How do they make any money?

PaulR

PaulR

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I've just bought a USB card reader off Ebay for the pricely sum of 19p - and that includes carriage from Hong Kong!

How on earth do they make any money out of a transaction such as this?

Ebay Item Number 250646557317
 
Watch Customs don't get hold of it :(
 
Its just a usb card reader. You still got to add a memory card. This is assuming that you receive anything.
 
daro2096 said:
Its just a usb card reader.
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Yes, I realise that.

daro2096 said:
This is assuming that you receive anything.
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This is very true. Perhaps it's something like the micropayments system of paying for small amounts of information or goods. Only it's microstealing off many people to make a decent sum.

Then, perhaps, they hope that people can't be bothered to pursue such a trivial sum. Still, there's quite a bit of positive feedback (that would take ages to fake) so I'm hopeful.
 
I've just received despatch details and it included this information

If your reside is Europe,I want to alert you that the volcanic eruption in Iceland has caused widespread shipping delays due to cancelled flights.

The Post Offices are currently experiencing a large backlog of packages being sent to Europe...

...Normally delivery needs to take 7-19 business days to reach your side,exclude Saturday and Sunday. Please have your patience and wait for its coming. If you still haven't got it more than 60 days,please feel free to contact us:
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If I wait 60 days that'll take it well outside the Ebay dispute period. I'll give them 3 weeks max!
 
PaulR said:
I've just received despatch details and it included this information


If I wait 60 days that'll take it well outside the Ebay dispute period. I'll give them 3
weeks max!
Click to expand...

i,m sure it will turn up ok -- i,v bought a number of items from china via e.bay at a fraction of uk prices --
one item arrived in only 6 days :eek:---
another took almost 3 weeks --
like you -- i cant see how they make a profit though ??

cheers nelson. b.
 
Hello!
i think,about this,more then 40% of the goods that sold on ebay are strolen good by organeized online crime,fakes and imitates or what ever,ebay.uk seems to be not so strickt then ebay germany with fakeprodukts,bought one time a fake memory stick in uk,i report ebay nothing happens 5 negative feedback cheating people many 100€,then after ebay not response,i report to sony uk,then after a while hs acount was closed!

about the dumping price,this is the best example i ever found:)

a german,company living in hongkong seller ultra noice cleaner for only 1€:)


150453435949
in store i pay 70€ on ebay 29+postage,here i can order 30 for the same price very funy,its not the same product maybe selfmade or what ever!
like the self made eye brown he also sell:)

the buy maybe one million in the underground black fake market,for 35 euro cent,each item,then the earn,after the pay the fees of paypal and ebay 35 euro cent for each ultra noice cleaner:)
very strange bill this,but i wonder,it will clean my glasses very well,maybe i have no warrenty,on it,and the secuity standarts ,could also a little bit low,because the ce sign is missing:)
now i go on order some slefmade eye browns lol:)
 
It's cos in reality, they spend 2p making it, and the rest is postage and packing... :-rofl2
 
PaulR said:
I've just received despatch details and it included this information


If I wait 60 days that'll take it well outside the Ebay dispute period. I'll give them 3 weeks max!
Click to expand...

Obviously they also hope you will have forgotten about it after 60 days.......
 
If they can send it as a letter it'll cost them about 17p or something to send to the UK. Given that poundland can sell similar items for £1 with all the uk taxes on and still make a profit, it'll be a similar idea.

Bulk selling, with a small profit and additionally a small number making a loss. Most of the others they're selling are currently 24p. UK Buyers will assume that postage from HK is expensive and be attracted to the free postage. In reality they can send it halfway round the world cheaper than we can get it to the other end of the country.

You'd better hope customs don't get hold of it, as the PO will slap a £10-12 admin charge on it along with a few pence (maybe 1p) in duty.

Whenever I've bought electronic things from HK, not only is the item cheaper, the shipping is cheaper and it typically arrives faster than buying it in the UK.
 
I should have updated this last week.

I received a message off Ebay on the 17th June

We're writing to let you know that the listing for the following item you bid on has been removed:

250646557317 - FOR MMC SD SDHC MEMORY CARD READER 2.0 USB 4GB 8GB 16GB

We strongly recommend that you do not complete this purchase. Purchases of items listed on eBay but then completed outside of eBay are extremely risky. They are not covered by eBay buyer protection programs and are highly susceptible to fraud.
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It then goes on to say I can open a dispute if I've paid by PayPal - which I did.

Then, believe it or not, I received the card reader last week. What's going on? Why was both the item and seller removed from Ebay? Is this minor item part of some greater scam? Will I ever know?

Incidentally, the card reader works just as it should and understands SDHC cards. Oh, and I've cancelled the dispute.
 
I ordered my memory card reader on the same day which this thread appeared and here is the good news - my item is in my hands now and in good working condition. I've received the same message from eBay when item listing has been canceled by the guy who was selling it, but just ignored it, and now I have one of those card readers. I just ordered one for my uncle too :)
 
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