What I believe......

[sakic92710]

A lot of people are trying to figure out why their eBay sales or any online selling might be failing.  As far as I'm concerned, there is little doubt the number of changes in the world, following COVID & how the inept politicians handled it, is the downfall of several things in life, including our ability to create an online income.  Never in my lifetime has it been so difficult to generate sales than it has over the course of the last 3 years.  I can have 1 decent day but then, almost nothing for the next 5-6-7 days.  On Monday, after any fees, I took in over $130.  Over the following 5 days?  $5.00!!!   2 weeks prior to that, I went 7 days without.  After what I receive to pay my rent, my bills are light.  Yet, I struggle to cover them!   I live in a small city where jobs are mostly parttime & many are food service or retail.  After 40 years in the work force, little seems available to someone like me.  Certainly, I would not get the hours I need.  These changes in the job situation are due to the virus.  I see nothing in my surroundings that have improved since 2021.  Online sales dropping.  Closing up booths at the flea market because rent could not be covered.  Prices going up steadily.  Rent increases by a large %.  Have you seen anything that is an improvement?   And........please.......no political nonsense.  Thank you.  🙂

[dbfolks166mt]

     A lot of sellers have gone through the shock of the post pandemic drop off with regards to sales. I tend to discount the pandemic segment when looking at my sales history. If I do that my sales overall, both online and through local forums have shown a slight increase by volume since I have been selling and I am still listing about the same number of items on an annual basis and maintaining my target ROI. 

     What I have noticed is a shift in the types of items buyers are focused on as their discretionary funding has, in a lot of cases, decreased. So it is not always so much about other factors like volume or pricing but more about what the buyers are looking for at which point the other factors like pricing and shipping come into play. For me that "what" is the most difficult item to pin down and constantly changes.

    The cost of shipping, and there is no such thing as free shipping, has become a factor that is pushing a lot of consumers back to B&M stores especially those consumers that live in large metropolitan areas where most items are readily available within the given region. The perk of not having to pay sales tax, in most cases, for online purchases is gone as the individual states passed laws applying sales tax to online transactions. 

[chevymontecarlo88]

Times are tough to the degree that people are more selective about spending their discretionary money. IMHO

Things will pick up again after the election but it may take a couple of quarters (6 months or longer IMHO) for things to start feeling better.

[fbusoni]

When I read comments like yours above, I am reminded of a neighbor who moved in next door to me about  10 years ago. 

He was 27 years old.   He had both arms and a leg blown off by a land mine while serving in Iraq.  He had a young wife and a 3 year old daughter.   The VA was taking care of him, thank goodness... even building him and his family a custom made home to accommodate his injuries.

Life is not fair.    Even for those who are not mangled by war and who have the luxury of selling on eBay.

[dbfolks166mt]

Times are tough to the degree that people are more selective about spending their discretionary money. IMHO

Things will pick up again after the election but it may take a couple of quarters (6 months or longer IMHO) for things to start feeling better.

     That may depend on what the outcome of the election(s) is/are. In an economy and marketplace that is becoming more global than segmented by country it's a much bigger picture these days. 

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

Times are tough to the degree that people are more selective about spending their discretionary money. IMHO

Things will pick up again after the election but it may take a couple of quarters (6 months or longer IMHO) for things to start feeling better.

     That may depend on what the outcome of the election(s) is/are. In an economy and marketplace that is becoming more global than segmented by country it's a much bigger picture these days. 

---

That is true but from what i am seeing in a deep blue state, this is not going to be close.

Things will get better. IMHO

[dbfolks166mt]

@dbfolks166mt wrote:

Times are tough to the degree that people are more selective about spending their discretionary money. IMHO

Things will pick up again after the election but it may take a couple of quarters (6 months or longer IMHO) for things to start feeling better.

     That may depend on what the outcome of the election(s) is/are. In an economy and marketplace that is becoming more global than segmented by country it's a much bigger picture these days. 

That is true but from what i am seeing in a deep blue state, this is not going to be close.

Things will get better. IMHO

     I remember they said the same thing about the Trump/Clinton election not even being close and look how that turned out. There are some states where Mickey Mouse could run on the Democratic ticket and win I used to live in Illinois which is one of them.

     It's a three way optic for me I actually care less about who is in the White House and more about who is in Congress. Wall Street is pretty adverse to having one party controlling all three elements. 

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

@dbfolks166mt wrote:

Times are tough to the degree that people are more selective about spending their discretionary money. IMHO

Things will pick up again after the election but it may take a couple of quarters (6 months or longer IMHO) for things to start feeling better.

     That may depend on what the outcome of the election(s) is/are. In an economy and marketplace that is becoming more global than segmented by country it's a much bigger picture these days. 

That is true but from what i am seeing in a deep blue state, this is not going to be close.

Things will get better. IMHO

     I remember they said the same thing about the Trump/Clinton election not even being close and look how that turned out. There are some states where Mickey Mouse could run on the Democratic ticket and win I used to live in Illinois which is one of them.

     It's a three way optic for me I actually care less about who is in the White House and more about who is in Congress. Wall Street is pretty adverse to having one party controlling all three elements. 

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That is true as well. From what I am seeing and the friends I talk to, i think it will be a clean sweep of all 3. We will see and i can only hope it is undeniably clear who the winner is on election night.

