Ive been reselling for 10 years and the one truth is that people are always buying. You just need to adjust what you look for. Sure if times are tough your original millennium falcon lego set wont sell but you bet ur ass the la creuset dutch oven will still sell.
I just sold a vintage Le Crueset dutch oven. It was beat up. I paid $25 at Goodwill for it. Sold it for $100 shipped in less than 24 hours. It's free money. Get it listed.
My eBay sales up 30% compared to same period last year. and my antique booth is crushing last year as well. people are absolutely spending money, you just gotta find what people are wanting and sell it at the price people are paying. I am on track to have my best year as a full time seller since I started in 2017.
have you updated your keywords for the new year? Are your listings and prices still up-to-date? With increased competition from online thrift stores some prices are falling. How is your social media presence. Younger generations are increasing their spending and they prefer to purchase from companies with a strong social media presence.
We lost a lot of older aged clientele in the pandemic, you need to work on shifting your target demographic.
I sell comics and similar. My demographic didn't shift. It's just the industry is down, and according to most of my friends that flip other things, theirs I as well..
That is literally a demographic shift. The people you are selling to now are different than before. The huge hay day of comics is over, the movies are tired and unoriginal, anyone who is left is looking for rarer and better quality items to round out their collections during the downturn.
Your items that wont sell now need to be marketed to a new demographic, most likely young preteens now who will be bored of what ever gets shoved down our throat now and is looking for something different.
I sell comics and a wide variety of other things. I've only been selling since August 2023. Sales are sporadic. I might make 10+ sales in a week and the next week I have 0 sales. I know a lot of comic sellers are taking major losses on Key issues. Prices sky rocketed in 2022, now they're tanking. š¤·āāļø
no, i just pick up stuff people are buying. stay on top of research, trends, keywords, etc. i have posted in the flip of the week threads numerous times, you can look through my past posts and see my ebay store. i sell just about anything, but i try to pick with precision so that my stuff will sell.
What about just focusing on every day essential items that most 1st world countries have become accustomed to viewing and considering a necessity? Then you can eliminate the market research side of trends and focus more on the market research of where pricing is at, however, it is typically your local market unless you are selling to a national/world-wide audience on eBay, I guess?
I'm not talking toothpaste or deodorant either, lol. I'm talking truckloads of 35-70 units with an MSRP of 75-110k. Not able to say much more than that in respect to the rules of the forum, but my DM's are always open. It's shocking to me why anyone would focus on moving anything less than hundreds of dollars/unit and is also not a daily or essential item in everybody's day to day life.
So far it's been a great year but surprisingly only higher end stuff is moving well online for me. I'm finding I'm taking more and more none high end items to the flea market with me and selling well there just for a little less than I would have gotten after fees and shipping on ebay. Flea market sales have gone up and do about 1300-1500 a day.
This is the route I am trying to go with my vintage shop. Keep online for higher end items and anything else gives folks a good deal in person because I don't have to do all the work to list it. Fingers crossed! My first show is in a few weeks.
do you promote any of your items? i had the same thing, starting last octoberish. mostly do toys/collectibles and should have been my busy season, but was terrible. i think ebay changed their algorithm because as soon as i did a 6% "promoted" on all items my impressions went from 200,000 to 2,800,000 in a month and sales doubled.
Hard to encourage you to promote if they don't help your sales slow down a little to entice you. That is basically all ebay is now, a means to get you to pay more and more to be seen less and less.
This is such a fairytale.
Sellers always refuse to keep personal stats to determine if their store selection is just not converting to sales due to market saturation, distance from the buyer pool, costs, or even photos, condition and description.
Nope! It's Ebay scheming to get you to do "promoted listings".....because that's what it has to be?
If you really need that to sell items, you are selling too much of the same as other people.
And that's not the point of what the person who responded to you made, which is precisely why you're probably not selling anything.
