This is going to be a rough year, for sure.

[bargainsandbaubles]

I don't like to doom and gloom, but I have to also be realistic with myself, especially where buying and selling is concerned.

I have been an eBay seller since 2007 and have rolled with all the changes on both the buying and selling side.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic has blind sided me and has been without a doubt, one of the worst unpredictable changes to my 14 year long selling career.

Most of my sources for inventory are gone, probably forever. There is one giant flea market near me that has permanently shut down due to the pandemic. Unless someone else buys the area, it will never be open again. 

I'd say about 90% of all the auction places near me have gone online only. They all tell me it will be like this either forever or for a very long time.

It was not so bad at first until most of them started offering shipping. So you went from bidding against the local crowd to the entire country. It's really just another form of eBay now. Since they all take credit cards, people have gone stupid with the amount they pay for things. I have tried buying some tools and other things for my garage, and often I see stuff selling for what I could go to Home Depot or Lowe's and get the same thing for, without paying an 18% buyer's premium on top of it.

It really makes no sense, either. If you watch the news, the country is broke, and many people are still out of work and struggling, yet lately people have been spending money at auctions like they won the powerball.

Goodwill and other thrift stores have also become a waste of time. Goodwill has ramped up the amount of stuff they pull for their own online auctions.

Granted, this is not my only source of income, and I'm very lucky to still have a job.

Has anyone else here had to make some serious adjustments?

[farmalljr]

It takes WORK to source, and while it's true, sources are drying up, if you want to "survive" you have to be looking for opportunities. 

I am full time self employed. Since this has all happened, yes, some sources have dried up. But I have new sources too. When one door has shut, two more have opened (thank you Father!). If I stopped buying today, I have enough inventory to list for a year. 

For someone with little time to invest in sourcing, you may not make it if you can't find a source for products. You get out what you put in, in this business. Sourcing all over the country, is going to be the new normal. While what you are saying IS true about local auctions, it's not always the case. Today's auction may see stupid high prices, that doesn't mean the next one will. There are still plenty of deals to be had. You just have to learn to walk away when it's bad, and buy like a fool when it's good. 

Sourcing is a skill of fine art. It takes dedication and time to learn it. Three absolute skills anyone needs in this business is SOURCING, SHIPPING, and CUSTOMER SERVICE. Without mastering those three, your ship is sunk.

With tax returns and "extra" stimulus money coming, the prices will be high for a little while. Now is the time to sell, probably not buy. Doesn't mean you can't find deals though. 

[dhbookds]

Your conclusions may be true for you...........but I don't think they are universally true........

We had no g sales til June in the area.......and then they went gang busters......so I have no doubt that will continue in the spring......  Goodwills are packed with stuff...........I sat in the car last Thurs and watched car after truck unload donations.  And yes, we can still find stuff at very good prices........

There is always the argument to be made in poor economic times that 2nd hand stuff will do better than in better economic situation. 

Nothing in retail is guaranteed..........there are ups and downs........and you just have to change or adjust.....  We had/have plenty of inventory so can continue to list even if sales are down......or up...... 

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@farmalljr 

Your post is excellent! Very optimistic and so true.

     @bargainsandbaubles. You just have to think outside of the box now. Exp: when you see people having a moving sale, give them your name and # and tell them you'll pick up whatever is left or they don't want.

     Visit smaller thrift shops in another area, Goodwill and Salvation Army are big businesses and are getting very expensive and I think they are way to commercialize and have big overheads for my taste.

     Auctions and fleas will come back, there is too much of a demand for them and people generally enjoy them, esp Church and Fire dept sales ( they need donation $$).

I volunteer 2x weekly at our Thrift shop and have for 7 yrs. Our town is full of very generous people and you wouldn't believe the great collectables and clothing that come in that door ( last week I landed a 1950s original gumball machine). Maybe you could volunteer also, you get 1st pick at a reduced price and it's a great sourcing adventure!

Treasures are out there! You just got to be creative now to find them! Best to you!

[southern*sweet*tea]

I've never had good sources locally. No yard sales out here, no flea markets and the thrift stores aren't very good for resellers, unless you like clothes or newer stuff (no real vintage). They're fine for buying for yourself, though.  I've always gotten most of my inventory right here on Ebay.

The stuff I sell is long tail and targeted to collectors, most of whom are people with disposable incomes.  I really haven't had to make any adjustments.

I realize I am quite lucky and blessed.

[mrdutch1001]

While there are factors that may affect you & your circumstance, I don't believe that the issues pertaining to you are felt by the millions of online sellers. A small percentage of sellers may be able to relate to similar factors & circumstance but highly doubt it is widespread.

For myself I have ample inventory as selling off 50 years of collecting has been ongoing for years..

and for myself the past 3 months have seen more sales on eBay than during the previous 9+ months...

[bargainsandbaubles]

I mean I think some of the success of sellers is also location dependent as well.

I've tried privately buying before with no success. As in putting up flyers in gas stations, ads in the newspaper, craigslist, etc. I even went as far as one year to have a radio advertisement I got as a discount because I knew a DJ. Literally not a single person called.

I had about 20k socked away a few months into the pandemic and you thought people would be calling left and right wanting to sell things to cover bills. This wasn't the case.

