Past or present defeated feelings?

[sakic92710]

As an online seller, was there a point in your life that you have felt defeat & it was impacting many aspects of your life?  Without giving specific details & sharing more than you are comfortable with, what may have helped you through it the most?  I thought I would throw in a discussion that is apart from the usual complaints, glitches, queries that can be draining.  🙂   I'm on my second 'rut.'  1st one involved being broke & the loss of a parent.  It took 7 months to get through & part of it was getting decent (although not high paying) work & kept selling.  Stayed there for over 8 years.  Left due to moving & tried starting online full time again.  Success varied until after COVID then, downhill.  Apologizes if this bores you! Oh yes - toiled at the flea market with random awesome Sundays & too many pathetic ones.  Worse was $9.  Best was $2600!   lol  

[tobaccocardyahoo]

One needs something which gives pleasure and joy in order to deal effectively with business and the world in general.

It is hard. Many of the activities I participated in pre-Covid lockdowns never resumed.

My online sales are not necessary to survive, which gives me a lot of freedom, but does not mean my existence is stress-free.

I always said that as long as I had my health, I could deal with any economic challenge, and I did.

I am not as young as I was, nor is my wife. We both have health issues, and we both are experience limits to the understanding of human health which are affecting the health care we receive. Nothing which is threatening to end our lives, but is definitely impacting our quality of life.

You are probably doing the right thing by selling at the flea market. Human contact helps. Selling online provides too little positive interactions with human beings.

[vintagecraze50]

Yes, I think that the working class and especially the poor are having still a very difficult time even when everybody says the economy is great. Younger people are struggling with this high high rent and the food costs are still too high. The real estate market is still way too overinflated and many are funding themselves homeless. These past few years have been a huge challenge for many and not people like Donald T, HE is in it because he asked for it. LOL!!

[vintagecraze50]

JUST WAIT FOR YOUR NEXT gift from the universe because you have been blessed before. I am routing for you.

[vintagecraze50]

Play the cards well and succeed.

[ten_o_nine]

@sakic92710 

Past or present defeated feelings?

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Not really, Mine are continuous, 😆

[john_wade]

I'll pray for my friends on eBay. How is that?  

[sakic92710]

Thank you for the compliments.  🙂   I am no longer at the market.  I closed my booths in Oct. 2022.  Here is a rundown of how well I could do at the market but my online sales were so awful, even with these sales, just on Sundays, I could not keep up on bills.  # of Sundays is in (-)    Jan. $1554 (5)  Feb. $1833 (4)  Mar. $4658 (4)  Apr. $1493 (4)  May $2632 (5)  June $900 (4)  July $1106 (5) Aug. $798 (4)  Sept. $1618 (5)  oct. $700 (3).  On 43 days of the year, it was possible to earn that much in sales but relying on eBay still put me behind on bills; mainly rent.  As you see, I had quality items to sell to get them much interest, locally, but drawing the attention of millions of eBay buyers was impossible!  Over time, I kept getting blamed by other sellers for my lack of "in demand" inventory.  lol  Obviously, I was doing something right according to the citizens of this little city.  (140,000 pop.)

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Smile.

Original, without lyrics:

With lyrics as sung by Nat King Cole :

[ten_o_nine]

@sakic92710 

but relying on eBay still put me behind on bills; mainly rent.

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Never rely on anyone in life, eBay is out to please their investors and not pay anyone's bills.

[psfhobbies]

I will tell you I get Angry/depressed when I have a good $300+ sale day then next 80.00 then back up for a few days then back to a very familiar $80.00 seems like my low days sit right at $82-84 dollars at least once a week maybe twice....seems almost prompted to only sell that much...In the past years before... YES Biden... I never went below a 100.00 day now its weekly...I won't tell anyone how to vote but I want a better america...better Ebay, Better life...I was doing great before & during Covid..In fact I had my best year during covid... We make HALF of what we used to now. Lots of factors but really economy is the main culprit.We sell more to middle class and we know where they are going 

[sin-n-dex]

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@sakic92710 wrote:

As an online seller, was there a point in your life that you have felt defeat & it was impacting many aspects of your life?  Without giving specific details & sharing more than you are comfortable with, what may have helped you through it the most?  I thought I would throw in a discussion that is apart from the usual complaints, glitches, queries that can be draining.  🙂   I'm on my second 'rut.'  1st one involved being broke & the loss of a parent.  It took 7 months to get through & part of it was getting decent (although not high paying) work & kept selling.  Stayed there for over 8 years.  Left due to moving & tried starting online full time again.  Success varied until after COVID then, downhill.  Apologizes if this bores you! Oh yes - toiled at the flea market with random awesome Sundays & too many pathetic ones.  Worse was $9.  Best was $2600!   lol  

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My biggest enemy is time. I sit here thinking of how much I can get done if I didn't have a full time job, but it would be silly to give up a guaranteed income I can live on to sell here full time (when we don't know what will happen... some months it's really good, other weeks I'm struggling to make enough profits - after shop is paid - for groceries).

