I'm curious......... | Selling

If I can reasonably pay to have my shopping done, I usually will. I love Walmart+ delivery—it may cost a bit more than doing it myself, but I avoid driving, parking, navigating crowds, waiting in checkout lines, loading the car, driving home, and unloading everything.

Plus, there’s all the time saved by skipping those steps.

I’d rather go straight to the unloading at home, so I’m happy to pay extra for the convenience....😍

ᓚᘏᗢ

12345jamesstamps

·4 months ago

8862 View listings

Living in San Francisco...we have no Walmarts.

And to be clear...most of the younger crowd here do not drive...they use Uber or whatever.

And the young crowd mostly order online for what they need.

So it's not unusual to see an Amazon, USPS, Fedex and UPS truck all on our block at the same time.

krazzykats

·4 months ago

If you head north to Portland, it’s pretty much the same. I think there’s only one Walmart left in Beaverton or something—probably due to profit vs theft.

Another great thing about online shopping is being able to skip the hassle/irritation of waiting at locked display cases by placing an order online.... 🙂 I’m all about keeping things simple and easy.

Amazon has shown up at my house now for four days in a row—thanks to my brother, who I’m pretty sure orders online every single day, lol.

But who knew you could get deliveries on Saturdays, Sundays, and even holidays! Amazon do!

ᓚᘏᗢ

duffy4444

·4 months ago

10887 View listings

@sakic92710 wrote:
How do sellers make consistent eBay sales with items that are readily available at neighborhood hardware stores or dept. stores such as Wal-Mart, but sellers who post items that are difficult to find cannot generate any sales? Is it only a mystery to me? lol

@sakic92710 :

I'll answer the very first part of your question...

There is a significant change happening these days in the behavior of shopping among the populace.

A lot more shoppers, including our household, are buying these same items online so they can get them delivered right to their mailbox or front porch, sometimes even in the middle of the night (Amazon), and avoid the following:

- paying high gas prices going to the store

- wasting extra time going to the store

- being part of the working class instead of the shopping class

- having to deal with screaming kids that should be at home napping (Walmart's the worst)

- finding the store is out of just what you need (Walmart's really bad there, too)

- often higher prices at the local store

- I'm sure others can add to this

Cheers, Duffy

meme6253

·4 months ago

3989 View listings

I don't know where you get your information from, I will agree that common items sell well here,I'm sure there are various reasons for that, One is it could be sold for less here than at your local store, I have found many items like that, As for difficult to find or rare items in collectibles & other categories can sell very well here, You might want to check your information source again.

ccomic

·4 months ago

118 View listings

These are good explanations, but I'm not sure the numbers work out. Yes, someone living in the middle of nowhere is more likely to shop online, but are there enough of those "someones" to establish a trend that includes populated areas? I'm inclined to believe that common items have more sales simply because there are more buyers across the entire buying demographic.

For example, Google AI says this:
Approximately 14% to 20% of Americans live at least 50 miles away from a major city with a population of 500,000 or more.

The buying patterns of 20% would have to be 4 times as active as the buying patterns of the other 80% to even be noticeable.

On the other hand, you could be selling an original Picasso and there would probably be less than 500 legitimately interested buyers in the country (as in willing and able to pay market price), and I imagine none of them browse eBay. So it could be rare and valuable and still difficult to sell for a fair price.

gurlcat

·4 months ago

@ccomic Well just driving IN a city is its own kind of nightmare. Mobile is decent-sized, but there's no freeway (too many historic structures that would have to be destroyed), so trip across town means lots of starting and stopping. I once counted the stoplights to my favorite antique store: 53.

And that's somewhere I really WANT to go. If we're talking light bulbs or label stickers, I aint driving even half that far, fah-get about it.

gone.c-33

·4 months ago

0 View listings

Im lucky enough to have a grocery store, pharmacy and dollar store within 2 minutes walking distance from my house. I would definitely order everything from those stores online if I had to drive there.

