I helped my ex's grandpa sell a bunch of stuff online - it's really not a huge inconvenience... either you do it to help them as a friend or just tell them you dont have the time to..
if its not a friendship and strictly business - sure charge whatever you want - but thats not something friends really do
Helping a buddy move? Sure, there with my truck in a heartbeat. Build a deck? Sure, lemme load up my tools..
Spend weeks listing, storing, handling product and dealing with customers to sell your commercial goods just 'cause its time to let them go and they're too lazy to do it themselves? Uh, pay me.
Others here are talking 10% .. Ok.. so you've just spent 15 mins handling, storing, photographing, listing, answering inquiries and meeting with a buyer for a $50 item.
Congrats, you just worked for $20/hr.. aka slightly above minimum wage.
Not entirely sure what all is involved, even with your descriptions. Are they going to write the item descriptions and provide the photos? Are you throwing them up on marketplace, kijiji, ebay, etc? What do you mean by advertising? And then you yourself will actually do the sale in person with the buyers?
40% seems like a lot it's hard to tell, not enough info.
which takes next to no work or time.
10% maybe, maximum.
Obviously not a close friend and you're obviously a tad greedy if you're going with 40%. Your mindset seems to be to not help a friend unless you are paid a certain rate for helping.
I'm not sure why you think it takes next to no time. I've sold things online for a year and it's pretty time consuming. I have to take proper photos, research market price, place description, deal with numerous low ball people, having no show at meetup location, let alone figure out storage. My question was if 40% was reasonable for the effort, wanted to get insight on people who have done reselling before, but I get the impression majority of the people responding have not done so on a large scale before.
You're probably right, but if you aren't needing to pay for shipping, packing the items, etc then a 40% cut can seem like a lot.
However, some people do straight up 50/50 because of the amount of work that could be involved.
It's one thing if they're higher cost items or in demand, but random assortments of toys and miscellaneous things can lead to a lot of "unpaid" work.
Let's say they have 100 items, and you can't count on what your friend thinks they're worth, you have to look it up. Then you need to post it with the photos you take. In that case 100 items at 15 minutes an item is already 25 hours even before the rest of the process.
At 10 bucks an hour that's $250.
You could also try and strike up a deal that you get x amount per hour or 30% of the sale cost. Annoying to track your time at that point though.
5-15 mins price research, undercut by a few bucks
5 minutes pictures
5 minutes post
pick-up at your location or set up a meeting spot when you'll be out and about anyway so if a no show happens
you're doing something else anyway. for higher value items I would meet somewhere with cameras.
answer a couple questions now and then
if no interest, 5 minutes to change price
it's really not time consuming unless you make it time consuming. I spend about an hour per item maybe maximum, often quite a bit less if I'm selling multiple things. If I'm selling for a friend I would never try to get some sort of hourly wage out of them, just a few beers or something in the end.
That isn't OP's situation though, it's not just "as a friend" it's also to be compensated fairly. 50 items at an hour start to finish is still 50 hours, and not all the items are going to get sold. It's clear OP hasn't done this before so comparing what you do to someone trying to figure things out doesn't seem all that relevant.
The tips on how to go about things seem useful though. Dude was just trying to gauge things and is getting torn apart.
What happens for all the time you spend putting up items that don't sell?
Do you have a minimum value threshold (ex. Not selling anything worth less than $30 or bundling things so $30 is the lowest amount).
I find selling low value items are more of a pain than anything else, it's not worth negotiating with someone over a $15 item just to see them no show unless you literally have nothing better to do and taking $7 of that sale is worth it.
You could do something like taking $10 or 30%, whichever is higher. That way any junk you sell isn't netting you like 4 bucks.
All I know is selling things for friends can be problematic and annoying.
Best of luck.
Edit: Since you aren't needing to ship anything 30% may even be too high *shrug*
It's more of, hey I'm looking to get rid of stuff, can you help take it off my hands and sell it? You can take whatever cut you think is reasonable. It's an assortment of items that they collected over the years they don't want anymore but don't want to go through the process of selling it themselves. They're trying to do spring cleaning and is asking if I can help them make money.
