For any others roughly my age (mid 50s) who anticipate retiring in a decade, have you thought about whether you want to keep plugging along here for that long? I've been making roughly the same income for years (combined ebay and Amazon) but it feels like more and more work just to stay the same. More listings all the time. If this trend continues I will have to find anough inventory to have a much larger store, and it's not at all a given that I will be able to source that much.
I suppose the day will come when I just can't find enough inventory to make sales, or my back gives out (I sell books and they are heavy). My goal of years past was to ramp up the business once the kids left home, but that hasn't happened in the sense of many more sales. 
Amazon is somewhat better in the equation of list more=sell more. But ebay has always been an important supplement to my sales there.
@keziak wrote:For any others roughly my age (mid 50s) who anticipate retiring in a decade, have you thought about whether you want to keep plugging along here for that long? I've been making roughly the same income for years (combined ebay and Amazon) but it feels like more and more work just to stay the same. More listings all the time. If this trend continues I will have to find anough inventory to have a much larger store, and it's not at all a given that I will be able to source that much.
I suppose the day will come when I just can't find enough inventory to make sales, or my back gives out (I sell books and they are heavy). My goal of years past was to ramp up the business once the kids left home, but that hasn't happened in the sense of many more sales.
I'm already retired...although disability made it a touch earlier than I would have liked. My husband still teaches, so I like doing this during the day. When he retires I may think of it....but I do like doing this. It will be a hard call. It's very convenient for me.
I agree that the problem lies not in difficulty of listing. It's the acquisition of fresh inventory and time spent listing and grooming inventory. I also have a constraint on space though this year my family helped me bring new bookcases into the house and that has so far taken the pressure off. But if the day comes I need to have an inventory of hundreds of more books just to hold my income steady, well, that's going to be a problem.
If I retired I could actually READ more books! 
@keziak wrote:I agree that the problem lies not in difficulty of listing. It's the acquisition of fresh inventory and time spent listing and grooming inventory. I also have a constraint on space though this year my family helped me bring new bookcases into the house and that has so far taken the pressure off. But if the day comes I need to have an inventory of hundreds of more books just to hold my income steady, well, that's going to be a problem.
If I retired I could actually READ more books!
For me the big issues will be hubby retiring. He doesn't really have any hobbies except cutting the grass....lol. He's not too crazy when he's off during the week and I'm doing a regular 9 - 5 on here. Spoilt little man.
that would totally be me after the last of my contacts ran out. 
Though I wouldn't just stack books on the ground for them to be rained on.
