As An eBay Hero your volunteer efforts create value for your Special Project or which support a nonprofit you care about or an Action Planning friend.
A true Hero understands and is capable of managing both the Purchase Side and the Listing Side. Although an eBay Hero rarely handles all seven of the Listing tasks, he/she should understand what is involved in all seven tasks.
The most important task for our eBay Heroes is to Research and Describe. The second most important task is to Find Donated Items.
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Below are the seven listing tasks involved with selling on eBay and the approximate value we attach to each task.
7-10% Find and Donate | Contract to Sell
7-10% Transport, Clean, Test, Refurbish, Store
9-15% Research and Describe
5-7% Photograph
1-3% List and Record
1-3% Sell and Ship
0-2% Follow Up
Purchase Side: approximately 24% allocated.
Listing Side: approximately 76% allocated.
Being a volunteer might be a little misleading. You can create a Special Project, in which case you are eligible to allocate a portion of the amount raised to your Special Project. The amount allocated is based on whether your involvement is on the Purchase or Listing side, and on a somewhat complicated formula, which you will learn more about when you create a Special Project. We discuss this formula briefly below.
Completing all seven steps on the Listing side can take 30 minutes to over an hour for each group of items, depending on what is involved with each step. A group may be one item or several items for which research, description and photography are very similar. Keep this in mind as you consider items for our eBay program. To bring this home our allocations are based on $7-21, $21-$77 and $77+ items.
Being an eBay Hero is similar for any ecommerce site, so this discussion also applies to creating listings for Craig’s list, our Chimorel4U online store, certain aspects of our Virtual Auction program and other ecommerce sites. Each year Chimorel recycles tons of ewaste, so we include ewaste as part of this position. Below are discussions of the Purchase Side and the seven steps on the Listing Side.
Purchase Side
receives up to 24% of purchase price allocation
On the purchase side, you can buy items for yourself or you can send someone to our Chimorel4U eBay store (and other venues) who purchases items.
In either case your Special Project receives allocations of the purchase amount. You need not completely understand all of the percentage allocations described below. Our computerized system does the calculations and provides you with a periodic summary. On the purchase side up to 24% of the purchase price can be allocated as follows:
Selling price ranges from $7-21, no allocation.
Selling price ranges from $21.01 to $77, 50% of purchase side.
Selling price is more than > $77, 100% purchase side allocation.
The purchase side allocation is approximately 24% of the sales price, less fees and shipping on donated items. On items purchased by Chimorel Group LLC, the 24% allocation applies to the profit not the full purchase price.
For items under $21 no allocations is made because after fees and shipping the amount available is minimal. For items sold above $77, 100% of the purchase price allocation can be justified.
The profit margin on items purchased through our brother organization, Chimorel Group LLC is typically 25-50%. The same essential pattern is available for items purchased through our various Chimorel4U online stores and farm market. Typically 3-7% goes to administration.
receives 70+% of purchase price allocation
As noted above there are seven steps to list items on eBay. 1) Either find & donate or Contract to sell items. 2) Transport, clean, test, refurbish and store items. 3) Research & describe items. 4) Photograph items. 5) List and record items. 6) Sell and ship items. 7) Follow up on a few items.
Listing Side Allocations
Find & Donate | Contract & Sell (7-10%)
Find & Donate: You find items which are appropriate to list on eBay, on our online Chimorel4U store, on Craig’s List, in our Virtual Auctions, or on some other auction/listing site. Items donated to Chimorel Services Inc, a 501(c )(3) and Giving Works charity, are tax deductible. They may be things around your home or business; items you secure from friends, neighbors, local business, even strangers you meet and tell about Chimorel. We will provide you with a guide for appropriate “eBay items” on request.
Contract & Sell: We will sell your items for you and take a percent of the sale. This is done through our for profit, Chimorel Group LLC. We use a formula similar to that described above. If the item sells for less than $21, you donate the proceeds to Chimorel Services Inc. If the item sells for $21.01 to $77, we charge a 50% commission. If the item sells for more than $77, we charge a 35% commission. If the item does not sell, you pay eBay’s listing fees and a small handling fee. In most cases it is best to become an Action Planner and create a Special Project to use your eBay sales to raise the amount needed to achieve a significant goal.
Whales, Not Guppies: With regard to listing items for resale on eBay, we will each find it best to concentrate on the large scale rather than trying to get rid of a few low value items you might find lying around the house. As part of our Change Your Life program, we periodically teach a class on how to sell on eBay. If you want to take this class, let us know.
