Ebay sellers in Thailand

[pe7e]

Here's a bit of market research on prices goods where actually sold for on e-bay by sellers based in Chiang mai. All are average prices picked at random, and are converted into Thai baht.

 

seller ID: gemsthai

 

1.75 ct cut saphire 147 baht

1.25 ct cut Mogok ruby 147 baht

1.85 ct cut saphire 161 baht

3.75 ct cut amethyst 72 baht

1.65 ct cut Burma ruby 245 baht

3.40 ct cut deep blue saphire 126 baht

(P&P flat rate of 426 baht)

 

2 x Silk cushion covers 200-350 baht

Silk Pashmina shawl 350 baht

 

seller ID: silver-trading

This seller is worth checking out for jewellery, again very cheap.

After listing fees and commissions for e-bay and paypal are taken into account it's hard to see how any worthwhile profit is possible.

[OCgringo]

Here is my take.....

 

You do not want to work on Ebay for Thai wages,

thats what the seller above is doing,

 

One of the ways for "poor" people to make money on ebay is to sell stuff that is available at a shop down the street, Only buying the item once its sold and paid for,

 

I bought some Thai made motorcycle accessories, good price I thought , well when I got home I checked on Ebay and a Thai was selling the same item for LESS than I paid in the store.

I ended up selling them at a swap meet back home,

 

You need to find something unique , sell it for a few weeks or months , and if the comperitors come in move on to the next thing,

 

its not easy , but THais (or USA housewifes ) are happy to make an extra $50-$100 a week, and these ae the people you are competing with....

 

One last thing, watch your ebay costs , they will eat up all your profits , every item that does NOT sell costs you money , Look at completed auctions and see how many things did NOT sell,

 

OC

[unit731]

Mate of mine was selling trainers and football shirts and doing very well for quite awhile, but eventually ran into the problem of competitors making ridiculously high bids on his listings. That is, on an item that might sell for US$20, they'd bid US$150 thus killing the listing. They'd get banned but rejoin under new credentials and repeat as necessary until he finally just gave it up and moved on to something else.

 

-redwood

 

 

Ebay is getting more selective on who can register. They are starting to ask for a credit card.

 

Some don't allow bidders with less than half dozen feedback. Keeps out the fakes and kids.

 

Is there a eBay Thailand?

 

[simie]

Not so I recently heard that plain cloths police had arrested a number of ebay sellers at Pattaya post office.

Simie.

[Flashermac]

If I were going to sell things on eBay, I'd do it through a partner abroad - UK, OZ, US or wherever. That way I'd simply be shipping things out of the country, which is hardly illegal.

 

 

[Bangkoktraveler]

[color:red]"1.75 ct cut saphire 147 baht

1.25 ct cut Mogok ruby 147 baht

1.85 ct cut saphire 161 baht

3.75 ct cut amethyst 72 baht

1.65 ct cut Burma ruby 245 baht

3.40 ct cut deep blue saphire 126 baht

(P&P flat rate of 426 baht)

 

2 x Silk cushion covers 200-350 baht

Silk Pashmina shawl 350 baht"[/color]

 

The silk pasmina shawl I recongnize. I have bought them for about 120 baht. That would mean a 3X markup.

 

A ruby twice the price of an amethyst? I suspect the person might be selling cubic zerconium.

 

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

Yes, fairly certain these are synthetic stones. Bought 2 up north a few years back as well, paid a total of 200 Baht for the both of them.

 

Seriously doubt you could buy a real ruby for 245 Baht.

 

Sanuk!

 

[ALHOLK]

Seriously doubt you could buy a real ruby for 245 Baht.

 

At theses prices I wouldn't be surprised if they were fake rather than synthetic.

[pe7e]

Being a natural born cynic, especially where something appearing too good to be true is concerned, I took another, more detailed look at the e-bay operation of 'gemsthai'

After analysing around a 1000 of their feedback comments, (I've got far too much time to spare at the moment) I'm 99% certain the vast majority of the stones they are selling are genuine. Here's my reasoning behind this statement:

Feedback from their customers is excelent, i.e. 66,975 positive comments against only 291 negative comments.

Looking into the negative comments, the vast majority of these were related to quality, and many of these were about the Opals being white and lacking irridescence, this doesn't mean they're not real opals, in fact it would indicate the opposite, no one would fake a opal without irridescence.

Moving on to the gemstones, again the majority of the complaints relate to quality issues, i.e. lack of clarity and inclusions, again this would indicate the stones are real but of low quality.

 

After checking the positive comments, it would appear many of the stones were sold in relative bulk to repeat customers, this indicates to me, small manufacturing jewellers were buying them, and I doubt this group of customers would be fooled into repeatedly buying fakes. I only found 1 instance out of the 1000+ feedbacks I checked, of a buyer claiming he had received a synthetic stone, and this buyer had also bought 10 other stones, that he left positive feedback on.

 

After analysing the weight of the stones sold, it's apparent these are of a large random variation, indicating natural stones. Synthetic stones, on the other hand, are made in a uniform manner i.e. 1ct, 1.5ct, 2ct, 2.5ct 3ct, etc, etc.

 

My conclusion is this seller is dealing in genuine but low quality stones, hence the low prices. I think his main profit center of the operation is the mark up on the postage charges. I estimate this to average out at least $1.50 per stone, possibly more, and on a turnover in excess of 3000 stones per month would amount a tidy sum.

 

BTW, I've no connection whatsoever with 'gemsthai', I didn't know of their existance until yesterday when I came across them while researching a reply to an earlier post.

[rookie]

"...1.65 ct cut Burma ruby 245 baht."

 

IF gemsthai is actually selling a _real_ ruby for a mere 245-Bt, it must be, by far, the worst quality obtainable, if not a fake.!

 

I recall buying a 2-caret 'pigeon-blood' ruby (top quality) for $200-US back in 1969. I bought it at the then largest gem seller in BKK. This dealer also provided the gifts the King gave to visiting US presidents. I sold the ruby a few years later in the US to help pay off my student loan. I was paid $325-US.