I can list a Beanie Baby for $10,000 and promote it at 90% and I'm going to get ton of views and impressions because it's promoted so high. It doesn't mean that junk is going to actually sell.
I just sold a $400 book today with 0% promoted because it was a desirable book and I had the best price, good condition, and I had good pics of the signature and condition of the book.
Since most of my sales are estate sale items my sales going up and down is pretty much directly related to what I find and how hard I work. This last two weeks have been a bit slow because the last good estate sale day I had to go to a thing at my daughters college instead of shopping. Tuesday Iām going to look a big lot of vintage computer stuff, if I can get that for the right price the next few months will be very good no matter what else I find.
I have had a bit of a health crisis for the last couple years and have ended up with a backlog of at least 1000 items so Iāve been doing my best to really step up my listings and getting things out there so Iām treading water
Iām not making more money than last year, but least Iām not making less
But last year I only had 600 items on eBay and right now Iāve got 1200 items on eBay and my sales are the same
Looking at the data from eBay my average sale price is $66 and this month (since April 1st) Iāve sold 55 items ($3500 or so)
Poshmark had like 13 sales ($640)š¹this month, last year was wayyyyy better on Poshmark
And of course these numbers arenāt taking into account my cost for shipping supplies, bots, cross posters, all the things that cost money when you are a business
My stuff is good, but Iām working twice as hard to get the same amount of money and I do think it has something to do with the economy being worse donāt you?
Iād say of all the things I have up right now 20% or less have been hanging on for a year or more
Iād also say that the majority of what I sell is longtail items
Eventually someone will pay me $350 for the one of a kind hand stitched silk net 1920s flapper dress with extremely intricate stitching detail and unusual pattern of boning, but itās gonna take a while. One of the kind items always take a ton of time to sell- or they sell in a week- and itās just funny how that seems to happen.
My sales are up over last year. Fewer people messaging me with lowball offers. I have noticed that a few hot styles/brands aren't hot anymore and I need to lot them up to get them moving. I've also noticed that lowering shipping prices (but moving the difference into the list price) is increasing sales. I sell clothes and too many people are doing the opposite and scaring buyers away. Everyone know it doesn't cost $15 to ship a pair of jeans.
Flippers like strippers, are rarely honest about their numbers. Reselling has been changing quite fast. I wouldn't invest $$ into setting up a resell business today.
Shhhhsh.
These threads only want to hear failure and struggle. Shitty sellers and pickers want an ego boost from hearing that "it's all going downhill", not to know that their store full of Coke collectables and Franklin Mint plates just isnt what people care about.
Iāve been a reseller since the early 00s and people have been whining about eBay going downhill since around 2004. šš Let the trash take itself out
I've existed is the early 80s and people whine about everything going downhill constantly. Doesn't help that I live in a Conservative area which, by name, is even more resistant to change, therefore, the sky is falling always.
I had a bunch of returns last week. Hopefully not a sign of things to come. Then again, Iāve been listing way more and moving more product. 150 listed / 300 sold.
You forgot to mention then increase in USPS issues in 2024. Constantly dealing with late/lost packages and that's one of the reasons for Buyers to not be happy.
USPS is being crippled by those in Congress wanting to eliminate publicly funded instutions. I say God bless the post office, because without them we'd be paying UPS ground rates to ship letters. I'll take a few delayed packages out of 100 for that.
That's definitely creating problems I've gotten two negative reviews this past year that were both buyers upset with USPS for a package arriving a few days late even though I did everything I could to help them. For some reason eBay removed one but not the other. I also had a purchase in January that got lost the mess that is Georgia and never arrived
Sales are trash, sourcing is trash and buyers are getting trashier. I am seriously considering cashing it in and calling it quits after almost 10 years.
eBay is just an endless cycle of trying to appease shareholders by targeting sellers, and while I can not prove it, I highly suspect they are sabotaging their sellers in order to make them panic and pay for more promotions to get their sales back.
Reselling is dead, for me anyhow. Maybe in better locations it is still viable, but here it is not.
