Is it really "the economy'?

[pls-consignments]

"The US ecomony grew at a blistering rate despite high interest rates" - CNN

"US GDP grew at a 4.9% annualized rate over three months ending in September" - ABC

"U.S. Economic Growth Accelerated in the Third Quarter" - New York Times

"Amazon reports better-than-expected results, as revenue jumps 13%" - CNBC

Well, so much for THAT being a reason why we're seeing slow sales 😕

[duffy4444]

   All four of the sources you quoted are bottom-line unreliable, and I stopped listening to their excuses that defy common sense. They carry water for those responsible for the malaise that is running up inflation and lying to us consumers whenever we go to the gas pump or to the grocery store or our local Home Depot or Walmart.

     The overall sales drop affecting most online sellers can be best explained by what I heard on Fox Business recently (paraphrased): "The bulk of consumers are paralyzed by uncertainty". This is the most comprehensive, honest and simple explanation I've heard so far. It makes sense and says it all.

     The best thing we can do is Accept > Adjust > Adapt. Accept the situation and the need to be patient, Adjust our expectations and be wise about adjusting our listings and business models where we can, and Adapt to the current reality by riding it out until it blows over - which it eventually will (fingers crossed).

     There are rich periods and there are lean periods. That's the nature of online commerce that I've experienced in the 25+ years I've been selling here and on other online venues. And it's mostly tied to the economic situation and actions by Congress and the Administration at the time.

     Ebay doesn't want to see slow sales on the site either. It would be corporate suicide. With all the missteps eBay has made over the years, they still don't take stupid pills, and have been navigating the current inflation/consumer malaise as best they can. The same can be said about many other online commerce sites that have also been seeing a drop in sales revenue across the board.  

Cheers, Duffy

[jahe149822]

eBay is not the economy. How the average person is doing, is not the the economy.

The average person is some how worse off  than the they were during a global pandemic.

Companies can be doing fine, by charging more, and the GDP can look great, all while the average person is not enjoying such success.

Economists are a lot like meteorologists. They aren’t very accurate at predicting anything, and they disagree with each other more often than not.

Just take a look at eBay’s stock price, or other stock prices for that matter. Investors aren’t ignorant. The economy is not nearly as strong as these numbers suggest. The bond market is in havoc right now. 

[broto_64]

Sometimes we have to hunker down and get to the nitty gritty of things, are we really doing everything we can for the consumer or are we more or less pleased with our bottom line? Because it's not that hard to have great looking figures even when the ship is sinking, the converse is also true.

[kenneth686321]

Doesn't matter how "amazing" the economy is doing if no one wants to buy your stuff. 

You sell niche vintage items which has small pool of buyers (probably getting smaller) who may be interested. Yes your items may look really nice  and even be unique and the prices may be fair. That doesn't matter if few people want them.  

On the other end of the spectrum a seller may be selling really common items that can be found everywhere and still not get sales. 

The key is to find a balance

This is the most difficult part of selling, knowing exactly what items consumers want to buy? where to profitably source these in demand items? Which selling platform will allow get you the most money in the shortest amount of time. All hard questions. 

Big corporations spend BILLION of dollars trying to create consumer demand. Other companies spend millions on market research studying consumer behaviour, consumer phycology, the retail market landscape etc.. Some of them are massively successful and some of them are not.    

[m60driver]

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@pls-consignments wrote:

"The US ecomony grew at a blistering rate despite high interest rates" - CNN

Well, so much for THAT being a reason why we're seeing slow sales 😕

---

The economy is growing and working for the few, not so much for the other 95%.  It is all about the political economy but the masses are just so easily distracted by the secondary social issues favored by the extremists on both sides of the aisle so to speak.

[reallynicestamps]

The stock market has little or nothing to do with the actual economy.

It's just a casino for people who have too much money to spend on their needs and wants.

And yes, I know a lot of pension funds are invested in the stock market.

The only market guru I would trust is Warren Buffett, who encourages people to invest in companies that make things and employ people, not ones that play with money.

I suspect  a lot of the moaning about a poor economy comes from people living in low income areas. Which makes sense because if there isn't much going on economically near you, all you see is unemployment and closed businesses.

Here in Victoria BC, there is a building boom and sites are advertising for apprentices at $40 an hour .

Shops and restaurants can't find workers for minimum wage ( $16.25) because they can find better wages.
And this is in spite of our government encouraging immigration at a rate of 400,000 annually to add to our population of 40 million.

If you have a skill, electrician, carpenter, programmer, medical services , we're hiring.

The downside of low unemployment is high housing costs. Mortgages are now at 6% and average rental for a one bedroom apartment would be about $1400 while a three bedroom house is nearing a million ($750K USD) depending on the neighbourhood. Our own house has doubled in value in thepast nine years.