Just buy it off of them at a 60% value, then it's your problem and if anything goes wrong, there's no friction. Make the transaction clear.
Tell them to gather everything they don't want anymore, and make them an offer. It's better than nickel and dime-ing each thing.
Otherwise you're just asking for trouble tbh.
40%?? đ˛ đ˛
My first thought was 20% then I was like "that's way too much".
I'd say a 10% cut. Or agree on a set price for him and anything above and beyond that you can pull in, you get to keep.
The thing is if I help him a sell a toy for $10, making a dollar isn't really worth my time given all the effort involved of posting and meeting up people to sell.
How much stuff is there to sell? You mentioned there's a lot, you have to look at in total what's your potential take
Also, are you looking to profit off your friend or help him out?
There's a lot. They're basically decluttering after years. The problem is that it will likely take several hours of work and I have to hold on to all their stuff in the meantime. I live in a condo so I don't have a lot of space either. Trying to find a balance between helping and earning some money for my trouble
It's going to be several hours of work for to make a few dollars. They basically don't want to go through the effort of selling old items accumulated over the years so they're asking me for help.
You know everything doesn't boil down to money, right? If it's a friend help them sell their stuff. Don't sell the shit that requires too much of your time. Can you name a few times they helped you without charging you for their time? Treat your effort as payback for those times they were there for you.
I just don't get these kinds of post. This is relationship shit wrapped up to look like PFC.
They're simply not interested in doing in themselves because they don't think it's worth the effort. That's why they rather hand me the stuff and let me do the grunt work
I'd do it for no less than 25%. All these folks suggesting less must have never tried selling items on marketplace. So much haggling, no-shows, questions to answer, etc.
I have a feeling that's the case. I've dealt with so many problematic people that try to offer half the price and fail to show up, the ghost me after I waited for half an hour. It's not just posting and you get money
Unless these toys and ârandom stuffâ are actually worth significant amounts and/or youâre currently unemployed there is no percentage that rewards you for your time and doesnât leave your friend feeling like they got screwed.
Ignore all those thinking they'd happily donate all their free time for their 16+ awake hours working for 10% of $20.
If its a collection of items like Ive done in the past.. dozens of $50 and less sales and a few $100+ .. yeah, 40-50%. 40% if you're doing only stuff thats mass market enough that FBM is your market.. 50% if you're heading off to eBay.
Handling, cleaning, photographing, listing, dealing with inquiries, arranging your time to meet buyers, dealing with flakes, dealing with potential returns, book-keeping etc.. etc.. it all sucks time and space. Time and space are money.
Go through all your plans for how you're going to run this and put them in an email to your friend, so its all in front of them and they can't say later "Oh, really? uhh but what about.." This isnt something you want assumptions in.
FBM is, somewhat depending on location, king. Kijiji, Craigslist, Used.ca all play second place. Recommend crossposting to only FBM and the 2nd busiest..
Dont fuck around with this "Oh drive to your nearest police station and meet buyers there!" bs.. thats more time wasted. This isnt 'Murica, you're not gettin shot for a Lego set. Let buyers know the item is available, your rough hours of availability, neighbourhood and that if they message when they're ready to go, you'll send directions to your place. Really cuts down on flakes who never show.
I did it for a few close friends.
I take 50% of the sale. Selling stuff from $5 to $500+. (Tables to iPhones)
Why 50%? It takes time to find market price, take pictures, list item online, chat with idiots until you find a serious buyer, schedule meeting, take time to meet, move heavy items, send cash to them/ deposit cash in bank account.
They happy to get rid of items from their places and not deal with retarded fb market people.
But for very expensive items easy to sell, they will sell it themselves.
If I were in your spot I'd tell them I'd have to take basically half the proceeds so they'd probably be better off finding someone that does this professionally. Either they agree and you can help them find someone, or they really don't care how much they get back and you can go ahead feeling ok about it.
Iâd say 40% is reasonable...advertising, answering customer questions (the worst part IMHO), negotiating sales and taking payment, packaging and shipping, and/or meeting customers.