[reallynicestamps]

The OP may find they do better if Chinese goods are subject to a 10% US tariff.

That will raise wholesale prices for US sellers enough that Canadian sellers like us will have an advantage of lower procurement costs, since all of our parties seem to understand how tariffs work.

[broto_64]

As many as have joked and made fun of this new outfit, I can see Temu having took sales away too... More than anything however, the desperation of some who can't seem to stop themselves from trying to pull a slick one on a buyer... There are many forms of abuse on ebay alone but it's not reserved to just ebay, every Marketplace suffers from systemic and rampant abuse. 

That abuse is responsible for a lot of buyers not being but so excited to buy online.

[dolcetreasures]

Look at the utter lack of traffic on eBay. There’s your lack of sales. There aren’t enough potential buyers rummaging through your listings. At this point, I believe most watchers are other sellers or would be sellers using your items  as reference points. 

[12345jamesstamps]

Although some sellers can make a living on eBay...a lot will not.

It's a good source of making some extra income to supplement your income with having a 9 to 5 job.

  I have had 4 International sales in 4 days(one sale each day)...which this has never happened before...no domestic buyers which I offer free shipping.

It's been my worst week yet.

But this is extra income for spending for I know very well.

I never had a lot of days with no domestic sales...and getting a sale(s) from Brazil and Malta...it's a new low for me in sales. Could be those algorithms eBay puts in but who knows.

Selling on eBay reminds me of the stock market...lows and highs.

When you see a 'World Series' Baseball stadium filled to capacity or a concert stadium filled with people to capacity with high ticket prices...people not having money is not the reason...

I see tourist families with 5-6 kids in San Francisco currently in my city.

People do have money...living in California...going to the mall on Sunday in Colma we can't even find a parking spot and the lines in fast food restaurants are long and no place to sit IF you can get in line to order food.

Things seem back to normal where I live.

The traffic in San Francisco is back to being congested during peak times.

Don't tell me people are hurting...I don't believe it in my city.

[dbfolks166mt]

@dbfolks166mt wrote:

@dbfolks166mt wrote:

Times are tough to the degree that people are more selective about spending their discretionary money. IMHO

Things will pick up again after the election but it may take a couple of quarters (6 months or longer IMHO) for things to start feeling better.

     That may depend on what the outcome of the election(s) is/are. In an economy and marketplace that is becoming more global than segmented by country it's a much bigger picture these days. 

That is true but from what i am seeing in a deep blue state, this is not going to be close.

Things will get better. IMHO

     I remember they said the same thing about the Trump/Clinton election not even being close and look how that turned out. There are some states where Mickey Mouse could run on the Democratic ticket and win I used to live in Illinois which is one of them.

     It's a three way optic for me I actually care less about who is in the White House and more about who is in Congress. Wall Street is pretty adverse to having one party controlling all three elements. 

That is true as well. From what I am seeing and the friends I talk to, i think it will be a clean sweep of all 3. We will see and i can only hope it is undeniably clear who the winner is on election night.

     At this point everybody is guessing, hoping and speculating. It depends on what polls you look at, which news source you read and/or which friends you are talking to. Like you said you live in a heavy blue state which is mostly blue because of Baltimore. You are in Glen Burnie which is pretty much a suburb of Baltimore. 

     I am in Virginia which is also pretty much Democratic but is only that way because the Washington Metro Area and Norfolk control the bulk of the voters. Map wise most of the state is Republican. 

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

@dbfolks166mt wrote:

@dbfolks166mt wrote:

Times are tough to the degree that people are more selective about spending their discretionary money. IMHO

Things will pick up again after the election but it may take a couple of quarters (6 months or longer IMHO) for things to start feeling better.

     That may depend on what the outcome of the election(s) is/are. In an economy and marketplace that is becoming more global than segmented by country it's a much bigger picture these days. 

That is true but from what i am seeing in a deep blue state, this is not going to be close.

Things will get better. IMHO

     I remember they said the same thing about the Trump/Clinton election not even being close and look how that turned out. There are some states where Mickey Mouse could run on the Democratic ticket and win I used to live in Illinois which is one of them.

     It's a three way optic for me I actually care less about who is in the White House and more about who is in Congress. Wall Street is pretty adverse to having one party controlling all three elements. 

That is true as well. From what I am seeing and the friends I talk to, i think it will be a clean sweep of all 3. We will see and i can only hope it is undeniably clear who the winner is on election night.

     At this point everybody is guessing, hoping and speculating. It depends on what polls you look at, which news source you read and/or which friends you are talking to. Like you said you live in a heavy blue state which is mostly blue because of Baltimore. You are in Glen Burnie which is pretty much a suburb of Baltimore. 

     I am in Virginia which is also pretty much Democratic but is only that way because the Washington Metro Area and Norfolk control the bulk of the voters. Map wise most of the state is Republican. 

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That is true as well. 😀 Polls are garbage and the news (legacy) is not much better. IMHO

I am basing my opinion on speaking with customers/friends (that vote blue) who live in blue states like PA, NY, CA, and WI. (and other states) I think a lot of people are going to be surprised and many may never be able to recover from the outcome.

[krazzykats]

Shipping costs are too high for many small items.