that ...
 
If you do start on ebay or any other...Please do let us know..And don't forget to give the IBF members discount... :DAnd about ebay....they are indeed very consumer oriented....But i think its still safe to stick with eBay!!
 
From my knowledge, cellphones have least margin and much lesser than consumer electronics. Reputed sites like flipkart sell branded phones for ~10-12% margin and they procure stock directly from importer. Small scale sellers and other shops have to buy it from district or city level authorized distributor which buys stock from importer for 4-5% margin. Ultimately, to remain competitive, small scale shops have to sell product for 4-6% margin.
 
"Its 4.95% for Paisapay service."

4.95% days are gone. It's 5.5% now and they may increase it by jan



This says otherwise PaisaPay Facility Charge Even with 15% it will still be lesser than 5.2%.

Let me know if you experienced higher paisapay fee. If they are charging you higher then I would calculate my latest fees and if you are the only one charged higher then you can appeal other wise we can at least curse ebay.


@OP and everyone else: Here is the link to the listing fee Fees: Charges For Selling Your Items on eBay

Good news is CDMA phones are still at 1% bad news is Dual SIM and other GSM phones(which I believe means Global Phone(?)) are at 5%.
 
1st hurdle hit today.went to bluedart office .............the manager is insane , he says we charge normally 300 for less than 500gm and 150 for extra 500 gm.moreover he says expensive items like mobile are sent through airmail which is 120 rs per kg with 10 kg minimum charge.is he insane or ebay sellers are insane ??? what the **** is happening :warning:
 
yes i had talked to ebay customer service immediately after exiting from bluedart ..............she told me something about power shipping ,and for details she gave me landline numbers but those were constantly busy , so couldn't talk to them thanks @xyx2000 for confirming that this infact works :D
 
yes i had talked to ebay customer service immediately after exiting from bluedart ..............she told me something about power shipping ,and for details she gave me landline numbers but those were constantly busy , so couldn't talk to them

thanks @xyx2000 for confirming that this infact works :D

Powership lists some very decent and attractive rates,
I am also thinking of becoming a ebay seller now, only thing is I've 1000 things on mind and unable to decide what to sell !!!!
 
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