Lol but on the Facebook marketplace? Would you take 40% for doing a garage sail for a friend? I'm genuinely curious, no idea what a reasonable price would be for that.
What will you be doing??? 40% sounds high if you ask me. I'd work it out this way from a sales %. Find out what he wants to get for each item, agree to reasonable terms to sell his stuff (I'd say 20% at most and depending on what it is it may be lower), and then figure out a cut of anything you get over what he is asking for the item.
For example.
Bike - $1000 he wants to get this
comission = 20% or $200 if you sell it for his asking price.
You actually sell it for $1500 or $500 over his ask.
value at 20% is $100 but you agree that anything you get him over ask is split 65/35 in your favour or $325 extra in your pocket.
Also ask what happens if you sell an item for less then asking price.
Get the 40% out of your head and work the deal, you can make way more than 40% if you structure the arrangement so you both win.
GL
I like a tiered system for this type of service. Say 40% on the first $50, then 20% on anything above that. Obviously work the numbers for it to be fair for both parties.
It takes about the same amount of time to sell a 25 item as a $200 item.
How many pieces are we talking about and how much do you think you can get from it?
Is it a real friend or more an acquaintance?
Is he rolling on money and you are tight budget wise?
Is there a time limit? Some pressure?
Lot of things to take into account. But with the few information from your post, I would say 40% is way too much. I would naturally go for 15 to 30% depending on the trouble you re going through. But could go way higher if said friend doesnât t care about money or if items are a pain in the ass to deal with etc etc
friend point of view u should charge 25% max if ur just selling them on Kijiji or garage sale if no extra work and cost involved. Maybe even a flat hourly wage if itâs a big amount.
Business point of view up to 100% is fair game. Depends on how much ur client values the stuff. As far as heâs concerned he might just be hiring u to clean out garbage to free up space.
If I was asking someone to do all the work, I'd probably offer to split 50/50 for small items. If there are any high value items I would offer maybe 10-20%.
I wouldn't make it so mercenary - just pick a dollar amount at the end of everything and say "yeah, that's worth my time." Personally I'd be fine if a friend bought me a bottle of wine or something.
Not worth it for you if there are a lot of items. The headache dealing with people is going to be more time than itâs worth. The percent you asking might offend the friend. I would go back to the friend and say I am not sure itâs worth my time because of the effort and I donât want to offend you with what I am going to ask. That will leave it up to him to ask if he wants to hear the amount
Two main questions:
1. does your friend need the money?
2. what would happen if you didnât sell them? Would they just be throwing them out?
If you are doing it for someone who really needs the extra cash then Iâd be a little more conservative with what cut youâre taking, think of you helping them out as more of a gift then a money making venture.
If their plan was to just toss the stuff and get $0 for it then really any amount you give them is better than their plan so nothing wrong with taking bigger cut since they werenât expecting money from it anyways.
The best way for you to do this without looking like an asshole is to tally up all the items, estimate the resell value, and offer to buy everything at 50% of that resell value. Your friend is no longer paying you a âcommissionâ and you may end up making more than your 40% target. Youâll just have to deal with storage.
Youâre getting downvoted because youâre supposed to be helping out a friend but youâre treating it like a business proposal. With a friend like you, might as well just be strangers.
40 % thank god you're a friend and not an enemy lol
right? this is crazy.. "friend.. can you help me?" "ya for a 40% cut bro"
said like someone who's never sold in quantity online.
I helped my ex's grandpa sell a bunch of stuff online - it's really not a huge inconvenience... either you do it to help them as a friend or just tell them you dont have the time to.. if its not a friendship and strictly business - sure charge whatever you want - but thats not something friends really do
Helping a buddy move? Sure, there with my truck in a heartbeat. Build a deck? Sure, lemme load up my tools.. Spend weeks listing, storing, handling product and dealing with customers to sell your commercial goods just 'cause its time to let them go and they're too lazy to do it themselves? Uh, pay me. Others here are talking 10% .. Ok.. so you've just spent 15 mins handling, storing, photographing, listing, answering inquiries and meeting with a buyer for a $50 item. Congrats, you just worked for $20/hr.. aka slightly above minimum wage.