My local Michael’s used to offer same day delivery for $9.99. Last time I needed yarn for a new project, it wasn’t available. It was a slow Thursday evening after dinner I had nothing else to do, I figured what the hey. I knew what I wanted, checked that they had it in stock and made a list. I was in and out in 15 minutes.

Somehow hit traffic on my way back, there were snow removal operations going on everywhere, I got turned around and almost got lost which hasn’t happened to me in 20 years. Took me almost an hour to get back.

If I could give zero stars, I WOULD.

christworks

·4 months ago

1406 View listings

@ccomic wrote:
These are good explanations, but I'm not sure the numbers work out. Yes, someone living in the middle of nowhere is more likely to shop online, but are there enough of those "someones" to establish a trend that includes populated areas? I'm inclined to believe that common items have more sales simply because there are more buyers across the entire buying demographic.

For example, Google AI says this:
Approximately 14% to 20% of Americans live at least 50 miles away from a major city with a population of 500,000 or more.comedies is higher or else they wouldn't be a commodity.

The buying patterns of 20% would have to be 4 times as active as the buying patterns of the other 80% to even be noticeable.

On the other hand, you could be selling an original Picasso and there would probably be less than 500 legitimately interested buyers in the country (as in willing and able to pay market price), and I imagine none of them browse eBay. So it could be rare and valuable and still difficult to sell for a fair price.

Of course there are more people on eBay looking for toothpaste than Picassos. That is why I stated there is a demand side to the equation. You asked how someone makes consistant sales on common items. You suggested it was a mystery. We've pointed out to you why those type of items may be easier to sell. It should go without saying that the demand for commodities is higher or else they wouldn't be a commodity. The demand isn't only higher, it is generally consistant. Commodities and consumables are less impacted by large-scale and microeconomic problems. There can even be a spike in demand for those type of items on eBay, however, when there are economic pressures. This is why I say you cannot blame the economy when your sales are down. People never stop buying, and one man's bad economy is another man's windfall.

I do not know that your citation for Google AI is accuruate. That is some very shallow research. Even if it is accurate, your 50-mile data point is too far. Most people are not going to travel 50 miles to pick up a $20 widget, not when gas is $4/gallon and probably not when it is $2/gallon. I'd aruge maybe 25-30 miles is about as far as they will go and only if they have other things to do or pick up. If you only need widget A, and otherwise don't need to travel to a larger city for another week or more, then you can get online and order it.

Of course time is factor as well. These buyers are apt to order from someone close by because they perceive it will arrive faster. (I doubt most buyers know about a 'handling' time or where to find it. eBay doesn't make it easy.) Closer buyers are willing to pay slightly more in shipping cost for those items because time is a factor.

An original Picasso probably shouldn't be sold on eBay, so your example if flawed. OOAK originals should be sold through auction houses, which is where serious (and wealthy) art collectors shop. Those buyers are not on eBay because they know eBay comes with too much risk - for both the buyer and the seller.

ccomic

·4 months ago

118 View listings

@christworks wrote:
Of course there are more people on eBay looking for toothpaste than Picassos. That is why I stated there is a demand side to the equation. You asked how someone makes consistant sales on common items. You suggested it was a mystery. We've pointed out to you why those type of items may be easier to sell.

Actually I didn't ask anything (not the OP). Just making an observation that there may be more to it than just "rural buyers".

krazzykats

·4 months ago

I live in a tiny town with fewer than 4,000 people.

We have a grocery store, Dollar General, pharmacy, post office, a couple of Mexican restaurants, thrift stores and some salons.

There’s not a lot here, but most immediate needs are covered.

I use Walmart+ delivery, spending just 10–15 minutes reordering online the same items, since the nearest WM store is more than 50 miles round trip.

I save hours by not physically going shopping each week.

eBay covers my wants, while Amazon supplies my jeans, pet products, office items, and storage needs. I occasionally shop at other places online, but eBay, Walmart, and Amazon are my go-to sites.

