small time seller of family collectibles for three years 2017 worst year ever what to do

[prflood]

3 yr member, very small time seller of collectibles, 100 percent positive feedback,2017 worst year ever for sales, my prices very low  cannot stay at ebay at this pace , all suggestions greatly appreciated

[lemarcheaupuces]

---

@mayisvardumtyan7 wrote:

I don't think that our new generation does not have interest in COLLECTABLES.  I use to attend flea markets and there are lots of younger people looking for vintage and collectable items.  The problem is in the EBay now.  I am a long time seller on EBay but now I can't find my listings on the search engine.  I think eBay doesn't care about small sellers. Ebay is a big market for Chinese sellers, dropshoping services and guys with big pockets. It is better to have 10 % from 1 million $ than 10% from  $10. 

---

i set up at the flea for about a year in ABQ NM in 2014.

buyers (old and young) wouldn't pay me more than $10 for a handpainted fenton basket.

i barely got $10 for an old banded yelloware bowl.

(i remember selling one for $150 on ebay back in early 2000)

$10 for a large fireking Tulip bowl.

people would wonder why i wanted $10 for an Aladdin cobalt blue Hall teapot.

some woman would argue that my handmade pine needle basket with a lid was a tortilla basket not worth more than $1. all i wanted was $10 for it.

that year at the fleamarket was a waste of my time.

i also can always find my listings on ebay.

if the stuff doesn't sell it is because the site is flooded with antiques and collectibles.

has nothing to do with Ebay, Chinese sellers or whatever...

today is about rare or desirable, period.

you know people have to start to realize that there are a lot of buyers abroad.

i don't sell international but allow buyers with non PP US accounts to buy from me as long as they have a registered  US address.

easy to see who they are.

they usually buy hundreds of items a month, thousands per year.

and often the PP addresses and user names have Asian writing characters.

i am convinced that my sales from these buyers account for 30 to 40% of my total sales.

these buyers are always welcome in my book.

[jeweloftheheart]

Google needs to stop changing their search layout and eBay needs to stop making such huge changes to the websit. This is the worse year ever for glitches on the site which is effecting sales. Features come and go, message sending and receiving slow as a turtle, eBay messages into my email have issues. When I get a notice that I sold an item through the global shipping program, it says that I am the buyer. The contact buyer link in the message of a sold item does not work either. Yes yes yes yes, I know, I have cleared cache and cookies millions of times and restarted my browsers. Now they are telling us that we need to delete our browsers and reinstall them. What next, tell us we need to purchase new devices? eBay, stop blaming your glitches and changes on everything else. My fast n free logo is gone again on all of my listings. 2nd time in 6 months. We should get a discount on our fees for these painful issues. Oh, and everytime in theses forums when I click on send me a message someone responds. I don't get an email......gaahhhh

[mayisvardumtyan7]

Antiques ,collectable items are unique and are not widely available like products from China.  I am selling items which are very low population and   1 to 300  years old . lf the item is rare it doesn't need any Google ad or Seo to sell it.  That's why antique market is different than selling toys or electronics which has a more competition. I sold 1 to 10 items a day. Now I didn't have sale during SEPTEMBER.  What happened? I can't find my listings on the EBay.  l think Ebay blocking my account to give chance for big sellers to get more traffic and sales.  Or maybe items from the past like coins, civil war era items or other collectables already widely available . I don't think that so.

[grasshopperx]

This may sound totally ABSURD to everyone. You know what I think is doing it? people simply can NOT get their faces out of their cell phones. To the point that they dont shop, think of anything else. They are paralyzed with it. It's ridiculous and totally unhealthy. mentally. gosh I know people who cant come for a visit with out looking at the thing 50 times. The companies have ways to brainwash people so that every minute or two, they need to look at it and get a Fix.

[lemarcheaupuces]

---

@mayisvardumtyan7 wrote:

Antiques ,collectable items are unique and are not widely available like products from China.  I am selling items which are very low population and   1 to 300  years old . lf the item is rare it doesn't need any Google ad or Seo to sell it.  That's why antique market is different than selling toys or electronics which has a more competition. I sold 1 to 10 items a day. Now I didn't have sale during SEPTEMBER.  What happened? I can't find my listings on the EBay.  l think Ebay blocking my account to give chance for big sellers to get more traffic and sales.  Or maybe items from the past like coins, civil war era items or other collectables already widely available . I don't think that so.