Transport, Clean, Test, Refurbish, Store (7-10%)
Transport: The easiest transportation is for you to drop off marketable items with a reasonable value ($35+). Our storage capacity is limited. We will pick up 20 or more ewaste and eBay items.
Clean, Test, Refurbish: Sellable items, obviously, must be clean and attractive. Items that work bring a better value, so many items may need to be tested and refurbished. Cleaning, testing and refurbishing should be done prior to donation and transportation to Chimorel. Ewaste items that do not work can be processed by Chimorel and sold/recycled for parts and materials. Other items may fall into a similar category.
Store: Finding a place to keep the potential volume of ewaste and eBay items can become a significant problem. Again, our storage capacity is limited. If you can provide temporary storage while items are cleaned, refurbished, researched, described, photographed and recorded, this is very helpful.
When an item is listed it must be in Chimorel’s possession to avoid delivery failures like not shipping the next day, being unavailable, being damaged, etc. If we use temporary storage facilities, we must establish a system to cover the cost. Eventually, we will acquire significant warehouse capacity. Many items lose market value quickly when stored, so it is important to record and market these items without delay.
Research & Describe (9-15%)
Research: Research starts with an initial specific title, which may include brand, model, model #, what the item is, etc. Whenever possible, it is helpful to have the original packaging, even if it is in shabby condition. The original packaging can provide the brand, model, model #, the USP code, features, etc. Shipping costs are part of the research, in order to determine listing price and listing viability. We can teach you how to conduct shipping research.
Once an item can be identified, it is important to establish a tentative market value using eBay and several other sites we can provide yo determine listing viability. The value something sells for on eBay is typically 60% or less than MSRP or retail value. So establishing the MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) is helpful. Typically you can get this value using Amazon, Walmart or typing MSRP for Item Name into your browser.
Research can be a very time consuming task. It is important to describe an item accurately to avoid returns and bad evaluations. Part of research happens as pictures are taken to identify any flaws, missing parts, etc.
Describe: On eBay the description starts with an 80 character title. Then the item must be described accurately and completely. The description should include, when available, the brand, model and model #, colors, material, shipping dimensions, shipping weight, condition (new, used, for parts), quantity available, flaws, features, whether the item works and anything else so a prospective buyer understands exactly what he/she is getting. We never want to have someone say something was not described accurately. Sometime the description will include the statement, As Is.
You Can Do This: Research and creating an accurate description for eBay items is our greatest eBay listing need. We currently have several hundred ewaste processed items that must be researched and described before they can be listed. As the number of people donating ewaste and eBay items continues to grow, this need will become more significant. Stepping into this eBay Hero task is incredibly helpful.
Photograph (5-7%)
Most of the time Chimorel will take the final pictures or at least crop and Photoshop the final version of your pictures. This means an item is in our possession. We have an area where we can create the appropriate lighting. We have a Nikon DX with a zoom lens and Photoshop. We can show the packaging the item will be shipped in. We know the appropriate angles, how to crop the pictures, the dimensions eBay requires, etc.
That being said, you might want to send some preliminary pictures which include the brand, model and model #, flaws, original packaging, USP #, etc. This is especially helpful if you are going to store the item, while someone else does the research and item description. These preliminary pictures are immensely useful for the person researching and describing an item, and may save some time as we put the finishing touches on listing the pictures.
List & Record (1-3%)
Record: Chimorel has created a database in which we record and track all the items we list on eBay. As an item is researched and described, we record the item into this database. Our record speeds the listing process. When an item is sold we record other information as part of the sale.
List: Once an item has been researched, described and final photos are complete, listing an item is a five minute or less process. Until the volume is overwhelming, Chimorel will handle the listing process. In the future we can train a few people to help.
Sell & Ship (1-3%)
Sell: Selling on eBay requires very little from us. Someone likes an item and buys it. Occasionally, there are a few questions, which we handle. Good pictures and an accurate description eliminate a lot of questions. We have a Buy It Now price and a Best Offer price, which minimizes the need to respond to offers.
Ship: We only list items that are in our possession, so shipping is Chimorel’s responsibility. Determining the shipping price is part of Research. We make our own boxes and have all the shipping supplies required. Making our own boxes reduces the size and the cost of shipping. It also allows us to control how an item is packaged minimizing potential damage during shipping.
Follow Up (0-2%)
Most of the time very little follow up is required. The customer automatically receives a tracking number when we ship an item. If an item is drop shipped from a wholesaler or manufacturer, we must determine when it is shipped and record the tracking number separately.
Occasionally, a customer may want to cancel an order prior to shipping or return an item for their own reasons after shipping. This requires some follow up, which Chimorel takes care of.
