In my experience, it just takes longer now. There are just too many other internets out there. There are 500 more online distractions today versus the good days of 25 years ago. Some categories are very hard, and others still work fairly well. Ebay has made it harder to list items, because they have sanctioned keyword spamming, where as it formerly could get your listing taken down. I am mostly a vintage seller, and my items get 400-500 less views then 25 years ago. There are still buyers searching out there, but you might have to wait for them for months. I am switching to the M-place and C-list formats more, and have that working well as a replacement, you might take less, but have less grief.
My moto is don't price below what you will really accept. List items at auction mostly, as it may help to appear new to the few remaining searching eyes. Pray your bidder buyer isn't a psycho.
Categories made harder:
Car parts... --- just look at the item specifics one must work on, and do a search for vintage 1964 corvette shifter, you will get results for hundreds of items that don't have your keywords! The database and search game is horrible.... and they they did it to their own system. A seller has to spend too much time filling these specifics out, or no one will find your item.
HIFI stereo gear and vintage electronics: --- these items do good still do well, but the problem is selling items that are very vulnerable to bogus returns. The search engine works better here, less automated search results, but sellers often lack descriptions of the item in all categories. AI descriptions make me hurl, and ai will only further suck this experience into the toilet.
Mid Century modern furniture: --- the market is saturated with cheap repos, so you need to wait for the right buyer here, and identify the maker and present the item as vintage. Use all the keywords you can, and you must have an exact shipping plan in place for the lower 48 US states.
Used machine and tool parts: --- Still good as Joe lunchbox buyers can find parts and tools for obsolete items. Sometimes they even know the part number, and have a saved search. Vintage Delta DP-220 drills is a good search, as it actually brings back old drill machine parts, for the guys repairing machines. Same with vintage sewing machines.
I believe ebay has vaporized the GSP program, global shipping program, and global sales. The old GSP Kentucky international outlet for exports, got buried with no real explanation, and its EIS replacement must not be good enough. I formerly (pre 2010) did my own boxing, and customs exporting, then switched to GSP, then to EIS, and now nothing gets exported, after the pandemic. Also killing exports are the return rules. Now you are expected to take returns like we are amazon junk peddlers ? Really the export market was killed by them, not us. Returns is what ebay is all about now. I don't take returns, offer returns, but they still can force them on good sellers. I have worked to keep an ethical standard above normal, but its hard to keep the 1% psycho buyers from killing my desire to carry on. So in conclusion, I am leaning towards giving up finding items to sell and wind this down.