ᓚᘏᗢ

chapeau-noir

·4 months ago

Klaatu barada nikto6593 View listings

I grew up in a series of podunk places where 4000 people was 'the big town' lol. There really are a lot of merchandise deserts - exactly the kind of places where one had to order from the Sears and Wards catalogs that @soh.maryl mentioned.

It was quite a day when the giant Sears catalog arrived in the mail and was hefted into the kitchen. ::cue The Man on Page 602::

krazzykats

·4 months ago

I didn’t grow up here—I moved here from a fairly large city of about 400,000 people in Southern California 21 years ago, when I was around 50 years old.

Big city girl in itty bitty town...but I grew to like it. 😎

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chapeau-noir

·4 months ago

Klaatu barada nikto6593 View listings

@krazzykats wrote:

I didn’t grow up here—I moved here from a fairly large city of about 400,000 people in Southern California 21 years ago, when I was around 50 years old.

Big city girl in itty bitty town...but I grew to like it. 😎

ᓚᘏᗢ

I used to take the train from my podunk town to stay with my grandparents in NYC - the first time I did it I was 13 and trying to figure out their dual subway system. It was incredibly exciting, though! After that I lived in places large and small - I finally learned to just grow where I was planted lol. Where you live now is really nice.

keziak

·4 months ago

25619 View listings

Same here. grew up in the Catskills in the 70s. Went twice a week to the nearest big town otherwise it was mail order. I remember ordering the pretty dresses for school events.

keziak

·4 months ago

25619 View listings

twice a YEAR I meant

soh.maryl

·4 months ago

I hear ya! Early in the 50s, had a husband in school, had a full time job, and two children under 2 yrs old as well as a father drifting into Alzheimer's. There were quite a few well known mail order sources then and we used them a lot. One of the online catalog sources, I recall, would have little girls' dresses at 3/$10 or so. One dress would be lovely, the other two not so much, but my girls were toddler and they didn't really care.

ccomic

·4 months ago

118 View listings

@soh.maryl wrote:
I hear ya! Early in the 50s, had a husband in school, had a full time job, and two children under 2 yrs old as well as a father drifting into Alzheimer's. There were quite a few well known mail order sources then and we used them a lot. One of the online catalog sources, I recall, would have little girls' dresses at 3/$10 or so. One dress would be lovely, the other two not so much, but my girls were toddler and they didn't really care.

You must be coming up on 100 then. Congrats on doing so well and staying so active!

soh.maryl

·4 months ago

Have tried very hard not to mention my age here because evidently I've used that information in some nefarious manner, but, yes, you outed me -- I was born on May 24th, l933, in Pittsburgh, PA.

gurlcat

·4 months ago

@soh.maryl wrote:
I hear ya! Early in the 50s, had a husband in school, had a full time job, and two children under 2 yrs old as well as a father drifting into Alzheimer's. There were quite a few well known mail order sources then and we used them a lot. One of the online catalog sources, I recall, would have little girls' dresses at 3/$10 or so. One dress would be lovely, the other two not so much, but my girls were toddler and they didn't really care.

@soh.maryl Did you also sew at all? Way-back-when stories are what I would love to see you share more of, if/when you feel like it. I know you thought I was mocking all old people when I said 'geezers' that one time, but nothing could be further from the truth. My cousins and I all called our grandparents "The Geezers" as a term of endearment. I was extremely fortunate to have many grandparents and great-grandparents who lived well into my adulthood, so I got to really know them and their stories. I also worked for a few years as a geriatric nurse's aid, first in a nursing home and then in hospice care, so I got to know dozens more elders pretty intimately; a few of them even regarded me as a sort-of 'honorary grandchild'.

But one of the saddest things about people departing this world is, once they're gone there is absolutely no chance to ask them any more questions, and any stories they left untold will remain as such forever.

soh.maryl

·4 months ago

Thank you. I do enjoy sewing now and did so as my girls got into school, but at that time, it was all I could do to keep our domestic ship sailing upright what with one thing and another. My memory of those years is sketchy at best. Think of it as being in a frantic hangover. For instance, was a medical transcriptionist in a Radiology Dept at a local hospital, worked six 7 hour days to accommodate my family schedule. After typing those reports, I rode the elevator to floors 2 through 5 to deliver them. Was always careful to stand away from the elevator walls on my travels because I was afraid I'd just slide down, slump to the floor and fall asleep there, clutching undelivered Xray reports in my tired hands.

