Where did all the antique sellers go?

[sparklingbabyponies]

I noticed that many of my favorite antique sellers don't sell anymore like they use to years ago. Where did they go?

[dbfolks166mt]

     Depending on how many years ago they may have retired and found other things to do. They may have diversified, or moved, to alternate platforms/venues. Their inventory may have been exhausted or they sold off all their collection. Difficult to to say but sellers, and buyers, come and go on eBay as well as other ecommerce venues all the time just like corporations and businesses. Sears, KMart, Block Buster..... used to be major retailers. 

[kelekt]

Ebay is not the go-to for cool stuff like antiques/vintage/collectibles anymore - better finds are either local or other venues  (Ebay is basically a walmart / amazon wannabe now from what I'm seeing - mostly mainstream cheap mass produced stuff)

I barely bother trying to sell or buy here anymore.  it's a shame...used to be the best, now it's the worst 😞

around here everyones selling vintage / antiques locally now (FBMP local groups, auctions, estate sales, pop-ups, etc)

[slyders_finds]

You must not shop much on Ebay. I constantly find unique stuff. 

[gotta-have-it-collectables]

Fantastic Question eBay???

I see eBay wanting to be a BIG BOX Store Not the Cool Collectors site it one was.

My sales have tanked from 1k+ a month to $100 a week this year!!!!

Great place to buy a TV but so is Walmart and I can drive there and be home and watching a TV Commercial for ETSY in an hour.

[gotta-have-it-collectables]

EBay used to be a major retailer too!

What happened?

[rond2]

Ebay chased them off with category changes and search function changes that make it almost impossible to browse for antiques and collectibles any more

[kabilab]

Spark,

I do NOT have any personal experience with antiques, BUT, a few dealers with whom I have conversed on the subject, stated that younger folks had different interests. The profit no longer warranted their time and investment at auctions and sales at flea markets.

[dbfolks166mt]

EBay used to be a major retailer too!

What happened?

Competition fueled in a large part due to the pandemic. I believe Amazon's third party sellers now constitute over 50% of their sales which is a HUGE shift. 

[atlasesattic]

I used to do pretty good on my vintage and antique when I first started selling here about 3 yrs ago, but not as much lately, so now instead of strictly collectibles I have added a lot more different categories from new to old and handmade, even my victorian trade cards have slowed down too..

[sextons-sweet-deals]

You are so correct!

I played around yesterday revising some listings. I was wondering why I don't get offers or sales on my vintage Notre Dame Yearbooks. 

I remember when eBay did some type of change probably 3+ years ago in which some categories were combined / condensed. 

It used to be that if you entered Notre Dame Yearbook in your search, that is what you got. Now if you do that today you get yearbooks, magazines, programs, and other related items. 

To narrow my search down today on eBay, I have to ender "Notre Dame Yearbook". I have to include the quotation marks. It then filters all the stuff out.

Back to yesterday. I entered "Notre Dame Yearbook" and then filtered by nearest. I never found my books listed. I decided to revise them. I took out the word 'University' and submitted the revision. I waited a while and then repeated my search. My listings popped up. 

just a mess!

[monica-sells]

I am still waiting for ANYONE to say

"If you're not sure what it's worth look it up at "...FBMP local groups, auctions, estate sales, pop-ups..."

to see what they sell for.......

Almost exclusively, the response is EBAY......

when that changes, so will I

You are not looking if you can't find unique stuff

[carolynnq]

Antiques still do well. Not massive pieces, but smaller pieces. Here in the San Francisco Bay area, there are several flea markets that sell only antique and vintage items (Alameda and San Rafael French Market, for example). Those markets are packed with vendors and buyers. Few people have a house furnished totally with antiques these days, but use individual pieces here and there.

The cost of shipping has risen so much that shipping is a larger percentage of total sale price than it used to be, which makes it hard for buyers to get a good deal. And returns...it's a huge risk for sellers to sell heavy items and then have to pay return shipping if a buyer claims NAD.

There was a huge exodus of antique sellers to RL and other sites back in 2008. A new fee structure and other changes were the last straw for a lot of sellers, so a lot of sellers jumped ship. That's when I started selling on amazon and ended up having 10 times more items listed there than here. [Now, I prefer selling on eBay and am starting to wind down on Amazon.] Back then, one of the sellers I hated to see go was Bruce Hershenon. He had movie poster auctions that ended every Sunday night. He had a huge following. And the people bidding on his auctions were shopping on ebay while they waited for the auctions they were bidding on to end. Bruce tried to work something out with eBay, Bruce started his own auction site, which is still prospering today. (From wikipedia: "...In 2008, after selling approximately 330,000 vintage movie posters on eBay, Hershenson began selling exclusively on his own website, due to an objection with changes to eBay's rules and increases in their listing fees...."

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

ebay has been neglecting antiques for years...in my opinion, this neglect wasn't as serious years ago, when ebay had less competition. But in today's world, where ebay faces serious online AND offline competition in this category (and many others), ebay's insistence on marketing and focusing only certain Focus Categories (such as sneakers, designer handbags, luxury watches, etc) is an unsustainable strategy, but one ebay seems determined to follow to the bitter end.

Meg Whitman always said : "Sellers go where the buyers are" and , back then, online, that was ebay. Today, buyers are scattered all over many different sites (as well as in the B&M world), but Meg is still right: Sellers will go where they find the buyers.

Unfortunately for ebay, today that is not necessarily ebay.

[genv]

In today's 'tap, tap, tap' on pictures on a tiny screen phone, where people do not read, anyone selling 'age character' pieces, which may be: large, heavy, time consuming to pack, etc., is at RISK... Any buyer can exercise the right to return any item, for any reason, on the seller's dime... The seller's investment in time, to source, clean, research, measure, photo, describe, pack, ship, plus, fees on item, postage, tax... negates most profit, or, a living wage, on so many things... Better to sell local if possible... Buyer inspects, likes, pays, handshake, done.