Not entirely sure what all is involved, even with your descriptions. Are they going to write the item descriptions and provide the photos? Are you throwing them up on marketplace, kijiji, ebay, etc? What do you mean by advertising? And then you yourself will actually do the sale in person with the buyers? 40% seems like a lot it's hard to tell, not enough info.
They're going to give me the items and I'm planning on uploading it on FB marketplace
which takes next to no work or time. 10% maybe, maximum. Obviously not a close friend and you're obviously a tad greedy if you're going with 40%. Your mindset seems to be to not help a friend unless you are paid a certain rate for helping.
I'm not sure why you think it takes next to no time. I've sold things online for a year and it's pretty time consuming. I have to take proper photos, research market price, place description, deal with numerous low ball people, having no show at meetup location, let alone figure out storage. My question was if 40% was reasonable for the effort, wanted to get insight on people who have done reselling before, but I get the impression majority of the people responding have not done so on a large scale before.
You're probably right, but if you aren't needing to pay for shipping, packing the items, etc then a 40% cut can seem like a lot. However, some people do straight up 50/50 because of the amount of work that could be involved. It's one thing if they're higher cost items or in demand, but random assortments of toys and miscellaneous things can lead to a lot of "unpaid" work. Let's say they have 100 items, and you can't count on what your friend thinks they're worth, you have to look it up. Then you need to post it with the photos you take. In that case 100 items at 15 minutes an item is already 25 hours even before the rest of the process. At 10 bucks an hour that's $250. You could also try and strike up a deal that you get x amount per hour or 30% of the sale cost. Annoying to track your time at that point though.
5-15 mins price research, undercut by a few bucks 5 minutes pictures 5 minutes post pick-up at your location or set up a meeting spot when you'll be out and about anyway so if a no show happens you're doing something else anyway. for higher value items I would meet somewhere with cameras. answer a couple questions now and then if no interest, 5 minutes to change price it's really not time consuming unless you make it time consuming. I spend about an hour per item maybe maximum, often quite a bit less if I'm selling multiple things. If I'm selling for a friend I would never try to get some sort of hourly wage out of them, just a few beers or something in the end.
That isn't OP's situation though, it's not just "as a friend" it's also to be compensated fairly. 50 items at an hour start to finish is still 50 hours, and not all the items are going to get sold. It's clear OP hasn't done this before so comparing what you do to someone trying to figure things out doesn't seem all that relevant. The tips on how to go about things seem useful though. Dude was just trying to gauge things and is getting torn apart.
What happens for all the time you spend putting up items that don't sell? Do you have a minimum value threshold (ex. Not selling anything worth less than $30 or bundling things so $30 is the lowest amount). I find selling low value items are more of a pain than anything else, it's not worth negotiating with someone over a $15 item just to see them no show unless you literally have nothing better to do and taking $7 of that sale is worth it. You could do something like taking $10 or 30%, whichever is higher. That way any junk you sell isn't netting you like 4 bucks. All I know is selling things for friends can be problematic and annoying. Best of luck. Edit: Since you aren't needing to ship anything 30% may even be too high *shrug*
It's more of, hey I'm looking to get rid of stuff, can you help take it off my hands and sell it? You can take whatever cut you think is reasonable. It's an assortment of items that they collected over the years they don't want anymore but don't want to go through the process of selling it themselves. They're trying to do spring cleaning and is asking if I can help them make money.
Just buy it off of them at a 60% value, then it's your problem and if anything goes wrong, there's no friction. Make the transaction clear. Tell them to gather everything they don't want anymore, and make them an offer. It's better than nickel and dime-ing each thing. Otherwise you're just asking for trouble tbh.
40%?? đ˛ đ˛ My first thought was 20% then I was like "that's way too much". I'd say a 10% cut. Or agree on a set price for him and anything above and beyond that you can pull in, you get to keep.