At this time, there is just one of my grandchildren who's interested in my "tales of yore", but I don't see him very often.

gurlcat

·4 months ago

@soh.maryl Wow, talk about 'dead on your feet'! I have to ask, did you wear heels or flats? My great-grandmother (born 1908) worked as an administrator in a huge Peter Pan bakery in Iowa that supplied baked goods regionally, but one of the shops was right there at the bakery. She had to enter through the shop to get to her office. She always brought a pair of flat-bottom shoes to wear during most of her shift, but wore her stylish heels while entering and exiting through the shop, also at lunchtime.

She always made a point to say that the heels weren't for any men in the shop (she was married), it was for the 'shop girls' who were also her friends.

Screen Shot 2026-05-27 at 1.34.42 PM.png

redlinear

·4 months ago

42544 View listings

@sakic92710 wrote:
How do sellers make consistent eBay sales with items that are readily available at neighborhood hardware stores or dept. stores such as Wal-Mart, but sellers who post items that are difficult to find cannot generate any sales? Is it only a mystery to me? lol

I bought a case of a certain brand of construction adhesive on eBay for $54.00.
It'll be a couple weeks before I need it.
Best price locally for a case is $79.00.
And I don't have drive 90 miles to get it and spend 2hrs to do it.

fabrics24

·4 months ago

24 View listings

Plenty of people have explained that commodity deserts exists, but to put it in perspective;

The nearest Walmart to me is nearly a 45-minute drive, and I'm fortunate enough to live in a suburban area with lots of stores. Rural folks might have to drive upwards of 2 hours or more to get to a hardware store or Walmart. Shipping being less annoying than buying gas is a very real possibility for some people!

gurlcat

·4 months ago

@fabrics24 -gas which is now more expensive than milk, and imagine driving all that way only to find the item is not in stock at the store.

grann-4629

·4 months ago

47 View listings

... and imagine driving all that way only to find the item is not in stock at the store.

Right on! Can you imagine what that explorer in Alaska thought after weeks of sailing down an inlet only to find it dead ends and then he has to sail all the way back and try another one looking for that passage.

Or the Griswolds (sp?) when they finally got to Wally's World😎😎

keziak

·4 months ago

25619 View listings

I buy what may be common books if I bothered to hunt for them in case they happen to be at the used bookstore or at Barnes & Noble. I don't feel like the hunt. I buy from mega sellers here. Or maybe a smaller seller if they have the lowest price for thrashed copies which are fine by me. I used to buy DVDs here but nor really anymore.

OTOH, I am a frequent buyer on the River. I am spoiled by the fast delivery. I don't match that in my sales but now that I am selling less I have no excuse not to get with it.

funfactorychannel

·4 months ago

10687 View listings

As long as prices are same you can sell it that means your profit now likes in your buy price and how you will charge for shipping

thelongball

·4 months ago

29845 View listings

Just Luck of the draw sometimes

squinkercat59

·4 months ago

18318 View listings

I try to stay away from normal, every day items, and my sales have been okay, reflecting the amount of time I put into working at it. One of the last "ordinary" things I (re)sold was a set of stencils I had bought new at a hardware store and never used, and thought was sealed, that the buyer ended up telling me had been partially used. Put me off of "ordinary" merchandise altogether. My husband will buy pop-culture collectibles in the sale aisle at Walmart (Star Wars, Marvel, Peanuts, Barbie, etc.) and resell them on Ebay, and does fairly well because a lot of that stuff is only available for a certain time and only in certain stores.

luckythewinner

·4 months ago

1162 View listings

@sakic92710 wrote:
How do sellers make consistent eBay sales with items that are readily available at neighborhood hardware stores or dept. stores such as Wal-Mart, but sellers who post items that are difficult to find cannot generate any sales? Is it only a mystery to me? lol

I think your question makes assum,ptions that do not reflect the comples world that we live in.

