Selling on eBay

One option for getting rid of your Mary Kay inventory is selling it on eBay. If you are an active consultant, you may already be aware that selling on eBay is a violation of your independent consultant contract with Mary Kay. If the company finds out that you’re selling on eBay, you risk having them terminate the contract and essentially kick you out. (But if you’re trying to unload all your products, do you really want to be a part of the company anyway?)

1. What if I want to sell on eBay but I want to remain a Mary Kay consultant? I don’t want to risk being terminated.

Find a trusted family member, friend, boyfriend, or spouse who will set up an eBay account in their name to sell the products. They don’t have a contract with Mary Kay and therefore can sell legitimately on eBay. Your contract with Mary Kay prohibits you from selling on eBay, but it does not apply to family or friends who aren’t under contract with Mary Kay.

2. How much can I expect to make on my items?

As a general rule, you can expect to make 50% to 70% of retail value on the products after you get good at it. (That means establishing a good track record, getting better at writing up your listings, and knowing more about what sells for how much, etc.) If you purchased your items at full wholesale, that’s not a lot of profit. But again, it’s still better than nothing.

Popular items that were discontinued two or more years ago can make you a lot more money. The longer it has been discontinued, the more you’ll be able to get for it. Think about it: The supply is being depleted and in time, there will be none left. People will be willing to pay more to get their hands on it!

3. What about just selling my products to a wholesaler and being done with it?

There are people on eBay who specialize in buying unwanted product from consultants and ex-consultants, and then listing it in auctions. It is a fast and easy method, but you should be aware that you will only get between 30% and 50% of your wholesale cost. (Example: You bought an item from MK for $10, hoping to sell it for $20 retail. The wholesaler will only give you $3 to $5 for that item.) Remember that they’re in business to make money, and even though you’ll be losing money on the deal, it’s better than throwing away the products or letting them collect dust.

4. How many items should I list in each auction?

Women who want to quickly unload their Mary Kay products will often list large lots for sale on eBay, with anywhere from 20 to 200 items in each auction listing. This gets rid of the stuff fast, but you will not get much for your products. As a general rule, the larger the lot, the less money you will get per item.

If you want to make money, you will be better off selling small lots. You will make the greatest amount of money per item sold by listing your items in groups of two or three. Small items like eyeliners, lipsticks, and mascaras are perfect to sell in groups of 2 or 3 .

5. What do I include (or not) in my description of the item?

Always include a photo, but do NOT use photos from the Mary Kay Inc. website. Take your own! If Mary Kay complains to eBay that you’ve used their photos, your auction will be taken down. Avoid this risk by taking your own photo. Make it as professional as you can with a plain white background. No one wants to see your house or your table or your hands.

Make sure the buyer knows exactly what size product they are getting. Of course, you’ll want to list the color, the formula (normal, dry, oily, etc) and any other specifics. You may also consider including the date code so that experienced buyers will know how new the product is.

Do NOT include threats. These include the threat of negative feedback, no returns, etc. You are trying to build trust with your eBay customers, so give them a good reason to do business with you. Besides, even if you do have to return a few dollars to an unhappy customer, it may be worth it in the long run.

6. How do I price my items?

You are best off listing your items in auction format (not “buy it now”) starting at 99 cents per item. It is tempting to start items at a higher price, but seasoned sellers will tell you that more people will look and bid if the price starts low. Don’t bother putting a “reserve price” on your items. It just costs you more for your listing.

7. How much should I charge for shipping?

Be reasonable. People on eBay are wise to the shipping game, and they know how much it costs to ship cosmetics. It is tempting to want to pad your shipping cost to increase your “profit” on the sale, but you’ll only hurt yourself in the long run. People are looking for fair sellers, and they don’t bid on the auctions with outrageous shipping fees.

Some sellers offer free shipping on some items, and they have seen it increase their sales prices more than enough to make it worthwhile. Ideal items for free shipping are lightweight items like eyeliners and eyeshadows. It costs less than a dollar to ship those, but can substantially increase your bids.

Always offer a shipping discount (called combined shipping) for people who win multiple auctions with you. This gives them an incentive to bid on more items, which helps increase your sales prices. It also makes it easier for you because you may ship multiple items together, rather than shipping to a bunch of different people. Charge the full price of shipping for the item with the highest listed shipping charge, and then add $1 for each addition auction shipped with it.

8. What forms of payment should I accept?

It is recommended to accept PayPal, money orders, and personal checks. You do run the risk of getting a bad check, but if you tell your customers that you will hold their products until the check clears, your risk is low. Money is money, so make it easy to pay. Make sure that your PayPal account is able to accept payment via credit card. Lots of people like to pay with credit card, and even though it will cost you a little more, you will probably increase your sales by accepting credit cards.

9. How long should my auction run?

Because auctions tend to have the most activity toward the end, shorter auctions (3 days) are usually the best. Have your auctions end between 8:00pm and 9:00pm when most people are home, because if they’re home they will bid. You’ll make the most money on auctions that end on Sundays and Tuesdays, so take that into account as well.

10. Should I put a disclaimer on my auctions?

Sellers have found it helpful to include a statement that the auction is not affiliated with Mary Kay Inc. and they are not a consultant. This is very effective in keeping away the pink police. Most won’t bother with you once they see this.

11. How fast should I send out purchases?

The faster the better. The sellers who commit to shipping within 1 day of receiving payment get more interest. People want their items fast.

12. How many items should I put up for auction?

If you have a lot of items to sell, list 5 auctions per day, each day. Keep a continuous list of auctions running because it helps keep your momentum going. You will get customers who keep looking at what you’ve got listed, so you always want to have fresh items listed.

13. There hasn’t been any bidding on my items. What’s going on?

Most auction activity takes place in the last 10 minutes of the auction. Experienced eBay buyers tend to wait until late in an auction to bid, hoping to get the best possible price.

14. What about seller ratings?

Buyers are very interested in your feedback. If you have no feedback, it is suggested that you quickly “sell” some items to friends and family who will post positive feedback for you. This is the easiest way to boost your ranking in the beginning. Buyers are very reluctant to buy from someone with no feedback, so it’s important to get some good feedback fast.

15. How do I know if a buyer is really a Mary Kay consultant who is just trying to get my information to turn me in to Mary Kay Inc.?

You won’t. A typical tactic of the pink police is to send you an innocent sounding email that asks a question about your auction. She is hoping that you will reply with an email address that gives away your identity so she can tattle to corporate. The solution to this is either a) don’t answer these kinds of emails or b) get a separate email address for your Mary Kay auctions which does not give any clues to who you really are. I recommend option b, so that in case a question is being asked by a legitimate buyer, you are still able to answer it.

16. It takes a long time to get an item listed on eBay. How can I make the process easier?

Write up all your auctions in a Word document from which you can cut and paste. This makes it easier when you’re listing many items. All you have to do is change the color when you list each item. This also helps in the unfortunate instance when eBay gives you an error message and you have to start over. Just another cut and paste, instead of rewriting it all.