ebay as a side gig

[keziak]

There is so much angst from sellers (like me!) disappointed with sales anymore that the question becomes what are realistic expectations for selling here? Obviously there are people selling full-time and maybe even making a good living on ebay. I wonder what percentage of sellers fall into that category? For sheer mental health would it be better to decide ebay is going to be a side hustle while working for the Man or on other sites? For myself since I'm in books, my main site is Amazon. Ebay used to be a strong second but that has been at least 2 years ago now. 

I did a little Googling about side gigs and found a webpage for millennials suggesting ways to make extra money. One idea was to sell online (on Amazon....)

[goldrushfinds]

Patd

I don't doubt that what you say is true, but looking at the inventory of many sellers, I don't think the their sources or any of those you noted (most the inventory looks straight out of Alibaba). I can believe that by being smart and taking an approach like you say could be viable, it definitely entails a lot of work, storage space and general logistics. Also lots of competition, due to the ease of entry into reselling. If you are making good money, I am happy for you, and do believe you are doing so.

[goldrushfinds]

Excuse my poor punctuation and errors in previous post. It's getting late!

[membersinceaug2001]

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@keziak wrote:

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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Books have been a falling category for sales and especially for internet sales.  At some point you have to ask yourself.  Do I have the desire to change products in order to have a better chance of succeeding?

Good Luck Selling!

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When it comes to books, Amazon dominates and these days I am outpacing 2017 significantly. For whatever reason I get a lot more, and a lot more pricey, sales there than here. Since at this point I resist changing my inventory I have to admit that ebay is not the place for books to a strong degree. I sell enough to not walk away...but just.

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keziak, I remember seeing your name around for a long time!

Good to hear you are still doing ok on Amazon.  But be warned you can get canned in an instant.  For me, no one was leaving feedback so a couple negs for post office mis-scanning got my account closed.  I had been selling on there for 20 years or more.

Amazon's own feedback is 30% negative, yet they expect sellers to have next to none?  They sure do live in their own textbook fantasy world.

On here, sales have went from a good comfortable living pre-2007, to practically nothing today.  We run a half dozen different accounts all with different stuff and nothing sells anymore!

The Mrs here went out and got a cozy job at...the Post Office!  She enjoys it, and the pay is fantastic for this area.

[keziak]

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@membersinceaug2001 wrote:

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@keziak wrote:

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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Books have been a falling category for sales and especially for internet sales.  At some point you have to ask yourself.  Do I have the desire to change products in order to have a better chance of succeeding?

Good Luck Selling!

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When it comes to books, Amazon dominates and these days I am outpacing 2017 significantly. For whatever reason I get a lot more, and a lot more pricey, sales there than here. Since at this point I resist changing my inventory I have to admit that ebay is not the place for books to a strong degree. I sell enough to not walk away...but just.

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keziak, I remember seeing your name around for a long time!

Good to hear you are still doing ok on Amazon.  But be warned you can get canned in an instant.  For me, no one was leaving feedback so a couple negs for post office mis-scanning got my account closed.  I had been selling on there for 20 years or more.

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I think about that a lot. I got a neg a while ago and later heard from the buyer again. I explained my side of the story and he said he would definitely remove the neg.  But it was a few days past the 60 day cutoff. So all I could do it respond professionally to his original FB and hope for the best....

[luckythewinner]

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@keziak wrote:

There is so much angst from sellers (like me!) disappointed with sales anymore that the question becomes what are realistic expectations for selling here?

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I think a realistic expectation would be to earn an hourly wage that justifies the time invested.

But I also think there is a huge difference between (a) having a realistic expectation, and (b) having a business plan (and the skills to execute it) that will support that expectation.

One can have a perfectly realistic goal and still fail to accomplish it.

[m60driver]

Ebay is still a great place for a small side gig to make lunch money. But competeing with retailers like Amazon and Costco who are selling at break even margins and making net profits out of annual dues, it is pretty hard to make a living. Not to mention all the retirees on fixed income like myself who are happy just to make some beer money here or there.  If you value your time you don't want to compete with someone like myself who has all day but, statistically speaking, few years.

[dubiousgain]

It's ironic...But back, in the good ol' days, ebay was considered a "hobby", with no taxes...but I was able to use it, as a good businees.  Now, it's considered taxable income, but is impossible to sell enough on here, to make it a business.

[reallynicestamps]

@goldrushfinds

and see the profit on each item, it just seems like a bad business model. Tons of work, for a marginal return.

I bore posters with my mantra of "18 cents a minute".

That's the minimum wage* in my province.

If you are not making at least that after procuring, photographing,describing, uploading, packaging and shipping-- never mind fees-- then you either have to decide eBay is your hobby or find another gig.

*It will be rising soon to 25 cents a minute, which is a good thing since an average 3 bed house here costs $600,000 to $750,000 and rents for $5000 a month.

[luckythewinner]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

I bore posters with my mantra of "18 cents a minute".

That's the minimum wage* in my province.