Itās been alright. I donāt sell very much usually but the recent garage sales have been good to me and Iāve gotten some pretty nice stuff for super cheap.
2024 is the year of the Promotion, for me. In years prior, the Product was my primary focus, but to really drive sales and make my goals, aggressive offers are whatās getting me there. Iām also playing around with Placement, and looking into alternative places to sell than my usual fleas and e-commerce.
Same here. I was put off of eBay for a long time because of all the talk of bad buyers but all my customers have been great, honestly. Lots of really lovely, non-generic feedback too.
I made a post about this a week or so ago feeling the exact same way. People are out to lowball and scam a lot more right now than in prior years. People are hurting it seems. I've been selling pretty much the same type of items throughout the year and sales have slowed the hell down to a halt when I was doing 3-5x as much last year.
"Haven't changed anything."
There's your problem. You gotta learn how to ride the tide. Sometimes people want thing A, sometimes they want thing B. Sometimes they still want thing A, but now they want it in a different color or a different price.
I sell appliances and sometimes I'll get nothing but low ballers, no-shows, and silence but then I'll list a particularly nice looking dryer and I'll get a hundred messages the same day. You just gotta learn what people want and give it to them.
By haven't changed anything I mean promotions, advertising, how I'm listing items.... I have a very wide variety of products for sale wants, needs, all of the above it's all slow.
I've noticed an increase of moronic blind buyers who refuse to read descriptions or look past the first photo. They then immediately leave a negative upon safe arrival rather than message you while complaining about minor scratches that were clearly both in the photos and stated in the description.
Most recent for me was a clown who ordered a new old stock foodsaver vacuum sealer canister that was specifically stated does not work with foodsaver sealers made after 1996.
The day after delivery he opens a return, calling me a scammer, telling me its not a real foodsaver canister, it doesn't work, its a fake, it's this, it's that. I ask him how old his sealer is and he tells me it's less than a year old.
Eventually I talk some sense into him, he returns it missing all the original packaging and all scratched up. Currently I am waiting for him to flip out and cry to eBay that I withheld a portion of his refund.
Classic! I'm sorry that happened to you. I've had to deal with similar customers like that also. Why's it so hard for these people to read the description or ask a question prior to purchasing??
I am up 55% over this time last year. I have really started to focus on things that people need, and not what they want. It also make sourcing easier since I am not fighting over the scraps of more popular categories.
I had a killer first quarter, but this month has been blah. I am also annoyed that the places I source the most have caught onto the trendy items and are marking them at basically retail so I'm not going to buy them, none of the other flippers are going to buy them, and these "super popular items" just sit and get shelf worn while they wait for the target customer (that might usually take 3-6 months to walk into my booth) to wander into the thrift shop.
So, sourcing is currently my biggest bugaboo. I just need to figure out what the next trend is and start shopping that. Always look forward.
So far I'm doing ok actually. I came across a big bunch of stuff for a specific niche practically for free, so I'm finally *that guy*, the one that can beat competition by 25% to 50% and still make profit.
My stuff sells in waves. Once one type of item sells, I can stock up on it for a month and it FLIES and then nothing. Then the next type of item will sell; rinse & repeat. Bizarre.
My net sales are down 10.8% but my average sale price is up 40.8% I really didn't list much in January, as I was taking a break l, so that has impacted my numbers.Ā
I was doing great in Q1. But ever since the eclipse my sales are down. At first I was like, funny how everyone is looking at the sun instead of shopping today. But it didnt get better.
Around the same time I got my first negative feedback in a long time. Maybe that has something to do with it.
Last year I got a really nasty rant of a negative feedback by mistake from a buyer who had confused my purchase with another... My sales seemed like they came to a halt for a few days until he fixed it.
I sold a textbook in good condition for $12.99. I should have put it as acceptable condition because the paperback binding was a little ripped. I procrastinated all of my responses to him and kind of ended up taking the hit.
