Is there a margin for phone cases?

[John_]

Hi all, been the thinking is there really a margin in selling phone cases (obviously there is otherwise no one be doing it)? I c peep selling them under 3 quids on eBay! Minus postage there can't be much margin left unless they sell really large volume each day! Is this possible? Unless they are just using them to promote their shop or other products.

 

[ITsoldUK]

To answer your question...yes.

There is a margin on anything if you can source it cheap enough.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using UK Business Forums

 

[John_]

Sorry, my bad. What I meant to ask is - is the margin worthwhile unless you sell large volume each day. Thx for you reply BTW.

 

[TotallySport]

you can buy the same cases online at a fraction of the prices as the shops, but they must sell them in the shops as well, so if you can convince people to pay more, your going to make more money, and it would make you good at sales which is the key.

 

[amac]

Mobile accessories is super competitive and ever-changing (as models change right). Still, as others have mentioned, there's margin in accessories of almost any kind in retail.

 

[Directimport]

If resellers insist on following the crowd by trying to sell what others appear to be successfully selling they are condemning themselves to low or no profit margins.

Is it better to sell 5 items a day at a profit margin of £20 each, or to sell 20 items a day at a profit margin of £5 each? Same money a lot less work.

The way to do this is to think outside the square, and find your own niche, then buy small quantities direct from the factories, not from dropshippers and wholesalers. It can be done, and I have taught many people how to do it despite the fact that most people will tell you the factories will quote big MOQs.

Finding a niche can be achieved with a little thought. What about your hobbies and those of your friends? Or trades experience or employment experience? Just ask yourself what products do you buy for your hobby? Are they easy to find? Are they delivered promptly? Are the prices reasonable?

If you answer no to any of these. you may have found your niche. You know something about the product, so now you research it thoroughly so that you are an expert on that product. You will know what it sells for and you will work out how to sell it yourself. You will also know your cost of selling, such as eBay fees and postage etc.

This enables you to know what is the most you could pay to buy a small quantity so that you have a big profit margin.

Now you can start sourcing the product, but you must buy direct from manufacturers if you want real profits. Take great care with this because the majority of sourcing websites have large numbers of suppliers listed who claim to be manufacturers and are not.

 

[Rough Outline]

I've got 250 silicone iphone 5 cases collecting dust in my garage, I'd be willing to sell for fairly cheap if you're interested.

 

[alexadam1212]

i know many retailers purchase the phone case from some chinese suppliers,some cheap phone case wholesale can me as low as $1 per case,like handgiftbox.

 

[bobreynalds]

This is a tricky market. Anything electronics related is already saturated with a hundred other people hoping to sell the exact same product for a bit of a profit margin. This means that pricing will need to be extremely competitive if you wish to earn a profit and keep the website up and running. The reality about everything, however, is that you can do what you want and be successful at it if you are willing to do what it takes. The advantage of being able to move huge volumes of product is that you have the option of going directly to the manufacturer and suppliers themselves and build a direct source of your product from them. When you can walk into a business and guarantee 50,000 sales a month, you have some leverage for profit margins.

 

[geekmanzero]

If you don't have a product that has the added value to convince a customer to pay more, then I wouldn't do it. Even with reasonable volume you won't make much money.

 

[japancool]

Two questions for you.

What makes YOUR phone cases different from what everyone else is selling?

Why should a customer buy them from YOU?

 

[MBE1]

Unless you get huge numbers of buyers it will hardly be worthwhile, half the time the places you will be buying from are your competitors. I used to be in the business, but even in the good days wouldn't waste my time on say ebay etc.

I preferred to sell direct at shows, markets etc, even against other competitors at the same venues you can charge a lot more if you present the goods and yourself correctly, end of the day turnover for vanity, profit for sanity. I doubt you will buy well enough to compete in all fairness.

I would seriously suggest finding a less competitive market, mobile accessories are over supplied already, why be just another one in a huge pool?

 

[superdooper500]

The phone case I just bought on amazon was comparatively pricey (£3.99) compared to some of the phone cases for sale. I bought it for 2 reasons 1) It was for my new phone (Sony Xperia SP) which although new, is probably a little more niche than the generic iphone that everyone seems to have. 2) my case came as a wee bundle with screen protector, generic stylus and screen cloth. Putting together the added extra extras in the bundle probably cost the supplier an extra 10p, but the added value to me meant I paid more than I could of for just a phone case.

Some food for thought for you there.

 

[mishal14]

If resellers insist on following the crowd by trying to sell what others appear to be successfully selling they are condemning themselves to low or no profit margins.

Is it better to sell 5 items a day at a profit margin of £20 each, or to sell 20 items a day at a profit margin of £5 each? Same money a lot less work.

The way to do this is to think outside the square, and find your own niche, then buy small quantities direct from the factories, not from dropshippers and wholesalers. It can be done, and I have taught many people how to do it despite the fact that most people will tell you the factories will quote big MOQs.

Finding a niche can be achieved with a little thought. What about your hobbies and those of your friends? Or trades experience or employment experience? Just ask yourself what products do you buy for your hobby? Are they easy to find? Are they delivered promptly? Are the prices reasonable?

If you answer no to any of these. you may have found your niche. You know something about the product, so now you research it thoroughly so that you are an expert on that product. You will know what it sells for and you will work out how to sell it yourself. You will also know your cost of selling, such as eBay fees and postage etc.

This enables you to know what is the most you could pay to buy a small quantity so that you have a big profit margin.

Now you can start sourcing the product, but you must buy direct from manufacturers if you want real profits. Take great care with this because the majority of sourcing websites have large numbers of suppliers listed who claim to be manufacturers and are not.

 

[mishal14]

Hello,
thank you for the detailed and useful reply.
I am struggling to source products from supplier.#/can you explain how and where to source products.
And what about MOQs while sourcing form manufacturer as I am a' baby 'seller. I do not have customer.
I am selling through ebay and deal in beddings
thank you

 

[GarethShaw]

The mobile business is profitable but go for quality products where people will pay more or uses cases as an add on for something of higher value, I.e sell a mobile with a case and you have something that is worth more then the individual items.

 

[Directimport]

Hello,
thank you for the detailed and useful reply.
I am struggling to source products from supplier.#/can you explain how and where to source products.
And what about MOQs while sourcing form manufacturer as I am a' baby 'seller. I do not have customer.
I am selling through ebay and deal in beddings
thank you

Most people go straight to one of the big, popular B2B sourcing sites and find hundreds of suppliers quoting big MOQs, not realising that almost all the suppliers they find on those sites are traders claiming to be manufacturers.

I recommend a few safe sourcing sites where you can find real manufacturers. They will also quote big MOQs but unlike most traders they can usually be persuaded to supply smaller quantities if you take the right approach. For example you don't tell them you are new, or that you are only a one person business, and you don't ask straight away what is their MOQ?

The difficulty you will have is that bedding is heavy and is not suitable for air freight, so you will have much slower delivery times for your inventory, and it may be uneconomic to ship vey small orders.

Maybe you can think of lighter eight, higher value items?

 

[TPH1]

If you manufacturer them yourselves? Absolutely.

If you are just a reseller? Unless you have extraordinary buying power and good sources, don't bother.