Finally got some green numbers again...Had to hit rock bottom

[vintageantique77]

After about a month of no bids on any auctions...I finally took the old advice of listing at 99 cents, and got the traffic I've been hoping for..Stripped them ALL down to $1 and they have mostly all gotten a hit..I guess people just want to get stuff really, really cheap now. If you list at value price, you're just going to wait for a collector, which could be shopping somewhere else, as most are nowadays. I've had little luck in the past with 1$ listings, but this time around things are looking different. Didn't think there was any fight left in bidders..We-shall-see!

It's still out there!

[lewisburggold]

Good job you did good.  Its nice to see a seller fight to stay here.  They have been leaving by the truck loads because as you pointed out buyers are shopping elswere and many other reasons also.  Best regards

[luckythewinner]

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@vintageantique77 wrote:

I guess people just want to get stuff really, really cheap now.

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I'll go out on a limb and suggest that buyers wanting to pay as little as possible is not a recent development 🙂

[tunicaslot]

Hope all works out for you! That said - the buyers these days are the kids that grew up in the 80's and 90's - so anything that reminds them of their youth in those years are what many of the buyers are looking for. Baby boomers who used to buy things from the 60's and 70's are getting rid of their collections - so often I have to mark things way down to clean out items from those eras.

It's adjusting to what is marketable to tha min groups of buyers today.

[18704d]

" the buyers these days are the kids that grew up in the 80's and 90's - so anything that reminds them of their youth in those years are what many of the buyers are looking for. Baby boomers who used to buy things from the 60's and 70's are getting rid of their collections - so often I have to mark things way down to clean out items from those eras."

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This should be written in stone.

Great post,

Lynn

[tunicaslot]

Thank the vloggers not me!!! They were talking about trends and I started looking at what the kids are wearing these days as well as what they grew up with as far as characters and toys. Checking Ebay - this is where the sales are! I've got lots of 70's items to unload!!

[buyselljack2016]

When I have to list an item wayyyyyyyyyyyyy  below it's value to get a bid, is the time that I don't list the item anymore.  It can hit a point where there is no profit in selling at a loss.

[southern*sweet*tea]

I sell some really long tail stuff that only a particular person or collector would want. Auctions are generally useless for me - my stuff has to be ready to go whenever someone stumbles on it.

That said, there's a limit to how long I'll try listing something. Generally after 18 months or so I'll either lot things up or just remove them - maybe for a while, maybe forever.  If it hasn't sold by then, it's not going to in the near future.

[vintageantique77]

Heh Heh Heh

I remember the days when things were different! When eBay was the snakes hips.

[vintageantique77]

+1 for being written in stone 😄

I have noticed this as well....marketing in general is focused on 35 - 45 year olds anyways....It makes sense!

Times will change again!

[vintageantique77]

I am very into 60's and 70's items - but for a reasonable price. A lot of antique stores think the stuff is gold...well it is...but just not worth gold... It's hard to get good deals on the older stuff these days. I collect and sell vintage telephones for example - and the way people price them has just killed the market for flippers and casual buyers.

[mcdougle4248]

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@tunicaslot wrote:

Hope all works out for you! That said - the buyers these days are the kids that grew up in the 80's and 90's - so anything that reminds them of their youth in those years are what many of the buyers are looking for. Baby boomers who used to buy things from the 60's and 70's are getting rid of their collections - so often I have to mark things way down to clean out items from those eras.

It's adjusting to what is marketable to tha min groups of buyers today.

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I do not know how much value this will have for other sellers, so I will just throw it out there. 

I have found that the buyers of my items that fall into the "grew up in the 80's and 90's" are very sentimental.  They will casually look at my items until they see something that reminds them of a cherished family member or close friend, then watch out, they will spend like there is no tomorrow.  This is first hand information that I have gathered from being with shoppers at "live" venues.  I can see the same trends with my eBay sales, even though I really do not know the age of my buyers, I think that I am able to make a pretty good guess when I see what has been purchased.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

I hope you do well. It's a lot of work for nothing if they go off with one bid at 99 cents. I see a few have small bidding wars going on, good! Recently I listed something full price higher than the solds, and then saw that the exact thing on auction brought $40 more right after mine sold, so you just never know. Items on ebay do not sell for consistant prices unless they are NIB. 

As for boomers not being worth catered to, I highly disagree. If you have what they want, they have more money than millennials can dream of. And those like myself at the tail end of the boomers are now inheriting their parents tight fisted savings. But that's my secret...those catering only to millennials keep it up and leave the boomers for me.....

[vintageantique77]

I wonder if eBay could tell us the age of our buyers - make that information available somehow so we know who to market the item towards in the future?

[18704d]

"I wonder if eBay could tell us the age of our buyers - make that information available somehow so we know who to market the item towards in the future? "

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How would eBay know the ages of it's users?

Have you ever given them your age?

Or anything which would indicate your age?

I haven't.

Thanks,

Lynn