Rather than highly partisan US news sources, look at magazines like The Economist, or channels like BBC or Al-Jazeerah.

[richard1rst]

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@pls-consignments wrote:

"The US ecomony grew at a blistering rate despite high interest rates" - CNN

"US GDP grew at a 4.9% annualized rate over three months ending in September" - ABC

"U.S. Economic Growth Accelerated in the Third Quarter" - New York Times

"Amazon reports better-than-expected results, as revenue jumps 13%" - CNBC

Well, so much for THAT being a reason why we're seeing slow sales 😕

---

As the old line goes: Figures don’t lie but liars figure. A politicians job is to get reelected so “truth” is distorted.

Let’s say that last year you sold 1000 items that you bought for $5.00 each and sold for $10.00 each. $10,000 in sales

BUT due to 10% inflation your cost is now $5.50, which you now sell for $11.00. $11,000 in sales.

Is that really a 10% “increase in economic activity”? Heck, if that’s all it takes to increase economic activity let’s raise the price to $12.00.

That extra profit you think you made is offset by the rise in the prices of the items you were buying so you are no better off than you were before.

Dog and pony show

Blue smoke and mirrors

His lips are moving

[chapeau-noir]

Stores here are thriving, pubs and restaurants are thriving, air travel nationwide is booming.  It just never seems to occur to people that they may be selling items that are no longer desired as much, or that competition in the etailing space has gotten extremely tough so that it doesn't matter what the economy is doing because there are simply too many sellers. We're a country drowning in excess when it comes to material items - who is going to buy all of this stuff?

[dbfolks166mt]

As the old line goes: Figures don’t lie but liars figure. A politicians job is to get reelected so “truth” is distorted.

Let’s say that last year you sold 1000 items that you bought for $5.00 each and sold for $10.00 each. $10,000 in sales

BUT due to 10% inflation your cost is now $5.50, which you now sell for $11.00. $11,000 in sales.

Is that really a 10% “increase in economic activity”? Heck, if that’s all it takes to increase economic activity let’s raise the price to $12.00.

That extra profit you think you made is offset by the rise in the prices of the items you were buying so you are no better off than you were before.

Dog and pony show

Blue smoke and mirrors

His lips are moving

     Exactly what they are NOT saying is whether the GDP numbers they are quoting are REAL GDP which is adjusted for inflation or whether it is the gross GDP. The same with Amazon's revenue how much of that is due to inflation? Like you said smoke and mirrors you have to dig down into the details. 

     Interestingly enough several factors contribute to GDP which is defined as consumption + investment + government spending + net exports.  Without inflation adjustments of course the GDP is going to continually grow. Then you add in that government spending which just seems to continue to grow with or without inflations. 

     The other figure they are glancing over is the rapid rise in consumer debt, not unlike the rise in government debt. The model is unsustainable you cannot continue to spend with little or no regard to debt there is/will be a day of reckoning. 

[rugerskick]

Yes, this is part of it.

However ebay is also part of it.  Glitches and site problems are part of it.  Also the ebay site flooding buyers with a ton of choices they did not ask to see, leads to choice paralysis, and people being overwhelmed and then not buying items.

[chapeau-noir]

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@rugerskick wrote:

Yes, this is part of it.

However ebay is also part of it.  Glitches and site problems are part of it.  Also the ebay site flooding buyers with a ton of choices they did not ask to see, leads to choice paralysis, and people being overwhelmed and then not buying items.

---

Yes - there are far simpler sites out there for shopping. Even funky Mercari, which is NOT cheap to sell on and has a rubbish search, is still easier to deal with than what eBay is becoming. I hate this, because I've liked eBay for a long time, but maybe too long.

[ggs1hut]

That’s a complete joke, you truly forgot how much it dropped with politics games. Do the math and learn for yourself instead of listening to the brain washing media please.

[chapeau-noir]

ROFL! If you pay attention to mainstream media, everything that is happening in this administration that is good HAS to be bad, in contradistinction to the last administration where everything bad was actually good. They have to satisfy their paymasters, which is why MSM is losing its credence.

[duffy4444]

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@rugerskick wrote:

Yes, this is part of it.

However ebay is also part of it.  Glitches and site problems are part of it.  Also the ebay site flooding buyers with a ton of choices they did not ask to see, leads to choice paralysis, and people being overwhelmed and then not buying items.

---

Greetings, @rugerskick:

     Yes, I agree. Of course eBay has a part in it when they make their choices - some good, some bad. But theirs is a minor part when they're fighting the same economic malaise that we sellers are fighting in our lives. That's why I said:

     "With all the missteps eBay has made over the years, they still don't take stupid pills, and have been navigating the current inflation/consumer malaise as best they can. The same can be said about many other online commerce sites that have also been seeing a drop in sales revenue across the board".

Cheers, Duffy