how do they make money?

[ryanhull]

Hey All,

Ive noticed a few ebay sellers selling silk from Bangkok and other such Thai items,

One seller sells items which weight 24grams for $2.50 (US) with free shipping, surely the shipping fee alone would be that? never-mind then making a profit on the item?

Baffles me,

Cheers

[ThePlant]

Most of 'them' live in some sort of bizarre fantasy delusion.

''They'' are happy with a few baht a day, living in a grimy Grindhouse box room in Din Daeng, a bowl of Mama noodles or a meal of slop in a greasy food court, washed down with a few urine-warm Archas, though they will come on here, or write in their insipid 'blogs'; telling everyone about their ''amazing'' lifestyles and prattle on about how the rest of us who have proper jobs, visas, healthy salaries, women who haven't been biffed by half of Bangkok, comfortable lives, pleasant houses, etc are ''doing it all wrong''....

[DaffyDuck]

They might lose $2.50 for each sale, but they make it up in volume. ;-)

No, on a more serious note - it's called 'money laundering'.

[ATF]

Or it may never arrive

[h90]

I bought an electronic device in China. Good quality.

It cost 0.5 USD including shipping.

It needed something like 5 weeks to arrive but it is good. I also don't understand how this price is possible.

[Bluetongue]

Items could be hot

[h90]

Items could be hot

If the total is less than the shipping costs, it still doesn't make sense.

[robblok]

Or it may never arrive

That is why there is buyer grantee and paypal ? Are you honestly telling me you never bought something on ebay and don't know how it works ?

[samsensam]

when the GBP was at 70+ baht (remember those days....) it was easy money on ebay, i did very well. at 50 baht to the GBP sure you can make some money but for me its just not worth the effort, there are easier ways.

[robblok]

when the GBP was at 70+ baht (remember those days....) it was easy money on ebay, i did very well. at 50 baht to the GBP sure you can make some money but for me its just not worth the effort, there are easier ways.

There are always ways to make money but its not always worth the time and effort. I know a guy who made nice money selling herbs and such. But it would be too much time invested for me. He just wanted the simple life and preferred many small transactions to a few big ones.

[ATF]

Or it may never arrive

That is why there is buyer grantee and paypal ? Are you honestly telling me you never bought something on ebay and don't know how it works ?

I am quite aware of how it works but most people will just write off 100 baht and forget about it.

[robblok]

Or it may never arrive

That is why there is buyer grantee and paypal ? Are you honestly telling me you never bought something on ebay and don't know how it works ?

I am quite aware of how it works but most people will just write off 100 baht and forget about it.

Why ? The ease of a ebay case with all the proof on your side ? Its a few clicks.

Having a case now over 1800 baht in taxes myself. I am sure it will be resolved or i just credit my paypal payment

[mogandave]

24 grams by post in an envelope to the US $1.10

They could also be consolidating freight and have someone at the other end the splits and distributes.

I would think the records on ebay are so complete money laundering would be difficult, a bar on the other hand...

[mitsubishi]

I bought an electronic device in China. Good quality.

It cost 0.5 USD including shipping.

It needed something like 5 weeks to arrive but it is good. I also don't understand how this price is possible.

Because the Chicom government subsidises them. They don't care as long as money is coming in. That's one reason you have insanely low prices, plus the low quality occasionally arising also.

[VegasVic]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

24 grams by post in an envelope to the US $1.10

They could also be consolidating freight and have someone at the other end the splits and distributes.

I would think the records on ebay are so complete money laundering would be difficult, a bar on the other hand...

Companies that do large volume business enjoy bulk shipping charges, so they do not pay what you or I would pay to send something.

[aparasher]

Most of 'them' live in some sort of bizarre fantasy delusion.

''They'' are happy with a few baht a day, living in a grimy Grindhouse box room in Din Daeng, a bowl of Mama noodles or a meal of slop in a greasy food court, washed down with a few urine-warm Archas, though they will come on here, or write in their insipid 'blogs'; telling everyone about their ''amazing'' lifestyles and prattle on about how the rest of us who have proper jobs, visas, healthy salaries, women who haven't been biffed by half of Bangkok, comfortable lives, pleasant houses, etc are ''doing it all wrong''....

I applaud people who are satisfied by living within their means.

I can see whole Australian economy suffering from the issue of companies maintaining high margins and low customer service.

I wished whole economy could be run by making limited profit and not getting into the race of greed and hunger thus avoiding human exploitation all over the globe.

[kurnell]

I know a girl in Chiang Mai making a fortune selling crappy handicrafts on Ebay. A FORTUNE!!

[ryanhull]

Well these guys will not be money laundering for such small amounts and as other posters have pointed out, ebay record everything along with paypal, I also do not think they are sending in bulk and getting the UK etc to distribute as these are sales all over the world, these ebay sellers are not huge powersellers just one man bands selling the odd item per day but from my maths they barely cover postage nevermind a profit which really confuses me still

[Sviss Geez]

Or it may never arrive

That is why there is buyer grantee and paypal ? Are you honestly telling me you never bought something on ebay and don't know how it works ?

Many, many people have never bought anything on ebay, nothing unusual about that.

[LuckyLew]

I have looked at a few Thai E-Bay sellers and agree some are selling stuff for dirt cheap

It does boggle the mind how they do it, I think they are like lose leaders, you cannot make a living sselling stuff with free shipping and the cost of the item is less than the shipping costs, or maybe they are use them as loss leaders to get there stats and feedback up and then make profits on other items. If you buy something for cheap and the item is good, maybe you would go back and buy a more expensive item.

For the Chinese, they can sell for dirt cheap because their postal fees are all givernement subsidized and they pay next to nothing to shipping

[MANICMINER]

Well these guys will not be money laundering for such small amounts and as other posters have pointed out, ebay record everything along with paypal, I also do not think they are sending in bulk and getting the UK etc to distribute as these are sales all over the world, these ebay sellers are not huge powersellers just one man bands selling the odd item per day but from my maths they barely cover postage nevermind a profit which really confuses me still

They could be using a second ebay account to offload old stock they can't shift.

[robblok]

Or it may never arrive

That is why there is buyer grantee and paypal ? Are you honestly telling me you never bought something on ebay and don't know how it works ?

Many, many people have never bought anything on ebay, nothing unusual about that.

Not in my age group and country where I am from. Ebay and other online buying is as normal as breathing. For the older generation I agree cant teach an old dog new tricks.

[sparkey]

Or it may never arrive

That is why there is buyer grantee and paypal ? Are you honestly telling me you never bought something on ebay and don't know how it works ?

Many, many people have never bought anything on ebay, nothing unusual about that.

Not in my age group and country where I am from. Ebay and other online buying is as normal as breathing. For the older generation I agree cant teach an old dog new tricks.

LOL

My dad's 70 odd . He gets all the fishing mags

if he see's something he likes in the adverts

"Oi son check if this is cheaper on EBay"

Bless him

He might not know how to use it but he knows what it's good for.

555

[hhgz]

"Ive noticed a few ebay sellers selling silk from Bangkok"

The "silk" is not silk. Similarly, the "cashmere" scarves contain no cashmere.