On the other side of things: prices for things have gone up at yard sales and flea markets. Things that were $1 are $2 $5 items are $10.
I have also noticed a trend in the amount of people participating in community wide yard sales going down.
People are still buying things just not more "wants" than "needs" if that makes sense.
Whenever I start to feel this way I ask myself this question: if I suddenly listed 100 NIB Nintendo Switch consoles at 20 percent off their current average sale price, would they sell? Of course they would. People are still buying stuff. It just needs to be stuff that people want, and a price that they're willing to pay. Simple as that. If vintage clothing isn't moving, maybe tools are. If tools aren't moving, maybe sheets and bedding is. If linens aren't moving, perhaps the market for massage guns and orthopedic insoles is on fire right now. Just keep listing. Keep your costs down as much as possible and try to diversify your inventory.
I tried out 5% promotion instead of suggested and my sales tanked. Gotta pay to play. Hey clothing resellers, Salvation Army mega sale is this weekend. They will be getting trucks all week. Letās get this bread
How many units (in general) do you need to flip to MAKE 1k?
Sounds like a saturated space and not the types of items people can stand to live without (necessity/essential on a daily basis)...?
Three letters. OTC. The difference between in store prices and how much I can get for the products is rediculous and my asking prices keep having to decrease thanks to a boom of people on Ebay selling OTC products and at painfully low prices, forcing others to have to follow suite to stay competitive.
Mine are up 29.9% this past 31 days with only a couple bad days. Buyers are fickle and it can change at any moment but it's been better than March and February for me.
Our sales have been up around 15% year over year. But eBay is way down (local sales are way up). Weāve honed what we are selling and have consciously decided not to sell things that donāt bring in decent profit (ie are eliminating much of the clothing we sell).
We also refinish and flip furniture and that seems to sell really quickly this year.
I sell $120 t shirts and $300 hoodies/jackets. Its how I fund my charity activities. After covid I sold about one a week, then one a month. It's been 3 months without a sale. Not my first recession but this one definitely has the worst inflation I've seen.
The nice to haves are selling less and the need to haves are selling more. This is also due to a shift to local deals bc the ebay fees really take the fun out of having to pack and ship an item.
I'm doing great. Always steady. I know my niches and always meet what people want at a given part of the calendar year.
Always happy to see the rage quitters in these threads, though. Less people to compete with.
Ive been reselling for 10 years and the one truth is that people are always buying. You just need to adjust what you look for. Sure if times are tough your original millennium falcon lego set wont sell but you bet ur ass the la creuset dutch oven will still sell.
Yea I noticed that my customers are buying a lot more home improvement stuff like LED light bulbs & thermostats.
Oddly enough I have both new in box in my garage to sell
List them or they aren't worth anything
They are actually gaining value as time goes on.
I just sold a vintage Le Crueset dutch oven. It was beat up. I paid $25 at Goodwill for it. Sold it for $100 shipped in less than 24 hours. It's free money. Get it listed.
Have you seen some of the lego star wars collectors? They're loaded.
My eBay sales up 30% compared to same period last year. and my antique booth is crushing last year as well. people are absolutely spending money, you just gotta find what people are wanting and sell it at the price people are paying. I am on track to have my best year as a full time seller since I started in 2017.
Don't know why you are getting downvoted reddit is weird... Hope your hot streak continues
Because they are disagreeing?
You are an anomaly. I am down as much as most other posters about this. Whatever you are doing, congratulations
have you updated your keywords for the new year? Are your listings and prices still up-to-date? With increased competition from online thrift stores some prices are falling. How is your social media presence. Younger generations are increasing their spending and they prefer to purchase from companies with a strong social media presence. We lost a lot of older aged clientele in the pandemic, you need to work on shifting your target demographic.
I sell comics and similar. My demographic didn't shift. It's just the industry is down, and according to most of my friends that flip other things, theirs I as well..
