How to be profitable with eBay pricing?

[Rebel Graphics]

I see guys selling banners for $1SqFt with free shipping.
How can I compete with that or better yet, how are they profitable? Even if they are selling volume, my math is not adding up.

 

[ikarasu]

You can buy 650 sqft of banner for under $100 on E-bay. Even cheaper if buying multiples... that's 15 cents a sqft. These places use cheap bulk ink.

They sacrifice quality for quantity... You can't compete. Let your customers buy from them, then when they get a shitty looking banner that's blue instead of grey, they'll come back to you.

I once paid something like $10 for a 5 FT banner, to which I sent a pantone chart to them. I don't think they had one color right, and some were nowheres near. Cheap material that'll break in a month, cheap ink that will fade, and no quality control on colors. If you cut all them corners, you too can start selling at 50 cents a Sqft! Of course you can't just close shop and start a new E-bay name when all your customers get pissed off at you. So they do have an Advantage on that...

 

[ikarasu]

And to add... just read some of there descriptions. This is from the same seller, same auction...

* Waterproof Eco-solvent ink
* We are the only seller who print your Artwork on UV Machine to improve the durability and Avoid fading of color's.

So... what is it, UV, eco-solvent?

 

[papabud]

i would never consider competing with these people.
i would assume they have no real physical location and almost zero overhead.
no real quality and no real concern for anyone but making money.

 

[Billct2]

Why would you want to?

 

[iraney]

I would not worry about competing with someone like that also why would you want a client that is looking for those prices anyways I would not waste my time worrying about it.

 

[MikePro]

+1 you don't bother to compete with them, unless you're in the market to make crappy banners as cheap as possible. even big-name storefronts like FedEx Office, HomeDepot, OfficeMax, etc. won't bother to sell them that cheap. not worth the effort if you're only profiting $.02/psf. misprint one banner, or have one client that wants a refund or doesn't pay, and you're losing money.

 

[AKwrapguy]

There will always be cheaper alternatives. If your client is freaking out about it than them to order one and see how it looks, long it last.

 

[Rebel Graphics]

I know they are fly by night operations and I have no intent to compete but even if you cut all corners, wouldn’t shipping still mess you up?
Check out this guy, almost 1k units sold, less than $8+free shipping

 

[FatCat]

I know they are fly by night operations and I have no intent to compete but even if you cut all corners, wouldn’t shipping still mess you up?
Check out this guy, almost 1k units sold, less than $8+free shipping

FWIW - you don't know what the real deal is with something like that. Could be a guy that's working 3rd shift at a print or sign shop by himself and is making these banners and taking them home so the boss don't know - so the only thing he has in it is the shipping. Or could be he found a free printer somewhere, got it up and running and has it sitting in his basement or garage and making banners from the short rolls that get tossed out, or a hundred other what-if scenarios...

The point is not everyone's situation is the same and if this person is making enough money to keep them happy doing this work and turn a small profit then let it be. If they are losing money or not making enough, this will all go away in due time. When you run your own show, you have the ability to price things (within reason) how you see fit. Price things too high and customers won't buy, too low and you won't make enough money to weather the down times.

 

[premiercolour]

Different perspective. The eBay seller is willing to take a risk by selling a lot of banner at a almost no margin eBay price for a long period of time, maybe in the garage, someone else's shop. Guess is we will never know. Wait until he's got a few big accounts and more accounts. Now he is going to buy a container of vinyl banner from China. That one container of vinyl banner could probably save him $20k vs buying from N Glantz. Money back.

 

[Tfloraditch]

I see guys selling banners for $1SqFt with free shipping.
How can I compete with that or better yet, how are they profitable? Even if they are selling volume, my math is not adding up.

Buy one of their banners. Send them a colorful file and see how they do. Size it 3x6 and it will cost you $18.00. If the banner is crap you can show it to your customers. If it is acceptable quality then offer each customer a free banner with every order over a certain price. Everyone who opens a new business needs a coming soon banner. Seems like a cheap investment in research.