May 8, 2016 at 4:41 am

I wonder.

I had accounts at Ebay and Amazon.

I had included Ebay and Amazon capsules in my hubs at Hubpages.

For 6 years in my life, I had earned 8 cents at Amazon for the commission of a prayer book and that’s it !

I know that I can put up my handmade crafts at these sites but I have to include shipping fees to my capital.

In addition, I have to pay the additional fees to these sites.

How do you earn at Ebay and Amazon?

How much % should I add in to my cost?

May 8, 2016 at 11:48 am

I only know that you can make money with those sites once you start selling something. Any kind of products. I have friends who sell her e-books at Ebay and she is trying out at Amazon. Since I am not living in the US, I can’t use this one. Can I buy ebooks using my Paypal, or I need to have a US Bank account? I want to buy books there but I am not sure if they will able to deliver it in my country, since I live in Asia.

I wonder if they pay their reviewers too as there are rumors before that these sites pays some reviewers to give good reviews to certain products.

May 9, 2016 at 4:57 am

@grecy095

very good question sis.

I wonder what are the answers.

I had read forums that people do earn money from their handmade products sold at ebay and amazon.

However, it will sum up quite an expensive price tag for just a birthday card.

For example, I saw a simple birthday card for a price of RM 25 ( USD 6.25)

Who would buy this EXPENSIVE card??

If your friend can sell ebooks online, this means that anyone in the world can use paypal.

If I am not wrong, you can use your paypal to buy books at amazon and ebay subject to the shipping fee.

Some sellers provide free shipping fee in USA only.

Otherwise, you have to pay for the shipping fee which may add up your purchase price.

Go have a look and let me know.

Thanks, sis, and cheers

May 9, 2016 at 10:33 am

That is why I am not trying out to buy at Amazon if it has shipping fee because sometimes the amount of shipping fee is expensive more than the amount of the products I want to buy. The same case here in the Philippines when I am buying products online. The shipping fee is always expensive even if it is will be ship within the country.

May 9, 2016 at 10:57 am

I am using amazon affiliate program on my blog and hubpages but never managed to sell anything. I used Ebay to sell some old books but after the courier charges and ebay commission, there was hardly any profit.

May 10, 2016 at 6:34 pm

Asi have joined this site just a couple of hours before, i need all of my Forum friends support to know a bit. So i am welcoming everyone’s suggestions and comments.
Regarding Amazon, Ebay; i would like to know how can i start these. Are these workable?

May 10, 2016 at 9:32 pm

I have used Amazon but there is only 1 way to make money.

When some product is sold using them.

It can be your own (Then you make approx 90% of the selling price. Rest is site commission.)

It can be of someone else (Then you make approx 20% of the selling price. This is affiliate earning.)

*Note: The earning percentages mentioned above are approximate and depend on case to case.

If you are selling your own, I strongly recommend digital products (Shipping costs are unbearable sometimes).  I have heard of one more website which is better but I am yet to explore.

It is clickbank. If anybody has used it, please confirm.

May 11, 2016 at 4:34 am

@thinker

thanks very much for your information. I will check on this site.

So, in other words, if I could sell my own products, I could make 90% of profit?

How about the shipping fee?

Do I have to include into my cost ?

Does Ebay/Amazon provide shipping?

I still couldn’t figure that out even I had read the instruction on their page.

Appreciate your advice

May 11, 2016 at 9:29 pm

Sorry @peachpurple but I cannot help you about shipping fees.

However, I believe that Amazon / Ebay have their own shipping (may depend on country) terms. But, in that case they will decrease your chance of earnings.

I know one analogous case of Lulu.com

(Amazon / Ebay might differ.)

MRP = 9$.

Product: Ebook

You actually earn: 7.2$

MRP = 15$.

Product: BW Paperback

You actually earn: 7.77$

MRP = 30$.

Product: Color Paperback

You actually earn: 15.26$

Earnings depend on your product range. If you sell digital products (no shipping fees); you earn more. Earnings decrease with increased shipping fees.

This is just a guess. May be some modifications required.

May 11, 2016 at 11:06 pm

I have no experience of making money from ebay and amazon but my friends earn from there in various ways

May 11, 2016 at 11:48 pm

I haven’t tried either of the two sites. I only visit Amazon when I need to click on some products.

May 12, 2016 at 5:53 am

@thinker/

so, you are saying that if I can sell digital products at amazon, I can save the shipping fees.

How do I do that?

Choose a cheap price product, put into my list and sell a little higher?

Then when my customer place an order with me, I key in the customer’s address into that site?

Or do you have some suggestions?

I really can’t understand how do people make money at Amazon when those products sold online aren’t in their hands and they didn’t have to ship out the products either.

It is alike a middleman transaction.

May 12, 2016 at 8:19 am

I think most of us have this issue, I am on amazon affiliate site and using its code ads on my sites, but hardly get any hits. We should look at it from the point of side income rather than expecting more. Need to study properly to gain more from it.

Perhaps, its better to sell full time with large range of products on ebay and amazon than selling some one off product infrequently. The margins increases that way, i realized it and then stopped selling it on ebay as it eats into your profit by way of fees.

If you dont have much to sell, you can try quickr, olx and other smaller sites, which are much more start-up friendly rather than biggies which discourage small time businesses.

May 12, 2016 at 9:05 pm

@peachpurple

I guess you need to study about digital products more before actually going in. I suggest using Ebooks as that is cheaper and better.

Regarding physical products, it is complicated process and generally does not work if it is small items in stock.

Suppose u have a mobile phone to sell. You sold it and shipped it. Technically now, it is shown “Stock Out.”

That’s all.

If you have another product to sell, it again starts from the scratch.

This is what happens if you are a small supplier (having 1 – 2 items in stock). The problem with this model is: Unless you have something original and unique with you, you actually cannot succeed with them.

The solution here is what @gautamdotcom suggested. However, his websites were country specific. You need to find some website which allows simple buying and selling (just basic sites and not professional ones) of goods. You need to find some local websites pertaining to your country.

In case, you are a large scale supplier (having 100+ items in stock), then it is a complicated process. It is assumed that you have a large scale manufacturing plant (if you are a manufacturer) OR a good market infrastructure (if you are just a distributor).

May 13, 2016 at 11:33 am

@thinker/

@gautamdotcom/

thanks very much for your share.

I think I roughly get the picture. If I could sell ebooks online, it would be better since it is visual, not physical items that doesn’t need shipping fees.

The only thing i need to add to my cost is the transaction fees incurred.