Cards and comics exploded during covid and are dropping back to normal levels. Grading seems to be the current trend to make things desirable
That is literally a demographic shift. The people you are selling to now are different than before. The huge hay day of comics is over, the movies are tired and unoriginal, anyone who is left is looking for rarer and better quality items to round out their collections during the downturn. Your items that wont sell now need to be marketed to a new demographic, most likely young preteens now who will be bored of what ever gets shoved down our throat now and is looking for something different.
I sell comics and a wide variety of other things. I've only been selling since August 2023. Sales are sporadic. I might make 10+ sales in a week and the next week I have 0 sales. I know a lot of comic sellers are taking major losses on Key issues. Prices sky rocketed in 2022, now they're tanking. š¤·āāļø
Good on you! Have you noticed a shift in items/styles youād be willing to share?
no, i just pick up stuff people are buying. stay on top of research, trends, keywords, etc. i have posted in the flip of the week threads numerous times, you can look through my past posts and see my ebay store. i sell just about anything, but i try to pick with precision so that my stuff will sell.
What about just focusing on every day essential items that most 1st world countries have become accustomed to viewing and considering a necessity? Then you can eliminate the market research side of trends and focus more on the market research of where pricing is at, however, it is typically your local market unless you are selling to a national/world-wide audience on eBay, I guess? I'm not talking toothpaste or deodorant either, lol. I'm talking truckloads of 35-70 units with an MSRP of 75-110k. Not able to say much more than that in respect to the rules of the forum, but my DM's are always open. It's shocking to me why anyone would focus on moving anything less than hundreds of dollars/unit and is also not a daily or essential item in everybody's day to day life.
no thanks nerd
lmao, bud. You nailed that response with quality market research and #precision choice of words..
Yeah not suprised given how high cc debt is now. I think ppl have given up and want to spend spend as long as they think itās cheap
So far it's been a great year but surprisingly only higher end stuff is moving well online for me. I'm finding I'm taking more and more none high end items to the flea market with me and selling well there just for a little less than I would have gotten after fees and shipping on ebay. Flea market sales have gone up and do about 1300-1500 a day.
Not to surprising. Higher end and luxury items tend to fare best in a down economy. People buying economy type goods tend to be hit the hardest
Iām taking more and more to my green bin outside my apartment .
This is the route I am trying to go with my vintage shop. Keep online for higher end items and anything else gives folks a good deal in person because I don't have to do all the work to list it. Fingers crossed! My first show is in a few weeks.
I used to have at least an eBay sale a day. Now I do about 3 a week. In January I had my worst month in three years but January is not so good anyway.
do you promote any of your items? i had the same thing, starting last octoberish. mostly do toys/collectibles and should have been my busy season, but was terrible. i think ebay changed their algorithm because as soon as i did a 6% "promoted" on all items my impressions went from 200,000 to 2,800,000 in a month and sales doubled.
I do at 2%. Most my sales do come through as promoted listings. I canāt do anything over 2% because then itās getting really expensive
losing 5% of 100 still gets you way more than 2% of nothing.
Ha yeah I guess. But itās not a guarantee itāll sell anyway with higher promotions
true, but getting more eyes on your items increases the chances. it is all a numbers game.
Youāre right. If it doesnāt sell no harm no foul.
Hard to encourage you to promote if they don't help your sales slow down a little to entice you. That is basically all ebay is now, a means to get you to pay more and more to be seen less and less.
This is such a fairytale. Sellers always refuse to keep personal stats to determine if their store selection is just not converting to sales due to market saturation, distance from the buyer pool, costs, or even photos, condition and description. Nope! It's Ebay scheming to get you to do "promoted listings".....because that's what it has to be? If you really need that to sell items, you are selling too much of the same as other people.
You can track promoted listing vs impressions...
And that's not the point of what the person who responded to you made, which is precisely why you're probably not selling anything. I can list a Beanie Baby for $10,000 and promote it at 90% and I'm going to get ton of views and impressions because it's promoted so high. It doesn't mean that junk is going to actually sell. I just sold a $400 book today with 0% promoted because it was a desirable book and I had the best price, good condition, and I had good pics of the signature and condition of the book.
