system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How can a Chinese company make money on a $0.01 product with free shipping?

My SO frequently purchases jewelry from China priced under $1. With free shipping on most of these items, who is making money off of this?
gpt
If you are purchasing from sites like eBay, lots of sellers do this at a small loss to boost their rating rather than for profit. This in turn makes their store more visible, and the higher cost items will makeup for the loss.

Think of it as a customer acquisition cost.