closing up shop

[craftysandy1961]

I'm in the process of closing down my ebay business.  Not because I'm mad at ebay or anything, but just that I've seen a downturn in what I mainly sell and so I'm ready to move on. 

What is the best way to maximize selling off my inventory?  My general theory before has been to list it, run sales, do auctions etc., but without feeling any urgency about it.  But I would really like to get rid of my inventory (without just giving it away) quickly.  Are drastic price reductions the answer?  Or grouping items into larger lots to sell them for less profit, but more money (that is 10 items for $75 instead of the 10 for $120 that they might be listed at right now)?  

Does anyone have any suggestions of what has worked for them?

[turquoisetulips]

I hear you . Quite a few sellers on e bay have  seen a downturn  lately ,,  so you're not alone ..  . I haven't  needed to sell my entire inventory  and  quit  selling here , yet .  However  in  just guessing you might do better  at selling in lots .  I think it would be less time consuming  and less costly  with shipping .  Good luck   Tulips 

[springs_2013]

Good luck on your endeavor.  I don't think anyone really know what the right thing to do is.  Just wanted to reply to say that I understand where you are coming from and wish sales would pickup for everyone and admire your courage to admit when it's time to pack it up and call it a day.

[long-gone]

I don't know if it is just me but when I look at your listings it says 46 results but I can only see 3 listings. Two listing titles start off as Christmas ornaments and the other listing title is for letter ornaments.

[m60driver]

When I would close down one of my old brick & mortar stores with a going out of business sale then I would begin with about a 33% markdown in price and then reduce by at least an additional 5% each following week or 10 days.

[double2trouble]

Best of luck in whatever you do next. 

[pburn]

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@long-gone wrote:

I don't know if it is just me . . .

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Each of those three listings you see has a number of variables, so they tally as one for each variable. With the first listing, for example, but you can select any one of 15 styles, so that shows up as 15 items in the tally. The second item has 24 styles, and the third option has 7 styles. 

15 + 24 + 7 = 46

That's how it works.

[craftysandy1961]

I have another ID with a store with a couple hundred listings.  Several of my multi listings have hundreds of options (mainly Cricut cartridges) craft items for the most part.  sandychristmas2012 is my other listings ID

[long-gone]

Thanks. I didn't look that closely at the listings. I learned something new today.

[byrd69er]

Larger lots at a discount.

Seems to be working for me. I have thousands of vacuum tubes to sell. It would take me far more time than I care to consume to sell them in the small quantities I usually do.....thus, the lots are getting larger and I'm offering them at a cost that allows the buyer to make some money too, when they sell the smaller lots.  I guess I'm going wholesale on many of what I've posted lately. I'm not opposed to letting someone else make some money off of these. I'm doing quite well at the margin I have set for myself.

Good luck cleaning house.

[corvettestainless]

Sell it as 1 big lot- there are 'lots for sales' here, so you can sell as 1 big lot, 2 large lots etc. Selling 10 at time etc. is not going to help. 

[chapeau-noir]

I'd just lot the stuff up however it makes sense to you.

[luckythewinner]

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@craftysandy1961 wrote:

Does anyone have any suggestions of what has worked for them?

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When I think about ways to liquidate inventory quickly, an online marketplace is not the first thing that springs to mind.

[uncseniorsportsfan]

One of my accounts is craft supplies and handcrafted items.  Compared to collectibles it was doing OK until after Christmas which was unusual because the winter months of January and February have always been my better months for selling fabric and craft supplies.    I suspect it is more an eBay visibility thing than the crafty marketplace.

 I am also planning to shut down my crafts account if things don't improve over the next few weeks.  I am considering listing the items in lots based on what can be shipped together at a reasonable shipping price, but not necessarily on eBay.