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]

I disagree. I have been selling my items this way for years and I have always made a killing. As a matter of fact, I just sold one of the furs on here last night to a women. If she bought it I doubt she had a problem with it being on a lingerie clad model.

[serpentine21]

I disagree. I have been selling this way and using these type of pictures for years and I have always made a ton of money. You also would not believe the amount of granny panties I have sold during this time.

[maxine*j]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

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.

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It seemed weird to me, too.  OP wears the undergarments for all those photos, making it used, so far as I'm concerned, and I don't want used underclothing -- particularly panties.  But, as you say, OP's clientele may be a different demographic.

=

[katzrul15]

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@serpentine21 wrote:

I disagree. I have been selling my items this way for years and I have always made a killing. As a matter of fact, I just sold one of the furs on here last night to a women. If she bought it I doubt she had a problem with it being on a lingerie clad model.

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Confused by your post and solds....you state here you are making a killing, but your OP states otherwise?

Your solds show steady sales... was your post to draw attention to your items?

[dottie1986]

This might sound a little creepy, but where I live in SWFL, the pooper scooper business is amazing.  I ran into a man that had a sign on his truck so I stopped to talk to him.  Makes a sense if you have one or more dogs & either don't want to pick up after your dog  r  have physical issues that limits you.  Of course, you always have too many inconsiderate people that figure they'll just leave it until someone steps in it.  Just a thought--I've even thought of it myself.

[ulfesharpe]

Well at least we can give big hosannas to payment changes, raising fees, stupid taxes and every update making casual sellers life more miserable

[714ricki]

Hang in there! Sales, regardless if its online or through an actual store, are slow right now. Remember that it's after the holiday season & peeps are paying off all of the end of year spending. Plus, some peeps are preparing for tax season. Yes, there are other outside factors such as inflation, pandemic, & other current events which might be affecting sales. However, just stay the course & you will be OK. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

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.

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Women are not her target audience. 

OP, it always picks back up, this is a slow time of year.  

[espresso_warehouse]

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@subapete wrote:

"Because if eBay is not doing well, no one else is either." That's just not true. I sell on 3 platforms and ebay is at the bottom. I do sell mostly clothing and the more clothing specific sites have a lot more viewers so I recommend the OP look around to find a platform that better fits the assortment they are trying to sell. 

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Exactly. This attitude is common here. It's an excuse people use for not making any changes.

[inhawaii]

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@serpentine21 wrote:

I disagree. I have been selling this way and using these type of pictures for years and I have always made a ton of money. You also would not believe the amount of granny panties I have sold during this time.

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Perhaps the buyers who liked that sort of thing have all died of old age, therefore creating your slow sales? 

[wildpitchsports]

Have you checked comps on here and etsy? Maybe there's a market correction in what you are selling?

That's #1.

#2. Try using promoted listings starting at 1% to increase your exposure. It's worth the 1%-2%

But there are alot of external factors with online sales at the moment including wars, inflation, market corrections, etc.

Fear not, you'll get a 1099K next year.

[serpentine21]

No. Why is this so hard to understand. I used to make a killing. I did fantastic before this horrible inflation. Now I am no longer making a killing.

[calgal19572014]

LMAO! 😂

[evry1nositswindy]

@inhawaii ...or moved on to their next fetish...

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@inhawaii wrote:

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@serpentine21 wrote:

I disagree. I have been selling this way and using these type of pictures for years and I have always made a ton of money. You also would not believe the amount of granny panties I have sold during this time.

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Perhaps the buyers who liked that sort of thing have all died of old age, therefore creating your slow sales? 

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[gurlcat]

The thing I like about it is how you can taylor design all your own preferences, take only the clients you want, when you want.  I really don't see myself doing it more than a couple/few nights a week, and I might even restrict myself to cats at first.  That way I could get used to how the system works and get accustomed to speaking to human beings again (lol! I'm not even exaggerating) while sitting for the species with which I am most accustomed.  My thing with dogs is almost too complicated to describe; maybe the truest, simplest, but also most confusing thing to say is that I love them, I swear I do, but I don't like them.  I regard them exactly how a lot of childless people do with children, love to spend little bits of time with them but then give them right back to the parents, lol!  And by 'little bits' I mean maybe hours; days would depend entirely on the dog(s) in question.   I'm 48, trained in wildlife rehabilitation so I'd have no qualms about sitting for a 10-foot snake or hunting falcon, I have had every conceivable pet within city legality plus a few not-so-legal .....but not a single dog, ever.  One of the main factors for me is my crippling severity level of misophonia, with barking being one of my worst triggers.