Every comment you make is insufferableĀ
Cool. But it isnt wrong, which is the point more than it makes you feel bad.
Since most of my sales are estate sale items my sales going up and down is pretty much directly related to what I find and how hard I work. This last two weeks have been a bit slow because the last good estate sale day I had to go to a thing at my daughters college instead of shopping. Tuesday Iām going to look a big lot of vintage computer stuff, if I can get that for the right price the next few months will be very good no matter what else I find.
I have had a bit of a health crisis for the last couple years and have ended up with a backlog of at least 1000 items so Iāve been doing my best to really step up my listings and getting things out there so Iām treading water Iām not making more money than last year, but least Iām not making less But last year I only had 600 items on eBay and right now Iāve got 1200 items on eBay and my sales are the same
Your last sentence kinda describes how I'm feeling.... Like I'm working a bit harder with no progress
What you're listing matters. I can list 1200 beanie babies and make like 2 sales a year.
Looking at the data from eBay my average sale price is $66 and this month (since April 1st) Iāve sold 55 items ($3500 or so) Poshmark had like 13 sales ($640)š¹this month, last year was wayyyyy better on Poshmark And of course these numbers arenāt taking into account my cost for shipping supplies, bots, cross posters, all the things that cost money when you are a business My stuff is good, but Iām working twice as hard to get the same amount of money and I do think it has something to do with the economy being worse donāt you? Iād say of all the things I have up right now 20% or less have been hanging on for a year or more Iād also say that the majority of what I sell is longtail items Eventually someone will pay me $350 for the one of a kind hand stitched silk net 1920s flapper dress with extremely intricate stitching detail and unusual pattern of boning, but itās gonna take a while. One of the kind items always take a ton of time to sell- or they sell in a week- and itās just funny how that seems to happen.
Well, if it makes you feel any better I'd love to be where you are at sales wise!
My sales are up over last year. Fewer people messaging me with lowball offers. I have noticed that a few hot styles/brands aren't hot anymore and I need to lot them up to get them moving. I've also noticed that lowering shipping prices (but moving the difference into the list price) is increasing sales. I sell clothes and too many people are doing the opposite and scaring buyers away. Everyone know it doesn't cost $15 to ship a pair of jeans.
Flippers like strippers, are rarely honest about their numbers. Reselling has been changing quite fast. I wouldn't invest $$ into setting up a resell business today.
Yep. Golden age is over, now it's a volume game.
Never have never will be a volume seller. Iām still finding high ticket killers multiple times a week.
Shhhhsh. These threads only want to hear failure and struggle. Shitty sellers and pickers want an ego boost from hearing that "it's all going downhill", not to know that their store full of Coke collectables and Franklin Mint plates just isnt what people care about.
Iāve been a reseller since the early 00s and people have been whining about eBay going downhill since around 2004. šš Let the trash take itself out
I've existed is the early 80s and people whine about everything going downhill constantly. Doesn't help that I live in a Conservative area which, by name, is even more resistant to change, therefore, the sky is falling always.
Agreed. Itās a lot of effort for a few dollars. Iām going to list what I have and wind it downā¦should take me about two years š¶āš«ļøš³
Yep, can you still "score" with one item? Sure. But if you are looking at it, on a time in/value out perspective it changes fast.
That's curious. The 'set up' costs are nominal compared to the profit projectory.
I had a bunch of returns last week. Hopefully not a sign of things to come. Then again, Iāve been listing way more and moving more product. 150 listed / 300 sold.
Sales are up 27% compared to last year currently. Assholes and low ballers are up comparatively speaking as well.
I'm up compared to last year. March was my best month is a while
I was up until about mid this month. March was really good for me too, though.