---

just my opinion and a statement.

i know what i know.

nothing to argue about.

i have been in antiques, collectibles, junk for 30 years.

i have done it all;

online venues, shows, malls, yardsales, fleamarkets, private home sales, even sold a few whole shop inventories through a thrift shop that offered that service in Florida (50/50... unbelievable how well i did in barely 1 month), auctions houses (some of the high end ones) etc... etc...

don't know what you sell, you have a posting ID.

but i will stand about my statement.

the market has changed.

these days Ebay is about rare, desirable, hot, current fad, price, the needed item, a special niche...

1 TO 300 years old doesn't make it desirable or hot.

prices of Antiques and Collectible have also gone down the drain.

so if priced to high it is not going to sell regardless of the age.

when i list something rarer or more desirable it always sells.

that is true on all my selling venues.

there are many sellers doing good on ebay.

most don't have time to post here.

check "Z50" something. Z sells industrial tools or something.

Z often brags about how much he loves ebay.

check Rollenboy, not doing bad either.

i have an acquaintance that sells sterling jewelry on ebay.

it would make you sick to know what he grosses a year.

so we all believe what we want to believe.

to each his own i guess...

[rolenboy01]

I do what I can around here haha, I can say sales are down for most people but I suppose I am doing better than most, I don't have any real secrets to share with anyone, I just try to have a diverse selection so I can still do alright in the months known for less sales.

[lemarcheaupuces]

---

@rolenboy01 wrote:

I do what I can around here haha, I can say sales are down for most people but I suppose I am doing better than most, I don't have any real secrets to share with anyone, I just try to have a diverse selection so I can still do alright in the months known for less sales.

---

well 1 that would take the time to check what you sell would realize there is NO secret.

you just have what i call a "recipe".

your recipe is "diversity" "variety".

how hard would it be for people complaining about low sales to duplicate what you do?

or to duplicate what Z does?

there was a "new" seller recently telling us about how happy he was with his sales.

he was selling games and xboxes.

guess he had good prices too.

i checked his sales and it was really nice to see how unbelievably good he was doing.

there are plenty success stories on ebay.

i completely believe that.

[rolenboy01]

It's not easy to duplicate, I just know what I know I guess, not everything is a great score but I know how to maximum my profits in a way that some do not, I can't teach them what to "look for" and that's not even because I don't want to tell them, it's just a hard thing to explain without them being with me in person, this eBay account is about 11 years old I've been building constantly over time day by day not everyone does as such, you just gotta be ready to unlist items or mark them down and get rid of them it seems many are not able to or willing to do so, i'm not one of those people who will say it's pure "skill" or whatever, a lot of luck involved I suppose, a lot has to do with your location I feel I am more blessed with a constant stream of inventory in my area of the country than others, it could dry up eventually I don't know, all I know is what works for me and I can only help others with eBay and shipping type things not much I can do about lack of inventory acquisition.

[lemarcheaupuces]

---

@rolenboy01 wrote:

It's not easy to duplicate, I just know what I know I guess, not everything is a great score but I know how to maximum my profits in a way that some do not, I can't teach them what to "look for" and that's not even because I don't want to tell them, it's just a hard thing to explain without them being with me in person, this eBay account is about 11 years old I've been building constantly over time day by day not everyone does as such, you just gotta be ready to unlist items or mark them down and get rid of them it seems many are not able to or willing to do so, i'm not one of those people who will say it's pure "skill" or whatever, a lot of luck involved I suppose, a lot has to do with your location I feel I am more blessed with a constant stream of inventory in my area of the country than others, it could dry up eventually I don't know, all I know is what works for me and I can only help others with eBay and shipping type things not much I can do about lack of inventory acquisition.

---

or perhaps some rather complain about low sales, hidden listings, cassini search, blah, blah, blah.

i'd wish i could do what you do.

i also wish i could sell clothing or tools or cheap cosmetics (some people do very good with it).

i just can't, i don't have the drive.

i would find measuring clothing, inspecting every item for microscopic holes too tedious.

i like selling junk and collectibles.

that is what i know and enjoy.

can't even list what i am not comfortable with;

like records or books (would be too scared that a single page is missing).

so i limit myself.

then again with the very little time i spend on this user name, i can not complain.

i waste more time posting here than listing new items.

now i do relist a lot.

that i do very well.