Downsizing is a lot of work

[tkinnebrew]

We plan on spending today and the entire weekend getting to where we don't expect to grow our business anymore.  After ten years of trying to grow something here on ebay from nothing.  We're starting to see the amount of work one would have to do on ebay to actually sustain a large business, let alone a profitable one.  We spend way too much time trying to keep listings available 12 months out of the year and for whatever reason ebay is happy with us always having 80-90% of our inventory in our unsold item list.  So I guess what ebay is trying to tell us is that if our items don't sell in the first month, forget it.  Nobody ever buys things later on after they become trendy or anything....The icing on the cake is all the deleted inventory images from items that ended mid-december.  We already have hundreds of items with missing thumbnails and secondary images, however that works.  Just seems impossible, it's been over a year on that issue.  Life is short kids!

LOTS OF WORK DELETING LISTINGS AND REMOVING INVENTORY FROM STORAGE.  YEARS OF WORK.  DRAINED.

LIKE A SWAMP

[luckythewinner]

---

@tkinnebrew wrote:

 for whatever reason ebay is happy with us always having 80-90% of our inventory in our unsold item list. 

---

It sounds like the buyers on eBay and your competition may also be helping with that. It is rare that I list an item with strong demand and short supply that doesn't sell quickly. 

My problem is that those items are generally pretty hard to come by, so I am in large part selling items with low demand or that have a lot of competition. 

[tunicaslot]

I think you'll find with all the influx of new sellers on all the platforms - people do have to work so much harder to make selling viable. I see sellers switching from Amazon to Ebay and vice versa - I see sellers leaving Ebay for Psh, Mercari, Tradesy and Etsy and vice versa. Sometimes a platform is just not the right fit for a seller - their items - or how they want to run their business. There are hoops to jump thru on all the platforms. 

Every seller has to consider what is right for them - how much money do they want to make - how much to they want to use for marketing ect..

The only problem with Ebay is it's lost it's way and has no idea what they really want to accomplish. I found this article interesting ( brought to my attention by another poster ) and do hope they come up with some kind of plan to revitalize the market here.

https://www.marketplacepulse.com/articles/ebay-growth-paradox

[tkinnebrew]

Good article.  

I just think customer service is dead.  Nobody cares about it.  If you get it, you get lucky, and it probably won't happen twice.  That's how I've felt as a buyer for as long as I can remember on here.

[southern*sweet*tea]

https://www.marketplacepulse.com/articles/ebay-growth-paradox

"The issue with eBay is not that it is stagnant. The issue is that when it tries to innovate it backfires. eBay could revamp and modernize most of its infrastructure, but at the risk of upsetting existing users. Yet it needs to do that to grow long-term. eBay has spent the last few years - some say more than a decade - unwilling, unable, or maybe unsure to make a decision. The issue with eBay is not that it is stagnant. The issue is that when it tries to innovate it backfires. eBay could revamp and modernize most of its infrastructure, but at the risk of upsetting existing users. Yet it needs to do that to grow long-term. eBay has spent the last few years - some say more than a decade - unwilling, unable, or maybe unsure to make a decision."

^^^^^^

BINGO!

[18704d]

I don't see how anyone could make any money selling sports cards made within the last 5-10 years?

Pre 1980's, maybe....

jmtcw,

Lynn

[southern*sweet*tea]

Sorry, not sure why that quote doubled up. I need to hire a proofreader lol

[twnpopcards · Accepted solution]

---

@18704d wrote:

I don't see how anyone could make any money selling sports cards made within the last 5-10 years?

Pre 1980's, maybe....

jmtcw,

Lynn

---

Actually it really is not all that difficult if you stay up to date with what the buyers are looking for.  I will admit things are not as good on Ebay by a long shot as they used to be, but by listing on multiple sites and being selective on what I buy, it is actually very doable to make a profit selling cards from the last 5-10 years.  The issue is that you do have to put a lot of effort into it and stay on top of who and what is hot and make sure you get those items listed first.  I may only sell 20 items on Ebay some months, but between all the other sites and referral fees and making sure that my buyers are happy on those other sites, things are actually starting to look up.  But where Ebay used to be 100% of my sales, they are continually dropping and are now down to about 30% as more and more buyers are starting to move away from Ebay and all of its glitches and counterfeiters.

[coolections]

---

@18704d wrote:

I don't see how anyone could make any money selling sports cards made within the last 5-10 years?  Pre 1980's, maybe....

---

It is possible but as the OP is figuring out you have to list the ones in demand. Using the book value is way over-priced and very few buyers would even think about paying those inflated prices. The ones to list are the rarities and the superstars and even then you have to watch carefully at the sold cards and list according to what buyers are willing to pay. 50% of what the OP currently has listed will probably not sell so for him to downsize is a good thing. The only other option is instead of just removing those other cards is to come to the conclusion that the price will need to drop 60% or so to get them moving.

[sharingtheland]

---

@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

Sorry, not sure why that quote doubled up. I need to hire a proofreader lol

---

How much do you pay?  I'm reel good at it.

[castlemagicmemories]

How frustrating, sorry you have gone through this.

Hoping better things are ahead for you.