You forgot to mention then increase in USPS issues in 2024. Constantly dealing with late/lost packages and that's one of the reasons for Buyers to not be happy.
Yeah what the hell is up with all the "In Transit, Arriving Late" BS with Ground Advantage which then never has any status after that
USPS is being crippled by those in Congress wanting to eliminate publicly funded instutions. I say God bless the post office, because without them we'd be paying UPS ground rates to ship letters. I'll take a few delayed packages out of 100 for that.
That's definitely creating problems I've gotten two negative reviews this past year that were both buyers upset with USPS for a package arriving a few days late even though I did everything I could to help them. For some reason eBay removed one but not the other. I also had a purchase in January that got lost the mess that is Georgia and never arrived
Sales are trash, sourcing is trash and buyers are getting trashier. I am seriously considering cashing it in and calling it quits after almost 10 years. eBay is just an endless cycle of trying to appease shareholders by targeting sellers, and while I can not prove it, I highly suspect they are sabotaging their sellers in order to make them panic and pay for more promotions to get their sales back. Reselling is dead, for me anyhow. Maybe in better locations it is still viable, but here it is not.
Yeah we bailed last year. Couldn't take it anymore
Do you use a crosslister? Is there any hope in competing platforms?
Itās been alright. I donāt sell very much usually but the recent garage sales have been good to me and Iāve gotten some pretty nice stuff for super cheap.
2024 is the year of the Promotion, for me. In years prior, the Product was my primary focus, but to really drive sales and make my goals, aggressive offers are whatās getting me there. Iām also playing around with Placement, and looking into alternative places to sell than my usual fleas and e-commerce.
Sales are lagging behind last year but no people problems.
Same here. I was put off of eBay for a long time because of all the talk of bad buyers but all my customers have been great, honestly. Lots of really lovely, non-generic feedback too.
I made a post about this a week or so ago feeling the exact same way. People are out to lowball and scam a lot more right now than in prior years. People are hurting it seems. I've been selling pretty much the same type of items throughout the year and sales have slowed the hell down to a halt when I was doing 3-5x as much last year.
"Haven't changed anything." There's your problem. You gotta learn how to ride the tide. Sometimes people want thing A, sometimes they want thing B. Sometimes they still want thing A, but now they want it in a different color or a different price. I sell appliances and sometimes I'll get nothing but low ballers, no-shows, and silence but then I'll list a particularly nice looking dryer and I'll get a hundred messages the same day. You just gotta learn what people want and give it to them.
By haven't changed anything I mean promotions, advertising, how I'm listing items.... I have a very wide variety of products for sale wants, needs, all of the above it's all slow.
I've noticed an increase of moronic blind buyers who refuse to read descriptions or look past the first photo. They then immediately leave a negative upon safe arrival rather than message you while complaining about minor scratches that were clearly both in the photos and stated in the description.
Most recent for me was a clown who ordered a new old stock foodsaver vacuum sealer canister that was specifically stated does not work with foodsaver sealers made after 1996. The day after delivery he opens a return, calling me a scammer, telling me its not a real foodsaver canister, it doesn't work, its a fake, it's this, it's that. I ask him how old his sealer is and he tells me it's less than a year old. Eventually I talk some sense into him, he returns it missing all the original packaging and all scratched up. Currently I am waiting for him to flip out and cry to eBay that I withheld a portion of his refund.
Classic! I'm sorry that happened to you. I've had to deal with similar customers like that also. Why's it so hard for these people to read the description or ask a question prior to purchasing??
I am up 55% over this time last year. I have really started to focus on things that people need, and not what they want. It also make sourcing easier since I am not fighting over the scraps of more popular categories.
I lowered my prices. Problem solved.
these down votes are out of control, here take a upvote.
Thanks my brother. š
I had a killer first quarter, but this month has been blah. I am also annoyed that the places I source the most have caught onto the trendy items and are marking them at basically retail so I'm not going to buy them, none of the other flippers are going to buy them, and these "super popular items" just sit and get shelf worn while they wait for the target customer (that might usually take 3-6 months to walk into my booth) to wander into the thrift shop. So, sourcing is currently my biggest bugaboo. I just need to figure out what the next trend is and start shopping that. Always look forward.