You would of thought once restrictions were lessened, people would of previous been stuck at home cleaning out their attic, garage, etc and having yard sales, didn't happen either. Goodwill didn't have tons more inventory like I thought they would.

People around here are strange, they won't sell something unless they want to, meaning no response to a want ad in the paper, but they will happily take it to an auction and have 30-35% taken off the top right away.

[chapeau-noir]

I'm in the same boat, with thrifts closing, others becoming too expensive and most of the good stuff being put online.  I see it a bit differently though - this was inevitable and I never saw reselling on eBay as being in any way a long term solution.  In fact, I'm surprised that it has lasted this long - if I ran a thrift you can bet I'd be offering my items to the world instead of just down the block.  It's just evolution and eBay is just another site now.  Covid may have pushed it along a bit, but it was bound to happen. It doesn't make it easier for you or me, but I saw this coming down the road some years ago.

[moondogblues]

"Has anyone else here had to make some serious adjustments?"

I don't sell here anymore, so there is that.  I do buy though.  The adjustments that hubicans and I have made are (we are musicians mostly and vintage dealers and artists/craftspeople) and this whole thing has hamstrung us.  No Flea Market (vintage and crafts), no gigs (were mostly at senior centers and retirement homes now as we are old too).  No art and wines...darn, love the wine part.

We are afraid to go to town except for food pickup only...but with the new variant how long will that be safe.

I am a history buff and have read extensively about the 1918 Spanish (a misnomer) Flu pandemic...this outbreak is worse.  Not to be a total Debbie Downer all the governments in the WORLD need to get together and figure out a way for us to survive.  We can't stay hunkered down forever, and the bickering and rule changing has to stop.  The flip flop has to stop.  Where are we now and where are we going?

[moondogblues]

LOVE that...buy like a fool when it's good!  Good for hoarders uh hem...buyers like me.

[moondogblues]

"I realize I am quite lucky and blessed."

That was very 'sweet' to say...I am a bit emotional about things right now and I needed that positivity.  Thank you for that.

[moondogblues]

 I also saw it, but until Covid the Flea Market was good for us.  eBay was for a while (for years)  but not for ever, tried twice.  Etsy also and various other online sites, not good for us.  We will most likely be among those whose estates are dismantled by non-family and disbursed to the winds.  Sad.  My son will not care that I have the original artwork to some very famous book covers.  Or an Art Nouveau jardinaire from 1917...or a 1912 piano.  Or one small glass which is worth 100 bucks...very rare.  500 cookbooks.  1000 vinyl records.  Signed 1sts/Sci Fi, Horror, Poetry, Children's Books.

Golden Age Children's books.  Arthur Rackham, etc.  Oz books.  And much more, fabrics, laces, vintage clothes, beads...thousands of them.  My life was much too short to make all of them into other things, I tried my best.  Bracelets, handbags, totebags, earrings...I am sure all the crafts people out there hear this and can relate. So many ideas, so little time. 

As I am sure that many of us 'older' people do, we look around at the wonders we have brought into our lives and hope they won't be thrown away heedlessly.  The thought that they might breaks my heart.

[udejavu]

Beautifully said. I near retirement and will be closing up store soon. With lack of inventory options, ever increasing postage rates, thrift store shams,  etc., just not worth it anymore. The only thing the kids will want is your vinyl. For some reason, they are fascinated with it and that is good. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@udejavu wrote:

Beautifully said. I near retirement and will be closing up store soon. With lack of inventory options, ever increasing postage rates, thrift store shams,  etc., just not worth it anymore. The only thing the kids will want is your vinyl. For some reason, they are fascinated with it and that is good. 

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You might find the thread on vinyl somewhere on this board interesting insofar as that goes. 

Markets in etailing change so quickly due to its relative youth, and there have been so many iterations just in the last 20 years, that staying in the game comes down to keeping up with those changes, and the response of B&Ms and sourcing opportunities in reaction to the maturation of etailing.  I was just reading a trade article about Amazon's steady loss of resellers simply due to market changes, so it's really industry wide not just 'a small percentage' despite it not affecting everyone the same. 

I've never collected anything beyond my old books and newspapers, so when I go there won't be much to get rid of beyond the books and a bunch of bike equipment.  I'm still getting rid of stuff around here, paring down, clearing out - sold a bunch here and some other websites - getting rid of old inventory.  I retired a while ago and finally went from selling FT to just hobby selling (mostly to earn investment income as I retired when I was only 66 and didn't wait until 70) - this had been a stop gap after being laid off from the data mine.

I don't mind saying that I'm happy to be back to part-time selling as I like just doing one-offs, selling old equipment, interesting clothing pieces and the like, but sourcing is getting tougher for what I like to do, and the lack of being able to travel isn't helping as I would find the coolest stuff on my wanderings.  This past summer I was doing deliveries with my bike and trailer for people shut in by the plague, curb surfing and the like. 

[monster-deals]

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@bargainsandbaubles wrote:

Most of my sources for inventory are gone, probably forever.

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You need to get crafty then.

I buy and flip on ebay from FB MP, estate sales, church sales, thrift stores, curb alerts, garage sales, auctions, walk-ins at the boss' B&M heck I even have ebay searches saved because I know people don't research properly.

I could be out every day 12 hours a day.