If you are not making at least that after procuring, photographing,describing, uploading, packaging and shipping-- never mind fees-- then you either have to decide eBay is your hobby or find another gig. 

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18 cents a minute is $10.80 an hour, for those who are used to seeing wages expressed that way. 

I already consider eBay to be my hobby, but I wouldn't even sell here as a hobby if my "wage" dropped below $25 an hour. 

[fuzzyfurball]

You also have to look at the trends today.  My sister (who is OLDER than me) just last week introduced me to the mobile app "Wish" which she was drooling over on.  Yeah, I've had a cellphone for many years but I never heard of THAT app!!  She said her friends had downloaded it and were buying from it because it was so cheap and had lots of small trinkets they were interested in(yeah I know, Cheap Chinese goods taking a month to receive, but still some new app I learned of that is becoming popular!!)  I'm even trying to get rid of some old goods on the app "offer up".  You have to follow the herd, the crowd of buyers.  Where are they going??  Frankly, I don't even buy that much on ebay anymore.  I even recently bought my cat's cave bed on Wish.  It seemed kind of small but it certainly keeps her warm:-)

I agree too that you can't just stay on 1 or 2 sites or apps- you have to spread yourself wide so that you're never too reliant on any ships (apps or sites) that start sinking.  Ama*on is a good site since so many people are hooked on Prime. 

As far as books, I buy mine digitally now.  Unless it's a hard to find book like a hard to find specialized textbook I need, I never buy in paper binding anymore--it's all digital now for me.

I was leery of the new apps like Uber, but after the bus not showing up for over an hour, I even tried Uber this past week 4 different times, all so purrrrfect to ride on!!  All rides & fares pre-set with no conflicts (and no conversations needed where to go or where to be picked up at) with the drivers.  And afterwards, I tipped the ones who gave me extra service on the app itself.  You got to roll forwards with the times or be left behind!!  Good luck!

[goldrushfinds]

Can we nickname you Mark Twain or Yogi Berra. I liked your last line. Kind of heavy though. I am sure you will beat the statistics.

[emerald40]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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@keziak wrote:

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@richard1rst wrote:

If you plan on making a living at it you can not treat it as a “side gig” because that is the way you will always think of it.

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Right , but what I was getting at is, is there something inherent in ebay now that makes it so very hard to use it for full-time income and if so, wouldn't it be desirable to get primary work elsewhere and relax about the degeneration of ebay? 

This is primarily self-talk for me. I have reached a point where I have to let go of the disappointment of ebay faltering compared to the past or where I thought I would be now. Investing more in another site has been more rewarding than the same investment here.

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I do not see eBay as degenerating?  As @richard1rst alluded to and perhaps you did not take notice of is that if you begin to seeking out successful tactics, then you will create better odds to succeed.  If you are not trying to grow in the industry you will fall behind. 

Books have been a falling category for sales and especially for internet sales.  At some point you have to ask yourself.  Do I have the desire to change products in order to have a better chance of succeeding?

Good Luck Selling!

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Exactly.  Too many sellers living in the past and refusing to acknowledge that what worked 10 years or even a year ago, may not work now.

Also the poster alluding that he should have just taken the stuff to the dump.  Not everything you find in your basement or was given to you by relatives is sellable.  That is why it was better when we paid for listings.  Sellers made a conscious decision on what they listed which benefitted everyone.

[emerald40]

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@keziak wrote:

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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Books have been a falling category for sales and especially for internet sales.  At some point you have to ask yourself.  Do I have the desire to change products in order to have a better chance of succeeding?

Good Luck Selling!

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When it comes to books, Amazon dominates and these days I am outpacing 2017 significantly. For whatever reason I get a lot more, and a lot more pricey, sales there than here. Since at this point I resist changing my inventory I have to admit that ebay is not the place for books to a strong degree. I sell enough to not walk away...but just.

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When my 3 needed books for coursework their natural inclination was to go to Amazon.  Not one of them thought to look on ebay.  

[emerald40]

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@coolections wrote:

With millions of people who are not working full time such as grandmas, stay at home moms, unemployed people, disabled people, students, retired people, and those who just do not want to work outside the home etc., I find it would be very difficult to do this full time. There are only so many buyers out there so with everyone thinking they can make a buck here the odds of getting consistent sales are slim to none. There is just too much competition amongst sellers. In your case it has to be very difficult as books are a dime a dozen and found EVERYWHERE. There are currently 39 million listed as I type.

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I always had the impression ebay started out as a place for hobbyists doing this part time.  Then some sellers tried to turn it into a full time job.  And it worked for while.  But imo that time has long gone, unless you are a single retired person who has other funds coming in.  

In the fine diamond jewelry category, alot of the mom and pop sellers are long gone.  It is now all fine jewely stores adding the Internet as a means of making sales or retired jewelers selling off inventory.

[annasunicorns]

M60drvr, I had that same thought. Except, moms selling here and there for coffee money. 😄 Ebay can be a business its just you are competeing with people who are NOT in it for business.