First off, many people do not live in a "neighborhood", let alone one with a Walmart or a hardware store. And may people have mobility issues. If my only choice was to drive 45 minutes each way to pick up sand paper or batteries, I might pay a premium too.

Secondly, "hard to find" does not always equate to "in demand".

First off, many people live in neighborhoods

gone.c-33

·4 months ago

0 View listings

I specialize in NOS 60s/70s nightwear/sleepwear. I assume that would fall in the category of difficult items to find? I have no trouble finding buyers for my items.

I don’t rely on eBay search results nor do I pay to promote.

I do have a small but loyal following on insta where I share my newest finds and announce my drops. It took a while to grow, and I do invest some time and effort in curating my posts but it does yield results and I enjoy doing it.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques

·4 months ago

3657 View listings

@gone.c-33

Very interesting. I will send you a PM with some questions, as I don't want to take this thread off track....

kibble-net

·4 months ago

8324 View listings

@sakic92710 wrote:
How do sellers make consistent eBay sales with items that are readily available at neighborhood hardware stores or dept. stores such as Wal-Mart, but sellers who post items that are difficult to find cannot generate any sales? Is it only a mystery to me? lol

This is a false hypothesis.

I'm assuming the folks who are selling readily available goods are doing so at a discount, and the unique items you are offering are overpriced.

sakic92710

OP4 months ago

4044 View listings

Don't assume my items are overpriced.

theteamsetguy

·4 months ago

20836 View listings

@kibble-net ,

Good point I never thought of it that way.

tarotfindsandmore

·4 months ago

1570 View listings

Couple of things here...

Common items that are common here in the U.S. are not necessarily common all over the world. There are also many items that are readily available here that are not licensed for retail sales overseas. They're fine for resale but the licensees don't want to pay the fees for international retail sales so resellers can pick up those items at retail and basically charge whatever they like to international buyers. This is especially true of collabs where a company (say a jewelry designer or a coffee brand that wants to create a line associated with a movie or television program) purchases the right to use another company's copyrighted material to create a product line.

Difficult to find items are also, quite often, difficult to sell because they appeal to a very specific niche market. Basically, they're hard to sell for the same reason they were/are hard to find. There is a small supply because there was a small demand. Some of those things see an increase in demand over time, others just fall by the wayside.

Almost all of the tarot decks I sell are long tail items. Many of them take years to sell (though I generally don't have them listed that long, I list them as they sell out). The buying community for $150+ decks is pretty small and many of the hardcore collectors have purchased the decks I sell at the same time I did, so I have to wait until the supply dries up and 1) new collectors find them or 2) established collectors who missed the deck are ready to pick them up (this usually happens when a second edition or a new release revives interest).

soh.maryl

·4 months ago

And, think about it for a moment, quite a few of those difficult to find items are collectibles, or fancier electronics, thus wants not needs. Some of us have had to curtail our shopping for that reason.

christworks

·4 months ago

1406 View listings

@sakic92710

When I sold mostly necessities, many of my buyers were in NYC. I'm talking about basic stuff you can get at CVS that I was selling for twice as much as what my local CVS charges. The reason? Even if a NYC buyer could find it, it was a hassle to get because it was kept under lock and key due to the high theft rate. Even at my higher price, it was still cheaper than what NYC buyers would pay at their local CVS.

@chapeau-noir is also correct. Those of us in cities on either coast, or in big cities in the Midwest, are spoiled. We can go a mile down the road and find almost any modern item we need or want. That's not the case for many people living in rural America.

When the first Wicked movie came out, I went to my local Target and scooped up about $300 worth of Wicked products from the Target Bullseye Playground (the “dollar” section). I was selling $5 Wicked tumblers for $30 here and on other platforms. Many of the places I was shipping them to were towns that didn’t have a Target within 100 miles.