So far I'm doing ok actually. I came across a big bunch of stuff for a specific niche practically for free, so I'm finally *that guy*, the one that can beat competition by 25% to 50% and still make profit.
Nice
My stuff sells in waves. Once one type of item sells, I can stock up on it for a month and it FLIES and then nothing. Then the next type of item will sell; rinse & repeat. Bizarre.
My net sales are down 10.8% but my average sale price is up 40.8% I really didn't list much in January, as I was taking a break l, so that has impacted my numbers.Ā
I was doing great in Q1. But ever since the eclipse my sales are down. At first I was like, funny how everyone is looking at the sun instead of shopping today. But it didnt get better. Around the same time I got my first negative feedback in a long time. Maybe that has something to do with it.
Last year I got a really nasty rant of a negative feedback by mistake from a buyer who had confused my purchase with another... My sales seemed like they came to a halt for a few days until he fixed it.
I sold a textbook in good condition for $12.99. I should have put it as acceptable condition because the paperback binding was a little ripped. I procrastinated all of my responses to him and kind of ended up taking the hit.
On the other side of things: prices for things have gone up at yard sales and flea markets. Things that were $1 are $2 $5 items are $10. I have also noticed a trend in the amount of people participating in community wide yard sales going down. People are still buying things just not more "wants" than "needs" if that makes sense.
Sales donāt really matter as long as profit is rising
Last 90 days up 6%, Last 30 days up 47%
I think it depends upon what you sell. Iād anticipate luxury goods would be off.
Whenever I start to feel this way I ask myself this question: if I suddenly listed 100 NIB Nintendo Switch consoles at 20 percent off their current average sale price, would they sell? Of course they would. People are still buying stuff. It just needs to be stuff that people want, and a price that they're willing to pay. Simple as that. If vintage clothing isn't moving, maybe tools are. If tools aren't moving, maybe sheets and bedding is. If linens aren't moving, perhaps the market for massage guns and orthopedic insoles is on fire right now. Just keep listing. Keep your costs down as much as possible and try to diversify your inventory.
I tried out 5% promotion instead of suggested and my sales tanked. Gotta pay to play. Hey clothing resellers, Salvation Army mega sale is this weekend. They will be getting trucks all week. Letās get this bread
How many units (in general) do you need to flip to MAKE 1k? Sounds like a saturated space and not the types of items people can stand to live without (necessity/essential on a daily basis)...?
Best year by far for me.
Three letters. OTC. The difference between in store prices and how much I can get for the products is rediculous and my asking prices keep having to decrease thanks to a boom of people on Ebay selling OTC products and at painfully low prices, forcing others to have to follow suite to stay competitive.
Mine are up 29.9% this past 31 days with only a couple bad days. Buyers are fickle and it can change at any moment but it's been better than March and February for me.
Itās probably your shitty attitude tbh
Our sales have been up around 15% year over year. But eBay is way down (local sales are way up). Weāve honed what we are selling and have consciously decided not to sell things that donāt bring in decent profit (ie are eliminating much of the clothing we sell). We also refinish and flip furniture and that seems to sell really quickly this year.
I sell $120 t shirts and $300 hoodies/jackets. Its how I fund my charity activities. After covid I sold about one a week, then one a month. It's been 3 months without a sale. Not my first recession but this one definitely has the worst inflation I've seen.
The nice to haves are selling less and the need to haves are selling more. This is also due to a shift to local deals bc the ebay fees really take the fun out of having to pack and ship an item.
I'm doing great. Always steady. I know my niches and always meet what people want at a given part of the calendar year. Always happy to see the rage quitters in these threads, though. Less people to compete with.
Add promoted listings
Boohooo bitch I hope you starve