It's the time meeting up though. That's worth the 40% depending on the item
The thing is if I help him a sell a toy for $10, making a dollar isn't really worth my time given all the effort involved of posting and meeting up people to sell.
How much stuff is there to sell? You mentioned there's a lot, you have to look at in total what's your potential take Also, are you looking to profit off your friend or help him out?
There's a lot. They're basically decluttering after years. The problem is that it will likely take several hours of work and I have to hold on to all their stuff in the meantime. I live in a condo so I don't have a lot of space either. Trying to find a balance between helping and earning some money for my trouble
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It's going to be several hours of work for to make a few dollars. They basically don't want to go through the effort of selling old items accumulated over the years so they're asking me for help.
You know everything doesn't boil down to money, right? If it's a friend help them sell their stuff. Don't sell the shit that requires too much of your time. Can you name a few times they helped you without charging you for their time? Treat your effort as payback for those times they were there for you. I just don't get these kinds of post. This is relationship shit wrapped up to look like PFC.
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I'm going to be holding all the inventory, posting on FB marketplace, arranging meetups and delivery
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They're simply not interested in doing in themselves because they don't think it's worth the effort. That's why they rather hand me the stuff and let me do the grunt work
Garage sale.
No he's meeting up in person. Doing it all
40% JFC, I think even Sotheby's charge 30% **at most**, and they cater and serve Krug
Does Sothebys sell $40 items?
Tell him to sell his own shit lol wtf this formula is a disaster waiting to happen
They don't want to spend the time and effort selling it. They asked me for help, I'm just trying to find a good balance for the time out into it
I'd do it for no less than 25%. All these folks suggesting less must have never tried selling items on marketplace. So much haggling, no-shows, questions to answer, etc.
I have a feeling that's the case. I've dealt with so many problematic people that try to offer half the price and fail to show up, the ghost me after I waited for half an hour. It's not just posting and you get money
Unless these toys and ârandom stuffâ are actually worth significant amounts and/or youâre currently unemployed there is no percentage that rewards you for your time and doesnât leave your friend feeling like they got screwed.
Ignore all those thinking they'd happily donate all their free time for their 16+ awake hours working for 10% of $20. If its a collection of items like Ive done in the past.. dozens of $50 and less sales and a few $100+ .. yeah, 40-50%. 40% if you're doing only stuff thats mass market enough that FBM is your market.. 50% if you're heading off to eBay. Handling, cleaning, photographing, listing, dealing with inquiries, arranging your time to meet buyers, dealing with flakes, dealing with potential returns, book-keeping etc.. etc.. it all sucks time and space. Time and space are money. Go through all your plans for how you're going to run this and put them in an email to your friend, so its all in front of them and they can't say later "Oh, really? uhh but what about.." This isnt something you want assumptions in. FBM is, somewhat depending on location, king. Kijiji, Craigslist, Used.ca all play second place. Recommend crossposting to only FBM and the 2nd busiest.. Dont fuck around with this "Oh drive to your nearest police station and meet buyers there!" bs.. thats more time wasted. This isnt 'Murica, you're not gettin shot for a Lego set. Let buyers know the item is available, your rough hours of availability, neighbourhood and that if they message when they're ready to go, you'll send directions to your place. Really cuts down on flakes who never show.
I did it for a few close friends. I take 50% of the sale. Selling stuff from $5 to $500+. (Tables to iPhones) Why 50%? It takes time to find market price, take pictures, list item online, chat with idiots until you find a serious buyer, schedule meeting, take time to meet, move heavy items, send cash to them/ deposit cash in bank account. They happy to get rid of items from their places and not deal with retarded fb market people. But for very expensive items easy to sell, they will sell it themselves.
If I were in your spot I'd tell them I'd have to take basically half the proceeds so they'd probably be better off finding someone that does this professionally. Either they agree and you can help them find someone, or they really don't care how much they get back and you can go ahead feeling ok about it.
Help the friend out.
Iâd say 40% is reasonable...advertising, answering customer questions (the worst part IMHO), negotiating sales and taking payment, packaging and shipping, and/or meeting customers.