I think you are also wrong in your assumption that sellers who deal in hard-to-find items have a difficult time getting sales. The key is that, whether it’s a hard-to-find item or an everyday item, there has to be some demand for it.

It doesn’t even matter if the item is valuable. An item can be valuable, but not valuable on eBay because there are no buyers on eBay looking for that particular item. Some things are better suited for an antique booth, for example.

You can find nearly everything on eBay, but not nearly everything on eBay will sell.

gurlcat

·4 months ago

@christworks wrote:

It doesn’t even matter if the item is valuable. An item can be valuable, but not valuable on eBay because there are no buyers on eBay looking for that particular item. Some things are better suited for an antique booth, for example.

You can find nearly everything on eBay, but not nearly everything on eBay will sell.

@christworks 100%. So many things a person doesn't know they want until they see it. This old shoe polish for example; I inherited it from my great-grandmother and wouldn't sell it, but it oozes vintage aesthetic. If someone just wanted to decorate their bathroom with vintage things, this would be perfect and they'd probably grab it at an antique booth, but if they never heard of 'Hollywood Sani-White' they wouldn't have that term to use for a search.

gone.c-33

·4 months ago

0 View listings

@gurlcat wrote:
@christworks wrote:

It doesn’t even matter if the item is valuable. An item can be valuable, but not valuable on eBay because there are no buyers on eBay looking for that particular item. Some things are better suited for an antique booth, for example.

You can find nearly everything on eBay, but not nearly everything on eBay will sell.
@christworks 100%. So many things a person doesn't know they want until they see it. This old shoe polish for example; I inherited it from my great-grandmother and wouldn't sell it, but it oozes vintage aesthetic. If someone just wanted to decorate their bathroom with vintage things, this would be perfect and they'd probably grab it at an antique booth, but if they never heard of 'Hollywood Sani-White' they wouldn't have that term to use for a search.

This! I never knew I wanted these before I saw them:

chapeau-noir

·4 months ago

Klaatu barada nikto6593 View listings

@gone.c-33 wrote:
@gurlcat wrote:
@christworks wrote:

It doesn’t even matter if the item is valuable. An item can be valuable, but not valuable on eBay because there are no buyers on eBay looking for that particular item. Some things are better suited for an antique booth, for example.

You can find nearly everything on eBay, but not nearly everything on eBay will sell.
@christworks 100%. So many things a person doesn't know they want until they see it. This old shoe polish for example; I inherited it from my great-grandmother and wouldn't sell it, but it oozes vintage aesthetic. If someone just wanted to decorate their bathroom with vintage things, this would be perfect and they'd probably grab it at an antique booth, but if they never heard of 'Hollywood Sani-White' they wouldn't have that term to use for a search.

This! I never knew I wanted these before I saw them:

^^^^^ Movie props!

@christworks My local CVS locks a lot of their stuff up and we don't even have a high theft rate! The last thing was burn bandages. I had to bang the button at the aisle and wait until someone came out to unlock the door. ?! Burn bandages?

christworks

·4 months ago

1406 View listings

@chapeau-noir wrote:
@gone.c-33 wrote:
@gurlcat wrote:
@christworks wrote:

It doesn’t even matter if the item is valuable. An item can be valuable, but not valuable on eBay because there are no buyers on eBay looking for that particular item. Some things are better suited for an antique booth, for example.

You can find nearly everything on eBay, but not nearly everything on eBay will sell.
@christworks 100%. So many things a person doesn't know they want until they see it. This old shoe polish for example; I inherited it from my great-grandmother and wouldn't sell it, but it oozes vintage aesthetic. If someone just wanted to decorate their bathroom with vintage things, this would be perfect and they'd probably grab it at an antique booth, but if they never heard of 'Hollywood Sani-White' they wouldn't have that term to use for a search.

This! I never knew I wanted these before I saw them:

^^^^^ Movie props!

@christworks My local CVS locks a lot of their stuff up and we don't even have a high theft rate! The last thing was burn bandages. I had to bang the button at the aisle and wait until someone came out to unlock the door. ?! Burn bandages?

