Selling on eBay

[oletooks]

Greetings Fellow eBay Sellers,

Are your sales better or worst than this time last year? Just wondering. Our store business is the lowest in several years. Thanks for your input.

[mike_jayroe]

2022 my first year was fantastic. 

2023 sales down about 55% from '22

2024 about 70% less than '23.

Giving up at the end of this year.

No sales on marketplace, and no luck with yard sales even.

And I believe 2025 will be even worse than is is now.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

You appear to have an interesting and eclectic selection of merchandise.

Few of the items you are offering are mass market and have a predictable time to sell.

Many can be considered long tail.

Sales this year have shown similar issues to  previous economic hard times. Demand is uneven, there are sales peaks and valleys. Price can be an issue with some items, but even lowering the price within the retail price range may not increase sales.

My normal response is to list more but I lack the energy to do so.

No one is likely to have the same mix of merchandise you have and so their experience may or may not be relevant.

[ckimodog]

@oletooks 

Mine are about the same.  

Happy Selling

[gamersbaystore]

The US is struggling with extremely high interest rates, the highest we've seen in decades, along with crushing inflation, and our economic growth is garbage.

Until the fed drops interest rates, the economy will likely continue to slow, and everyones sales will end up in the dumps with it.

Good luck finding work too, jobs are non-existent right now.

The Fed's decision to raise interest rates a gazillion times over the past few years have completely choked up the economy.

[chapeau-noir]

The jobs market is so strong that even an olde farte like me can get a job.

[yuzuha]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

The jobs market is so strong that even an olde farte like me can get a job.

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I can't walk half a block without seeing "Now Hiring" signs in store and restaurant windows everywhere.

I went to Target and then stopped in Dunkin to get a coffee the other day. Both were hiring. Grabbed a few things for dinner at the grocery store, it was also hiring. The Starbucks near where I work is hiring starting at $20/hour plus benefits. If I needed a job, I could probably have one by the beginning of next week just by going out and walking into various stores.

[fashunu4eeuh]

@mike_jayroe 

You started during the huge upswing in ecommerce sales due to the pandemic. eBay was hopping, and once it was clear the epidemic was waning, i was frustrated that eBay apparently did not have a plan to try to retain these thousands of new buyers. Once folks were able to get out again, the traffic drained off— and then some. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

@mike_jayroe 

You started during the huge upswing in ecommerce sales due to the pandemic. eBay was hopping, and once it was clear the epidemic was waning, i was frustrated that eBay apparently did not have a plan to try to retain these thousands of new buyers. Once folks were able to get out again, the traffic drained off— and then some. 

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In all fairness, that happened to a lot of sites. Somehow the "great reset" to online shopping didn't happen, and people went back to B&M stores. In fact, my younger nieces and nephews (Gen Z) like shopping in the flesh world - they go out together and have coffee or a pizza or whatever while they shop, and they're not very acquisitive - I think the big deal is being together and eating lol. Online isn't any big deal to them - they grew up with it and it's just another shopping venue.

[thexphilatelist]

...............edited by mistake.

[borea_2131]

You confuse low end jobs for actual jobs that require a high level of skill or education.

Of course jobs like that, retail, construction, laborer, grass cutter, food handler, waiter can get jobs.

Barrier to entry is low and you can hire anyone off the street.

[chapeau-noir]

I'm curious how "low end" jobs aren't "actual" jobs?

[paxilill]

What we think of as extremely high interest rates are normal averages.

The US consumer has been on a spending spree for the last 15 years fueled by cheap rates yet housing has been on a tear. Something is going to break. 

The fed should have jacked rates up to 8% plus five years ago. Between crypto, zombie company meme stocks, collectibles bubble people are just mal-investing like there's no tomorrow. 

I suspect the next major recession is going to make 2008 look like a picnic, people are broke. 

[yuzuha]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

I'm curious how "low end" jobs aren't "actual" jobs?

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I'm wondering the same thing. A job is a job. If you need money, you take what will take you.

Also, there are lots of higher-level jobs available right now too. One of my friends (who is very limited in her job prospects as she is a caretaker to a disabled elderly relative) just landed a very nice full-time remote job that will allow her the flexibility that she needs. Another friend just got a promotion to a senior position in her company. Yet another friend just switched jobs to another job in the same field that pays about 25% more and has much better benefits.

[chapeau-noir]

Not to mention the skill some of those "not actual jobs" require.