Selling during the holidays

[hepie-5522]

Hi I’m fairly new to eBay and sell mostly vintage items of all kinds, and heard that it slows down during the holidays. Does anybody have experience with this?  
Thanks,

Heidi

[inhawaii]

---

@hepie-5522 wrote:

Hi I’m fairly new to eBay and sell mostly vintage items of all kinds, and heard that it slows down during the holidays. Does anybody have experience with this?  
Thanks,

Heidi

---

I'm no expert but I don't think vintage items are hot sellers during the holidays.

People want to buy NEW items to give as gifts.

[hartungcards]

eBay only slows down on days that end with a "Y"

[tobaccocardyahoo]

People buy vintage and collectible items for themselves.

People buy gifts during the holiday season.

If your items are no returns and vintage and collectible, few will risk buying them as a gift to a collector. They do not know what the collector wants, how to judge the level of condition, and what the collector already owns, Consider this a good thing, the bulk of my returns on Amazon which does not permit no returns sales, occurred in October and November.

Fear not, in January there are lots of collectors Jonesing for new stuff, who received gift cards. It the don't have a gift card they might wait until they paid their credit card bill

[12345jamesstamps]

It's not slow during the holidays. More buyers are at home looking for something to do....they go on eBay.

Especially now with buyers using their iPhones to buy on eBay when they don't want to chit chat with relatives during the holidays at home.

Some who say it is slow are selling items that you can get at Amazon anytime...so for them it will be slow.

I would do "Buyer pays return shipping" on your items

And I would drop the word "vintage" from your titles. Most buyers know what's old or new. Are you selling "Vintage" or an Iridescent Glass Bowl?

[zachvas]

I sell clothing (non vintage) and for the month of December my sales are down 8% from last month, I list them same amount each day and same type of items. My guess is, at least for clothing resellers but really used item resellers in general sales will be slow around Christmas due to the fact that no one gifts their friends and family used items, they gift new items. more people are also spending money on gifts that they might typically spend on themselves and these days not a lot of people can afford to buy both gifts and stuff for themselves. people are also asking for the item they would normally buy in used condition for themselves, as presents from friends and family. I would say sales will most likely pick up after Christmas if they slowed down for you in late Nov/early December 

[ittybitnot]

Does anybody have experience with this?  

@hepie-5522 

Yes, and you are getting good advice from experienced sellers.  Used items may slow down during the gift giving season.  However, a quick look suggests to me that your retention of the buyer requirements that eBay placed on your account may also contribute of low sales.  

For example, the preferences limit the choices a buyer has to pay, and disallows combined shipping for multiple sales from the same buyer.  If you are experienced enough and already know how to deal with buyers that don't pay you may wish to turn these off.  They do discourage buyers that DO pay as well.  

Take a look, and decide for yourself it limiting your buyer pool is right for you.  

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

Buyer Payment Requirements

*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they place a bid.

*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer.

Click submit.

[mbub253]

Why on earth would you suggest dropping the word vintage from titles? It doesn't matter if people know it's vintage once they see it, the title is there so those seeking vintage items can find it by searching. 

[brightlightbookseller]

Agreed, we often use Vintage or the abbreviation VTG and it seems to help from what I can tell (no way to be sure, but we sell a lot of those items).

[casprrr]

I sell antique glassware (EAPG) almost exclusively and my sales fluctuate throughout the year. I expect higher sales around the holidays with people looking to buy something to gift to another collector, or buying for themselves especially if they received a present of either cash or a gift card.

[kh-cathy]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.