At my CVS the guy told me recently that the last group of shoplifters he had walked out with 4 carts full of stuff. He said he asked them to please return the carts. They did. 😐 I don't think there is too much locked down at mine, but it is only a matter of time.

inhawaii

·4 months ago

Ebay's most handsome seller.4976 View listings

@sakic92710 wrote:
How do sellers make consistent eBay sales with items that are readily available at neighborhood hardware stores or dept. stores such as Wal-Mart, but sellers who post items that are difficult to find cannot generate any sales? Is it only a mystery to me? lol

The answer to your question is something my Dad used to say a lot...

"People are St_p_d."

gurlcat

·4 months ago

@sakic92710 wrote:
How do sellers make consistent eBay sales with items that are readily available at neighborhood hardware stores or dept. stores such as Wal-Mart, but sellers who post items that are difficult to find cannot generate any sales?

@sakic92710 What makes you think either of those things are true? Do you know how consistent the average readily-available item seller's sales are? I know for a fact that sellers who post difficult-to-find items can generate great sales.

soh.maryl

·4 months ago

Not all of us have easy access to neighborhood hardware stores or department stores.

And for some of us, that store may be just a walk down the street but we aren't able to mobilize.

Years ago, on a tour to Alaska, we flew over a very small island where there was a lovely log cabin, a motorboat tied up at one side of a dock and a float plane on the other side. There's a consumer who possibly does a lot of on line shopping, even for replacement chain for his saw and coffee for his Keurig.

sakic92710

OP4 months ago

4044 View listings

True, but how many eBay buyers do you really believe are in that situation? 1-2-3% ?

chapeau-noir

·4 months ago

Klaatu barada nikto6593 View listings

@sakic92710 wrote:
True, but how many eBay buyers do you really believe are in that situation? 1-2-3% ?

More than you'd think - I sell clothing to a lot of people in really small towns who can't find what I have to sell locally because the only thing is either the feed n' seed store or a Wally World 30 miles away (which won't have what they want, anyway). I am their personal shopper.

soh.maryl

·4 months ago

We have no way to know, do we?

Between the small towns or rural locations, the wild frontiers, the situations like the Alaskan location I described, and those who cannot go to the store for one reason or another, it could be a significant percentage. And eBay sellers are grateful to be able to serve them.

Our town of about 23K people has been without any store selling a selection of women's clothing for many years, for example. Same for children's clothing. We have a Five Below and a Big Lots. Also, a lot of citizens here have to rely on public transportation, and, even then, the local transit system doesn't serve every shopping center or mall.

Think about it -- back when we had Sears or Wards or other catalogs, they did a good business for a great many years.

luckythewinner

·4 months ago

1162 View listings

@sakic92710 wrote:
True, but how many eBay buyers do you really believe are in that situation? 1-2-3% ?

3% of 125 million is still millions.

stainlessenginecovers

·4 months ago

5572 View listings

@sakic92710 wrote:
True, but how many eBay buyers do you really believe are in that situation? 1-2-3% ?

There are 3007 counties in the USA. 23 States have the fewest counties with many populations under 10,000. A population needs to be over 20,000 for a Walmart or Home Depot even consider being in that county.

More like 20% of the US Population has to drive 30 minutes or more to either of those stores, where it's much easier to just buy online and have things delivered.

tobaccocardyahoo

·4 months ago

5571 View listings

I sell things that are scarce, uncommon and rare. Always have. I have always found enough online buyers for them, at my prices to meet my goals.

Being rare is not enough to make an item desirable to buyers. The item must also have merit and a knowledgeable group of potential customers. And it must be priced at what a collector is willing to pay for it.

The skills required to sell it may include telling a story to educate the buyer. Many of the items I sell are worthless without the story.

soh.maryl

·4 months ago

You're a seller who has studied his market well. Congratulations!

iamalwaysright

·4 months ago

6 View listings

@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

Being rare is not enough to make an item desirable to buyers.

My toenail clippings are pretty rare and buyers don't seem to bite when I list them. 🤔

soh.maryl

·4 months ago