Are You Ready?

[pls-consignments]

Without sounding like a "Debbie Downer" or "Negative Nancy" (sorry to all Debbies & Nancys), this upcoming summer slow-down could have all the makings for one of the worst in many years due to obvious economic uncertainties. The timing of "cause and effect" could greatly impact discretionary spending, putting many vulnerable sellers at risk. Of course, this is just one guy's opinion. 😉

Regardless, what steps are you taking to minimize the impact to your bottom line this summer? Your incite will be helpful to other less experienced sellers.

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@meme6253 wrote:

I agree 100%, What i will NEVER understand is HOW do they not see him for what he truly is??, It's mind boggling!, Golden economic times is a SAD joke, We will be lucky if he doesn't throw us into another great depression, we dodged a bullet for now with the tariffs, But there is a definite rude awakening coming & perhaps then they will snap out of their hypnotic state of mind.

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Your back!! 😀 

Was getting worried for a second that you were cheering up. 

Welcome back Debbie D. 

[tools*]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

The longer away from selling I am, the more I want to get some other job, or stick to doing audiovisual for data companies (not steady). But I do have a house to clear out.

With that addle brain Musk (whose business acumen can be gauged by his shipwrecking Xitter pronto and having an entire team at spaceX devoted to keeping him distracted and away from the levers of power there) letting a bunch of his grubby young fanbois get access to the US treasury, I'm in a wait and see mode to see how fast they loot the treasury and if our spineless politicians do anything about this serious hack.

At least Trump closed the de minimis threshold with China; however, since the Chinese already knew this was going to happen, they've switched more to on-shoring here and they have to pay freight (a whole other fraught subject, but their problem). Still, that stops a lot of the more peripheral stuff. This may make a difference competitively for us.

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To be more accurate, the politicians lacking a spine are the ones who control congress and are so afraid of losing their power that they're willing to confirm the least qualified candidates in recent history.

[gurlcat]

Whether or not you think the OP's concern is valid (which I kinda do) ... even if things stayed exactly as they have for the past year .... welp, the past year has been fairly disastrous for me, despite not changing anything I had been doing all the years prior. 

And since I sell items that are purely "discretionary" I would be an idiot to look at the past year and conclude that people have just has much spending money as they did before.  So my plan it to source my inventory much, much, MUCH more carefully from now on.  No more buying a necklace for $5 because I know someone "would" pay $20 for it on eBay, because it's no longer about how much they would pay; it's about how much they can pay, and $20 necklace people are hurting too much to even consider shopping for jewelry nowadays.  What I must do instead is look for the $20 necklace that I know someone would AND CAN pay $100. 

Fewer but bigger sales is going to be my new strategy.  Aiming for the collectors with higher means, wherever in the world those people continue to exist.

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@gurlcat wrote:

Whether or not you think the OP's concern is valid (which I kinda do) ... even if things stayed exactly as they have for the past year .... welp, the past year has been fairly disastrous for me, despite not changing anything I had been doing all the years prior. 

And since I sell items that are purely "discretionary" I would be an idiot to look at the past year and conclude that people have just has much spending money as they did before.  So my plan it to source my inventory much, much, MUCH more carefully from now on.  No more buying a necklace for $5 because I know someone "would" pay $20 for it on eBay, because it's no longer about how much they would pay; it's about how much they can pay, and $20 necklace people are hurting too much to even consider shopping for jewelry nowadays.  What I must do instead is look for the $20 necklace that I know someone would AND CAN pay $100. 

Fewer but bigger sales is going to be my new strategy.  Aiming for the collectors with higher means, wherever in the world those people continue to exist.

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Smart move @gurlcat !

Sell less and make more. 

[linus.hux72fe]

Thank you.

I am not trying to blow my own horn but have just completed my best year selling on eBay on both accounts. So good in fact that this is the first year I owe a rather large amount of taxes, for me that is. 

It seems rather strange to say owing taxes is a sign of a good year though but honestly I was not expecting or prepared tax wise to sell as much as I did. 

To be fair, I did list much more than I had in previous years on both accounts. 

Well, thank you for your kind words.

[gurlcat]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

If people do not feel the level of personal economic pressure that they felt the past 4 years, they will have adapted to whatever fears may be being propagated by the various special interests.

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I appreciate what you're saying, except as an eBay seller I don't see much validity in making 4-year evaluations.  For me 2020 and 2021 were my best years ever, and they straddled TWO presidencies.  They were great because people were stuck at home with plenty of time to sit and scroll through a site like this, and food companies and others had not yet started raising their prices through the roof, eating up people's spending money. 

But in about the middle of 2022, once the deaths from Covid went to 'rare' everyone went back to limited web surfing time, and prices high on everything. And so of course sales have sucked since then.  In this particular arena (SO FAR) I don't think presidents have had anything to do with my periods of success or failure.  But that may change. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@linus.hux72fe  That's very good news! And you have some very cool stuff. Just wondering: do you feel you did other things this past year that improved your sales, or would you attribute to the increased sales primarily to increasing your listing numbers?

[gurlcat]

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@cardxcraft wrote:

Where did you get the idea I was making an argument?  The OP asked for insight for what they presume will be the worst summer, so I gave my statement of insight juxtaposing their bleak outlook with my optimistic view.

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Optimism is great, but would you admit if it turns out to be misplaced ..... or would you be in here blaming eBay?   

[roccotacodad54]

   "Your incite will be helpful to other less experienced sellers."

Incite them to do what?

[meme6253]

Politics is on everyone's mind during these times

[meme6253]

It's not a premature judgement, It's a judgement based on actual facts & knowledge of the Maniac that has been put in charge.

[meme6253]

Yep i'm here, but my opinion on Mr. Orange will never change!, I basically know that whatever he says, believe the opposite & you have the truth most times.

[meme6253]

I also tend to do the same thing, maybe fewer sales , but the same money in the bank, saves on shipping supplies also.

[chapeau-noir]

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@linus.hux72fe wrote:

Thank you.

I am not trying to blow my own horn but have just completed my best year selling on eBay on both accounts. So good in fact that this is the first year I owe a rather large amount of taxes, for me that is. 

It seems rather strange to say owing taxes is a sign of a good year though but honestly I was not expecting or prepared tax wise to sell as much as I did. 

To be fair, I did list much more than I had in previous years on both accounts. 

Well, thank you for your kind words.

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I completely would rather owe in taxes than get a refund. I can invest my money better than the fed can hang onto it fir free - why on earth would I do that?!  So that's good!

[bashort]

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@pls-consignments wrote:

Without sounding like a "Debbie Downer" or "Negative Nancy" (sorry to all Debbies & Nancys), this upcoming summer slow-down could have all the makings for one of the worst in many years due to obvious economic uncertainties. The timing of "cause and effect" could greatly impact discretionary spending, putting many vulnerable sellers at risk. Of course, this is just one guy's opinion. 😉

Regardless, what steps are you taking to minimize the impact to your bottom line this summer? Your incite will be helpful to other less experienced sellers.

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I refuse to participate, really makes me no difference what the sky is falling people are saying.