How long will it take for me to get successful at this? What do I need to do to make this work

[reincarnated-treasures]

What is considered a successful eBay seller? I have been selling for 6 months and have 1,000 items in my store now. I sell between two and five items a week. I have worked at my descriptions, keywords , shipping prices ,added low price items. I have done promotion and have most things in my store on 30% to 20% sale. If not for putting the odd item on auction and getting an awesome winning bid .I would have been discouraged and given up. I am hoping to do this so that I can support myself. I watch resellers on YouTube all the time and they seem so successful and I just don't know if that happens with everyone? If anyone has any ideas for any helpful information, I would so appreciate it.

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

I suspect the YT sellers are making money with their YT channel, not necessarily with eBay. They may also be selling on multiple sites.

Before retirement, eBay was part of our business mix. We had a B&M shop, listed on eBay, Bonanza, ZoS, and an Italian auction site, had our own website, and ran a catalogued public auction that included live internet bidding.

Personally, I dislike discounts. They are saying that you used to charge too much or that you don't know the value of your product.

Another seller made the choice to use Promoted Listings at 15% rather than discounting her products by 20%. She also allowed Best Offers. She liked the mix which hides that she is willing to take less profit, but still allowed buyers to dicker a little. (You can set high/low parameters on Best Offers).

[stainlessenginecovers]

You gotta watch how 'old' the videos are. Selling 'collectables, glassware, dolls etc.' has changed ALOT in the past 10 years- especially the past 5 years. Goodwills/Thrifts- if there are 50 people in the store, 35 of them are resellers selling online. 

The 20 yr old kids are now 40, Mom&Dad died and all they want to do is get a big dumpster to throw everything away, paint up the house and get the big bucks. 

You have a good collection, but people also 'search' by looking for something particular, so your type item is just waiting for the right person to come along. 

[onefootflipper]

Glass is a dying category. Younger people are not interested in it, older people keep dying leaving more of it around. Buy only the absolute best in that category and stay away from the rest.

Watch Daily Refinement on youtube, it doesn't matter that he got banned from ebay or that you don't sell clothes. His channel is the best I have ever seen about the pure business aspect of ebay. It totally transformed the way I do business.

[luckythewinner]

How long will it take for me to get successful at this

Many sellers never become successful.

I have worked at my descriptions, keywords , shipping prices ,added low price items.

Creating and tweaking listings is "busy work" that anyone can do. IMHO 95% of a seller's efforts should be identifying and locating good items to sell. Because good items sell themselves with little effort.

I watch resellers on YouTube all the time and they seem so successful

Anyone can say anything they want on YouTube. If they give out their store name it is quite easy to see how successful they really are. 

I just don't know if that happens with everyone?

If it was easy to sell on eBay everyone would be rich.

[wrong66]

Yes, you make your money when you "buy", not when you sell.

[mr_lincoln]

Hi @reincarnated-treasures 

-Buy Low and Sell High

-Sell fast

-Pack well

-Ship fast

-Accept returns for ANY reason

-Be polite even when your customers' aren't

-Sell what people want to buy

-Don't sell junk

-Leave Feedback for your customers when you ship their item(s) ... don't play the Feedback game

-Be knowledgeable on what you are selling

-Never, ever Drop Ship

-Be accurate in describing your items

-Take good pictures

-Be patient

Regards,

Mr. L

[fairdeal*lb]

Did you enroll in eBays Pay-To-Play program otherwise known as Promoted Listings? Oh you did.. Might have to keep going up in %.. eBay pits sellers against each other.    

[mr_lincoln]

@reincarnated-treasures   Let me add one more item to my list:

-Don't watch YouTube eBay Sellers

Now, let me also add that you have hit eBay at one of the worst times because of all the changes they made in the last 8-10 months.  It started last November 2021 when they shuffled most categories and started lumping stuff together.  They also implemented the New Item Specifics mandate and changed how listing Views were counted.  There were other changes too like the introduction on Promoted Listing Advanced where Sellers would pay Ad fees upfront before sales and vie for the top 4 spots on returned Searches.  

For myself and my categories I saw an 80.5% DROP in listing Impressions earlier this year which coincided with a severe drop in sales.  Many other Sellers have been reporting abnormal sudden drops in sales this year around the same time.  

I also went through a very strange period where most of my sales came from my Auctions (shorter duration listing cycles) and Offers that I sent to buyers ... Fixed Priced GTC listing sales were like NON-EXISTENT ... 

In 2021 May through October (6 months) all set new sales highs ... this year during the same period not even close.  This month (August) has a chance to be good BUT we are not even halfway through so things could change rapidly.

So at the end of the day, it may NOT be you or anything you are doing, it may actually be eBay ...

Regards,

Mr. L

[collectfest]

I took a look at your listings. May I suggest using a white background in your photos. I think you are doing great; you are making sales. I guarantee, you'll be a much better seller a year from now. Don't quit, make mistakes and learn, then do not make them twice.

Also, do you research. Yes, a lot of glass is a soft market although my friend sells wonderful, rare antique art glass in excess of $10,000.00. Me, I wouldn't touch it, does not interest me and like it's been mentioned it can be a soft market and I'm getting too old for soft markets that I lack knowledge.

Youtube for selling and sourcing advise, although entertaining is not where I gain my knowledge.

I attend shows friends with all but have been attracted to those who have been around at least 10 years. Better yet, 20+ years, they have seen it all.

I stay far away who think they know it all, I hang out with sellers who don't tell me what not to do but rather listen to what they do to be successful. Also, local collector clubs are wonderful.

Knowledge of items (speaking of vintage items) is WAY more important than selling in my humble opinion.

So, do your homework, listen to advise but I'd be very weary of those who THINK they know everything. They usually fade away.

keep up the good work!

[wrong66]

Amen.

[collectfest]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

How long will it take for me to get successful at this

Many sellers never become successful.

I have worked at my descriptions, keywords , shipping prices ,added low price items.

Creating and tweaking listings is "busy work" that anyone can do. IMHO 95% of a seller's efforts should be identifying and locating good items to sell. Because good items sell themselves with little effort.

I watch resellers on YouTube all the time and they seem so successful

Anyone can say anything they want on YouTube. If they give out their store name it is quite easy to see how successful they really are. 

I just don't know if that happens with everyone?

If it was easy to sell on eBay everyone would be rich.

---

Superb advice!!! Well said.

[discountitsolutionllc]

Its tough lately to make profit off ebay because with the advance listing ad, Ebay MAKES money regardless of sales from seller, each click gives ebay more money.

Its tiring because sales is very slow. , it was very great in 2020/21

[dbfolks166mt]

     Success means different things to different people. For some people success is simply selling stuff to clean out their garage or house and they are not worried about making a profit. For some it's selling xx number of items in a week/month/year or selling an item in xx amount of days or weeks. Most probably defines success as making money but this too has various goals. Is success selling 1 item a week and making $500 or selling 20 items and making $1,000. 

     Ecommerce has become very competitive so I tend to take a big picture view that encompasses all of the sites I list on rather than focusing just on eBay at the micro level. To me success is simply selling the items at some point and realizing a xx% after tax profit on the items I sell. Each person has to define what success means to them and there is no one right answer. 

[joseh1445]

It's trial and error.  You post stuff for sale.  If every one buys it.  You are doing amazing.  If no one buy's what you are selling its some thing that its slow selling.  That simple.