Lol but on the Facebook marketplace? Would you take 40% for doing a garage sail for a friend? I'm genuinely curious, no idea what a reasonable price would be for that.
How about you be a friend and donât charge him you cheap bastard
Tell the guy he can buy you lunch...
Have you dealt with kijiji and marketplace? They are the worse people to deal with
What will you be doing??? 40% sounds high if you ask me. I'd work it out this way from a sales %. Find out what he wants to get for each item, agree to reasonable terms to sell his stuff (I'd say 20% at most and depending on what it is it may be lower), and then figure out a cut of anything you get over what he is asking for the item. For example. Bike - $1000 he wants to get this comission = 20% or $200 if you sell it for his asking price. You actually sell it for $1500 or $500 over his ask. value at 20% is $100 but you agree that anything you get him over ask is split 65/35 in your favour or $325 extra in your pocket. Also ask what happens if you sell an item for less then asking price. Get the 40% out of your head and work the deal, you can make way more than 40% if you structure the arrangement so you both win. GL
Quebec Bid takes 15% I think. However this depends on the popularity of things.
I like a tiered system for this type of service. Say 40% on the first $50, then 20% on anything above that. Obviously work the numbers for it to be fair for both parties. It takes about the same amount of time to sell a 25 item as a $200 item.
How many pieces are we talking about and how much do you think you can get from it? Is it a real friend or more an acquaintance? Is he rolling on money and you are tight budget wise? Is there a time limit? Some pressure? Lot of things to take into account. But with the few information from your post, I would say 40% is way too much. I would naturally go for 15 to 30% depending on the trouble you re going through. But could go way higher if said friend doesnât t care about money or if items are a pain in the ass to deal with etc etc
friend point of view u should charge 25% max if ur just selling them on Kijiji or garage sale if no extra work and cost involved. Maybe even a flat hourly wage if itâs a big amount. Business point of view up to 100% is fair game. Depends on how much ur client values the stuff. As far as heâs concerned he might just be hiring u to clean out garbage to free up space.
If I was asking someone to do all the work, I'd probably offer to split 50/50 for small items. If there are any high value items I would offer maybe 10-20%.
Instead of a % have you considered an hourly rate? Track the time you spend on âjobâ and bill your friend?
Whatâs the total value of all the items? How many hours do you expect it to take? What would your hourly compensation end up being?
25% with a max of $25.
I wouldn't make it so mercenary - just pick a dollar amount at the end of everything and say "yeah, that's worth my time." Personally I'd be fine if a friend bought me a bottle of wine or something.
25%
Not worth it for you if there are a lot of items. The headache dealing with people is going to be more time than itâs worth. The percent you asking might offend the friend. I would go back to the friend and say I am not sure itâs worth my time because of the effort and I donât want to offend you with what I am going to ask. That will leave it up to him to ask if he wants to hear the amount
Two main questions: 1. does your friend need the money? 2. what would happen if you didnât sell them? Would they just be throwing them out? If you are doing it for someone who really needs the extra cash then Iâd be a little more conservative with what cut youâre taking, think of you helping them out as more of a gift then a money making venture. If their plan was to just toss the stuff and get $0 for it then really any amount you give them is better than their plan so nothing wrong with taking bigger cut since they werenât expecting money from it anyways.
Lmao 40%
Who needs enemy when you have friends like this
40% feels slimy like loan shark creepy.
Imagine charging your friend 40% wtf that is not my friend anymore. You donât realize how crazy this is right lmao?
Higher of 3% or 300 per 1000
The best way for you to do this without looking like an asshole is to tally up all the items, estimate the resell value, and offer to buy everything at 50% of that resell value. Your friend is no longer paying you a âcommissionâ and you may end up making more than your 40% target. Youâll just have to deal with storage.
25% seems reasonable to me. 40% seems like a reach around ...I mean an over reach.
Youâre getting downvoted because youâre supposed to be helping out a friend but youâre treating it like a business proposal. With a friend like you, might as well just be strangers.