How to Price Items When Crosslisting to Different Marketplaces

Before you start

You want to list an item for sale on multiple e-commerce sites at the same time. Your objective is to find a price for each site that allows you to remain competitive while preserving an equal profit for each sale. To do this, you need to find the price that you paid for the item or find the profit margin that you wish to maintain. You also need to access each marketplace in order to search through completed and active listings to help you find prices that your competitors are charging. Use a calculator and have a notepad ready to write down the fees for each marketplace you are going to use. Poshmark takes 20% for sales over $15, eBay takes around 13.25% plus payment processing around 0.5%, Mercari takes 10% seller's fee and 2.9% payment processing, Depop takes 10% and payment processing, and Facebook Marketplace takes 0.5% payment processing for shipments over $8. There is no fee for selling locally on Facebook Marketplace. Etsy takes 3% payment processing plus 0.20 cents listing fee and a transaction fee of 6.5%

Steps

1. Pick a starting price based on your costs and desired profit. If you spent $5 on a thrifted sweater and want a $20 profit, set a target net of $20. If you want a 40% margin on inventory bought for $18, your target net is $25.20. Write this down.
2. Find the list price you need to hit your target net on the highest fee marketplace. For Poshmark at 20%, you’d divide your target net by 0.80. Therefore, for a target net of $20, you would list it at $25. For a target net of $25.20, you would list it at $31.50. For most people, rounding to the dollar makes list prices look normal. Therefore, in the previous examples, the list prices would be $25 and $32, respectively.
3. To determine your net on the other marketplaces, list at the same price. For eBay at 13.75% total, multiply your list price by 0.8625. With a list price of $30, you would net $25.88. For Mercari at 12.9% total, multiply your list price by 0.871. With a list price of $30, you would net $26.13. Be sure to write these next to the respective marketplaces.
4. Look for sold or active listings for your item on each marketplace. Look through the last 10 to 20 sold listings, if available, or look at the current active listings. Note the price range where the majority of the listings fall. For example, say you find that the majority of the sweaters on eBay sold for prices between $22 to $32, but the majority on Poshmark sold for prices between $28 to $38. Write these ranges down.
5. Decide if you want to price the same on all the platforms or adjust for each marketplace. If your sweaters are in the normal range for each of the platforms you’re pricing for, you can price the same on all of them. If your price is at the top of the range on a specific platform, you can either price it at the bottom of the range or don’t price it on that marketplace. If your price is at the bottom of the range on a platform, you can price it at the top of the range and still be competitive.
6. Think about if charging a higher price on one marketplace and a lower price on another marketplace still maintains your target average net profit. Look for comparable items on the platforms and average them. If an item is supportable on Poshmark for $35 and on Mercari for $28, calculate the net for each. The Mercari listing nets $24.39 and the Poshmark listing nets $28, for an average of $26.20. If that average meets your target, charge different prices for each listing. If it does not, charge the average for all the platforms and skip the outlier.
7. What you entered: Enter the final price on each marketplace and keep a record of what you listed where. Write the item name, the marketplace, the list price on that marketplace, and the net after fees expected. When the item sells, compare the actual payout to what you expected to find any fee changes.

Worked example

You got a Banana Republic merino wool sweater from thrifting for $6. You expect to net $24, giving you a profit of $18. You plan to list it on Poshmark, eBay, and Mercari.

Start with the highest fee marketplace. Poshmark charges a 20% fee, giving you a net of $24 at list price of $30.

Next, look at eBay and Mercari. A list price of $30 gives you a net of $25.88 on eBay (charge of 13.75%) and $26.13 on Mercari (12.9% fee). Listing at $30 on all 3 would give you a net of $24 on Poshmark, $25.88 on eBay and $26.13 on Mercari. All 3 would work, so you're free to choose.

Look through completed listings. On Poshmark, comparable sweaters were selling for $28-$38, with the average price being around $32. On eBay, the price range was $24-$34, with the average being around $26-$30. On Mercari, comparable sweaters were selling for $22-$32, with the average being around $28. With your price being at the average on Poshmark, being at the high average on eBay, and being above average on Mercari, you decide to list your sweaters for $30 on all three platforms. You expect your net to be around $24 for each.

You list your item at $30 on each platform and record it as sweater 1. On Poshmark, it is $30. On eBay, it is $30. On Mercari, it is $30. You expect your net to be around $24, $25.88, and $26.13 respectively.

Because eBay comps peaked at $28, you calculate eBay's net to be $28, which is $24.15, and is above your target. You list it at $30 on Poshmark and Mercari, and $28 on eBay. You record the prices for all three platforms.

Checklist

• You entered your target net profit for this item.
• You entered the list price on the highest-fee marketplace to hit your target net profit.
• You entered your net profit on all other marketplaces at that list price.
• You searched for recently sold and/or actively listed comparable items on each marketplace and noted the range of prices.
• Your list price on each marketplace is in the normal price range or has been lowered.
• Your net profit on each marketplace meets or exceeds your target net profit, or you did not list on that marketplace.
• You recorded the name of the item, the marketplace, the list price, and your target net in a notebook or spreadsheet.

When you crosslist the same item on multiple marketplaces, keeping the inventory balanced and accurate is equally as important as pricing. With PrimeLister, you can auto-sync your inventory, and auto-delist items that have sold, across multiple marketplaces including Poshmark, eBay, Mercari, Depop, Etsy and Facebook Marketplace, so you only have to list an item once and avoid overselling.