But I sell here because I like collectibles and it gives me a chance to make money on the things that interest me instead of spending money to turn into a hoarder and have boxes of stuff I'll never spend time looking at after I put it away. I do have some collections, but I don't look at them hardly ever... I collected stamps off all the packages I used to get and put them in binders and I never sit and enjoy looking at what I collected over the past quarter century.

So I guess I feel a little defeated when I can't get stuff done. I've been working on a giant stamp collection for six months (which is very closed to done being processed, all that's left is some pictures of some stuff), and tonight I put all my new banknotes away in the storage boxes in alphabetical order so I can find them quickly at the shop if they sell.

Sometimes I'm defeated that an idea I had to make some good money didn't pan out... I literally took a bath on my auctions on Sunday (if you could only see what was on the covered up price stickers... the sales were awful). But I think it's ebbs and flows, and I remind myself this is only money. My success here doesn't define me as a person.

C.

[sin-n-dex]

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@sakic92710 wrote:

Thanks!  I am not a religious person at all.  No superstitions either.  Yet - there was 5-6 times in the past 2 years where I was in need of money on a particular day & found it handed to me.  As if someone was looking over me.  lol  Last summer, I was short $500 on rent.  On that very day, I tried a scratch ticket & won $500.  3 months later, I was short about $75 to cover an automatic withdraw.  Again - tried a ticket & won $100.  All of my luck did not happen via tickets but something would occur & I would have what I needed right on time.  2024 is a different animal though!  lol

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I'm superstitious. If a package comes back as INAD, I never try to resell it because I believe it's tainted. They go back to the coin shop and become their problem. I had two coins come back that aren't the coinshop's and they're sitting on my desk (since months ago) because I don't want to relist them.

C.

[chapeau-noir]

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@sin-n-dex wrote:

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@sakic92710 wrote:

Thanks!  I am not a religious person at all.  No superstitions either.  Yet - there was 5-6 times in the past 2 years where I was in need of money on a particular day & found it handed to me.  As if someone was looking over me.  lol  Last summer, I was short $500 on rent.  On that very day, I tried a scratch ticket & won $500.  3 months later, I was short about $75 to cover an automatic withdraw.  Again - tried a ticket & won $100.  All of my luck did not happen via tickets but something would occur & I would have what I needed right on time.  2024 is a different animal though!  lol

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I'm superstitious. If a package comes back as INAD, I never try to resell it because I believe it's tainted. They go back to the coin shop and become their problem. I had two coins come back that aren't the coinshop's and they're sitting on my desk (since months ago) because I don't want to relist them.

C.

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Every return I've had, I've been able to sell again pretty quickly. All it means is that it didn't suit one person, but it may suit many others. The item itself wasn't at fault.

[wastingtime101]

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

@sakic92710 

I have read your posts thru the years and you've stated your ups and downs ( mostly downs).

     You need a plan and selling online full time is not a good fit for you. You don't have the inventory,  the sourcing funds or emergency funds. This all needs to change.

     Start by saving just $8.00 per week, I don't care where you get it, turn in some bottles, lottery tickets but stick away $8 bucks and don't touch it for 6 months. At the end of 6 months increase the amount $2.00 and keep doing this.

     Get a part time job somewhere, anywhere, sports store, janitorial work. Continue to sell on ebay and your flea market booth part time and get your stats on ebay up, your falling.

     You really seem like a nice fella, you are pleasant here on the forum but the time is now to get a PLAN!

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In addition to formulating a solid plan @sakic92710 , I'm going to chime in with some serious advice.

Online selling is tough. When you're doing it alone, especially when your sales are down, it can have a serious impact to your mental health.

In order to formulate a plan as @silverstatetreasureboxes wisely suggested, you need to be in the frame of mind to form that plan and follow through with execution.

Take it one step at a time and if you need assistance, look to what your local community / region offers. You're in Canada with free healthcare, right? I know the waits are long, but get on the list to speak with someone. Remember that speaking with someone does not mean there is anything wrong with you. Everybody needs support sometimes and that's what speaking with a counselor can be for you.

Not intending to make any presumptions about you specifically, just addressing you since you're the one that brought up the discussion topic. Hoping anybody that's in a serious funk can take something positive from this post. Good luck.

[sin-n-dex]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

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Take it one step at a time and if you need assistance, look to what your local community / region offers. You're in Canada with free healthcare, right? I know the waits are long, but get on the list to speak with someone. Remember that speaking with someone does not mean there is anything wrong with you. Everybody needs support sometimes and that's what speaking with a counselor can be for you.

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In Canada to have someone "to speak with" would be a counsellor or psychologist, these are paid for with employer benefits packages (or cost around $200 per hour session). In Canada a psychiatrist won't see you unless you need medication, and even then it's 10 minute visits every few months to make sure the medication is working.

I've been on the wait list for a psychiatrist for four years and meanwhile medication is prescribed by a family doctor (because I'm lucky enough to have a primary care physician).

Just saying our free health care is not practical health care.

However they did launch a crisis text/talk line that can be used in a crisis situation if you need someone to speak with "right now". That service is free for all Canadian residents.

C.