2021 compared to 2020

[keziak]

I was emailing with a friend who has a large Ebay and Amazon business selling, in part, books and media like I do. I said that I am currently selling a lot of the same ilk as last year but having a harder time attracting bids on auctions. His opinion was that last year lots of stuff sold online due to people staying home and out of stores.

Do you agree with that assessment? Or does it always just boil down to offering what people want, never mind societal factors? I know many of you consider auctions a poor way to sell but they have loomed large in my business.

[glasser]

In sell 98% auctions. That's because what I sell via auction is also sold broadly via auction off of eBay so people are accustomed to buying that way (mostly antique and collectible glass). In fact, sellers on eBay who sell BIN in those areas see merchandise languish. In my estimation because buyers know it will be there and are focused on items that will be sold via auction and won't be available again.

Books are one of the categories that when I sell them, not frequently, I use BIN. Unless the book is highly collectible or the only copy on eBay, I don't think people want to buy via auction.

Not every item is good for auction and nor is every item good for BIN. You need to know your market and the way buyers are comfortable buying.

[johnjefprks]

If you want to sell your items quickly then use the auctions. If you want to get more money for your items and you can afford to let them sit then use buy it now. I usually 2 to 3 times the amount with BIN. But I have quite a few listings so I can wait. I don't think we will see anything like 2020 and the beginning of 2021 again, unless something weird happens.

[keziak]

Yes, with limited exceptions I list single titles in my store at Fixed Price. Auctions are mostly for stuff lotted up. 

As one example, last year the library I sell for discarded tons of mystery audiobooks on CDs. I was able to sell pretty much all of them in small lots (commission sales). This year I have more which I got for a song from another library's book sale. No traction yet. Maybe people listened to more audiobooks last year than this? Who knows.  Same with blu-rays, sold great in lots last year, this year meh.

[chapeau-noir]

This has been pretty much analyzed to death and lots of fingers pointed, but it's a combination of factors which amount to 2020 being pretty much a dumpster year with unprecedented changes.  Trying to pinpoint anything on one or two factors is just doomed to failure - it's a combination of a lot of things, the biggest factor simply being a growth in online sales due to off line unavailability for varied reasons.  Knock-on effects will be with us for a while.

Amazon is also experiencing diminishing growth, as is Etsy (who just had their earnings call) and downturns. 

It still comes down to basics: offering items that people want to buy - now trying to figure that out is why one needs nerves of steel to survive in this business. 😣

[keziak]

Right. It's auction listing day for me and I sit asking myself what of anything I have are actually of interest to potential buyers, or is it a case of wasting time and listing feels listing stuff just because I have it? 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I just looked at my "Year to Date" sales versus my 2020 "Year to Date", and I'm actually a little ahead of where I was last year at this time.....and yes, last year was a good sales year for me due to people stuck at home, etc. Why am I ahead? As you say, probably a range of factors, the ones I have some control over would be: more total active listings than last year, listing a bit more regularly as well, probably more aggressive in my offers and promotions....

Of course, I'm also a very small seller, so a good year for me would be a terrible year for some. LOL 

My goal through the end of the year is to make sure at the end of the year I'm ahead of last year, and hopefully by a decent amount. Time will tell..... 

[coastaltechsolution]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

Big or small as long as you meet what you desire then golden 😁

[femmefan1946]

I tell sellers that are worried about drops in sales that they should look at 2019 or 2108 for comparisons, not 2020 which was an outlier.

But an outlier in a good way, with strong sales.

However, many of those complaining were not selling then, and thus have no useful basis for comparison.

It is good to hear at least one seller who is doing better than 2020. Yay!

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@coastaltechsolution @femmefan1946   Thanks!  I'm guessing there are some other sellers here who would find they are actually doing better than they may think. Sometimes it helps to take the longer view, rather than week over week or day over day...

Here's hoping we all end up with a winning year!

[coastaltechsolution]

Yes hope Q4 in time does better then we are all thinking

Best to always look at sales on a month to month comparison and not week by week 

[keziak]

It's a muddle for me. I did better with auctions in 2020 than in many months of 2021.....but my net was still very down due to loss of important inventory sources and very expensive investments in inventory. In much of 2021 I spent less on inventory but my monthly sales stats are slumping. Argh!!

What I am trying to focus on is the balance in my business account. Am I meeting goals that are important to me? 

Also, I still dont' have my major library commission back because they first closed for covid then closed for donations due to a looming closure for renovation.....which hasn't happened. The assistant director told me yesterday of the colossal muck-up by the low-bid contractor. She sounded bitter that they didn't do programming because they thought they would be closed. So it's not just myself and the Friends losing many thousands of dollars. No end in sight for that scenario, very frustrating in trying to figure out a business model.

[katzrul15]

Buying trends were very different last year.

Lives hit pause buttons.  Folks were quaratined, locked in-doors.

Folks did crafts, played board games, adults colored, movies to watch at home huge as no movie theatres and nothing new released for months and months except on streaming services.

Books were huge (we sold so many booklights)

Legos sets sold quickly - people planted flowers and gardens and busied themselves with "home" projects.  OR they had to shop online for even essentials as they were heavily impacted by covid and its' wrath.....

We have had every CAT loss imaginable - wildfires, mudslides, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.

2021 meant folks could try to start over.  Travel, go back to offices, re-connect with family, go to concerts, back to schools, etc.

My family's buying habits changed drastically this year.  We now eat out, so the insta pot we bought sits in the box. 

We went to a movie theatre recently.  That was a wow.  Tried on clothing in a dressing room.  Bought a kayak that DS and DD fight over using, ride our bikes again, volunteer more hours than ever, attend birthday parties and WEDDINGS again, baptisms.

If your own buying habits, daily routines have changed - it stands to reason, it has also for others.

If it sold last year, it likely has zero correlation to now.  Ymmv

[coastaltechsolution]

@katzrul15 

Very well explained 😁

[yuzuha]

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@keziak wrote:

I was emailing with a friend who has a large Ebay and Amazon business selling, in part, books and media like I do. I said that I am currently selling a lot of the same ilk as last year but having a harder time attracting bids on auctions. His opinion was that last year lots of stuff sold online due to people staying home and out of stores.

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Absolutely. From the point of view of the other side: I work B&M retail. Even though we were open for the last half of 2020, our sales were SLOW because people just weren't coming into the store to shop. Conversely, our in-store/curbside pickup orders were off the charts to the point where we actually needed to get a new software system because our existing one wasn't capable of handling the sheer volume of orders we were getting per day (normally we would get around 6-12 in-store pickup orders per day; during the height of the pandemic we could be seeing as many as 80 or so).

Now, however, foot traffic in the store has gone back to normal and in-store pickup has dropped. Sure, it's still at higher levels than it was pre-pandemic, but these days more and more people want to come out and shop in person instead of online.