Crazy Slow Sales. Can't live off of this anymore.

[serpentine21]

I am currently experiencing horrible views and sales. I have about 410 items listed and I am lucky if I even make one sale a day. My ebay and Etsy shops were my only source of income and I always did really well. I always made enough money with those two shops alone.  Last year was the slowest year I have ever had on both platforms.  I had the slowest and worst holiday season ever. I even went seven days without a single sale on ebay, which has never happened to me before. It was the first time I did not qualify for a 1099-K for my taxes, because I did not make enough money.  I noticed the sales decline last year and I started donating plasma twice a week to make up for the losses. I can't do that now because my husband is deployed and I have no one to care for my son while I donate. I recently started petsitting on Rover to help with the losses this year. I love dogs, and I enjoy doing this, but it really sucks to have to add on another job just to maybe make as much as I used to make with ebay and etsy alone. Are you guys experiencing this as well? I am 100% sure allot of it has to do with the horrible inflation right now. Because literally everything costs more, people don't have the expendable income to spend on non essential items, like what I sell. For those of you who sell on other platforms, are those platforms doing better than ebay? Which do you recommend? I appreciate your help and input.

[serpentine21]

Thank you so much for your reply and insight.

[serpentine21]

Your right, it always picks up when people's tax returns come in.

[serpentine21]

So sorry you lack the space. That must be tough. I am blessed in that department. My workroom is large and I have an entire closet for my listings. I also have the hallway closet. I store tons of boxes and packing supplies in our basement. When we move from here and no longer have a basement, I will be screwed.

[chapeau-noir]

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@serpentine21 wrote:

So sorry you lack the space. That must be tough. I am blessed in that department. My workroom is large and I have an entire closet for my listings. I also have the hallway closet. I store tons of boxes and packing supplies in our basement. When we move from here and no longer have a basement, I will be screwed.

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I have no workroom and really wish I did - we have two home offices and part of the bedroom is a computer annex but I have stuff in my home office.  A corner of the kitchen has a work table, and a corner of the living room has my photo area - I have to move furniture to get in there to take photos.  The basement has inventory and packing supplies, but it's such a cram job down there with the 8 bicycles and other sports equipment, and needing to get in and out - all those dang boxes!  Three closets have stuff crammed in them but I'm slowly emptying them out. 

One reason I'm glad to go down to part-time is just the almighty clutter!  The coffee table always has stuff to photograph on it, a pile of DVD players under it to list, the fireplace has some other - dunno, whatever the DH has under there for me to list, and the library has an ironing board and a pile of stuff.  Crazy!  The DH says he doesn't notice it but I do. 😣

[gurlcat]

I feel like it must have been fate that I happened to take a break from ebay tasks and just read Community posts for a while tonight, because I think I could help you and in return you might help me. --LOL, how creepy do I sound ?  Okay to be more clear, I have been EX-ACT-LY where you are right now on Ebay, likely for the same reasons, but now my sales are so reliably good the only thing stopping me from being stinking rich is factors involving my home/family situation.  Oh, and the fact that I don't care to be stinking rich, but I do like having 'enough and then some' money.     What piqued my interest in your post, in addition to sympathy (believe me, I KNOW how frustrating and even scary a long slow spell can be) was your mention of Rover, which I never heard of before.  I just did some research and can't believe how perfect it appears for me in particular, because I do love animals and have tons of paid and volunteer experience with them, but I'm especially liking the sound of the 'house sitter' version, because occasionally being alone overnight at some other house would help my home/ebay conflict beautifully.  Heck I would do it for FREE, and it looks like you can set your own prices so I would likely offer myself for cheap, ha.  
But anyway, if you want some one-on-one advice about ebay and wouldn't mind answering a few questions about Rover (I really don't have that many), feel free to PM me!  

[femmefan1946]

Perhaps women are turned off by seeing lingerie on a live model?

I don't understand the furs either. Why are they on a lingerie clad model?

You understand your customer demographic, I guess.

[chapeau-noir]

@gurlcat  I'm not the OP, but my friend who works for Fetch! has had dog sitting/cat sitting jobs that have lasted anywhere from one night to over a week.  He got a lunging, snarling pitbull (who loved her human and was very gentle around her) and who had gone through two petsitters to accept him and finally allow him to leash her and take her for walks.  Once she trusted, she was just a lovely and smart dog and very good around other dogs and people.  He did part of this on his own time, but now he has a client forever and, for an animal lover such as himself, a wonderful accomplishment.  I call him the St. Francis of Assisi of North Seattle lol.

He has more work than he can handle - people going back to work after the pandemic are anxious that their pets have the best of care while they're at work.

[moondogblues]

"One reason I'm glad to go down to part-time is just the almighty clutter!  The coffee table always has stuff to photograph on it, a pile of DVD players under it to list, the fireplace has some other - dunno, whatever the DH has under there for me to list, and the library has an ironing board and a pile of stuff.  Crazy!  The DH says he doesn't notice it but I do. "

You are describing our house!  We joke about finding anything.  We don't just 'look for it".  We mount an archaeological expedition!

"

[moondogblues]

Love the dog sitter thing, but out here in the woods people just let their dogs run wild.  Not us, we spent about 4K to keep our dogs (had five once, one left) on an enclosed acre.  Chain link is expensive.  Keeps the deer out and the dog in.  And the other dogs.  But it's amusing watching them bark at each other through the fence.

[coolections]

Sorry to say but I believe most of it is your pictures.

[inhawaii]

I say it's a combination of your pictures AND what you are selling. 

Those picture look so unprofessional. 

Used granny panties?  Really?

You want better sales, sell better stuff. 

[mandisattictoyz]

there are some items that just won’t sell on eBay, but will fly off the shelf on Etsy.  Same with amazon, Walmart, Shopify, Mercari.  I just list the same item on all and which ever one sells it first is the one I list it on first next time I get one.  But you have to diversify, different audiences and customer profiles on different platforms.  

[powell-memorabilia]

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@inhawaii wrote:

I say it's a combination of your pictures AND what you are selling. 

Those picture look so unprofessional. 

Used granny panties?  Really?

You want better sales, sell better stuff. 

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Pervy guys want that used underwear.  I think that the seller understands this part.

[frodobagginskennedy]

@serpentine21 Sales are slow for us here and I sell mostly wants not needs.  Xmas was OK but it was my fault as I have not been listing new items.  I have inventory from 1/21 that still needs to be listed. 

Since my Dad's illness/passing and my Mom going down hill fast it seems I just cannot get my MOJO back.

As for space I feel you.  My house was taken over with E Bay/Etsy/Poshmark.  We actually build me a 80x30foot pole building to run things.  Now we are in the process of moving inventory from the house to the new building.  That is a huge JOB which affects sales as well.

My point is there are a lot of factors as to why sales are slow.  Each of us have our own reasons.  Yours may just be no money for people to purchase.  People may be afraid to purchase under garments because of covid(nuts as that is to me).  Try not modeling things but picture item only on the mannequin.  Look hard at what you are doing.  I know when I do that I can always tweek things .....when I am home and have time. 

[amyandherbert-2008]

just saying that sounds like me and my wife have a good day been slow here too at the first of the month the past two weeks has really picked up i say every body getting there income checks best of luck