Selling on eBay- How Importing and Exporting Affects Your Profits?
Hey Ed WeBBers,
Do you know who Japan's third most successful company is?
It's worth about 60 billion UK spondoolies.
(First clue).
You might be familiar with its products…like the 'Wii'.
Got there yet?
It's Nintendo.
I remember the days of 'Duck Hunt' on the old 'NES'! But then Nintendo kind of lost their way a bit…until they dreamt up the 'Wii', and came bouncing right
back.
But there are issues…
One of which is…?
Nintendo, like rival Japanese games firm Sony, exports the majority of its hardware and
video games to Europe and the USA.
But retail prices there for their products are 'fixed'. As are distribution, retail and transport costs.
That means if their own *currency* fluctuates a lot, they can end up making less money even if nothing else has changed!
(They might even be selling more and doing better, but still make less mon-ee!)
That's why Nintendo recently released a statement saying they were having trouble forecasting 'pwofits', because of the wild currency swings in global markets at the moment.
My point?
Well, there may well come a point when this kind of thing impacts YOU, as an eBayer.
Currency movements will affect you
IF…
- You import products from another country, e.g. the USA, China etc.
- You export – you sell your products to foreign buyers!
If you think about, the above two points affect a lot of eBayers!
Most people source some stock from abroad, and
plenty sell to foreign buyers too.
If you import, then you product costs can rise if our own currency weakens.
But your costs may stay the same – e.g. eBay fees, paypal fees and postage. In short,
your profits can end up going down, through no fault of your own.
But if you export- sell to foreign buyers – then if our currency weakens, you actually end up
banking more money, for no extra effort.
For Nintendo, since they export most of their products, and since their currency was *strengthening* recently – that lead to a decrease in pwofits.
Through no fault of their own!
This talk of 'weakening' and 'strengthening' is a bit confusing though, isn't it?
Basically what you need to know is this: if you import or export a lot – you need to keep
your eye on the Great British Pound's fluctuations.
If it's moving around a lot, re-calculate your product/import costs, and re-calculate how much your foreign buyers are giving you.
Do the simple sums by going to a simple financial website to get the latest currency
prices.
You might be surprised that you're losing some money somewhere…and gaining some
place else.
The key point is to 'watch currency fluctuations' if you're an eBayer and operate (in some way – whether importing or exporting) outside the UK.
Time to grab that calculator I think…
AND, its time to grab some of the Ed Foto Call….ACTION….
AHH, tell me something did you still eat the muffins Mr Terry Dactile?
WEY HEY, the guy looks cool if you ask me but then again it is enough to 'shock' vera from the local hairdressers man its enough to put her out of business, speaking of a 'shocking business' peeps, wait till you see what my next review brings you in the world of the good ole 'profits', its a money making business big enough to make your hair stand on end!
BUT, until then Ed stalkers, its TTFN….Ed.
MY Ed WeBBers ARE PRICELESS!
Ed
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