Does anyone else seem like your items are being blocked by Ebay?

[puppydog86]

Does anyone else seem like your items are being blocked by Ebay or is it just me? My sales near stopped a couple of months ago.

[anguscoinshop]

there's no blocking, sales have slowed down a lot for most probably due to a dramatic increase in the number of listings. as long as your getting free listing it doesn't matter

you just got to be able to justify your inventory

[marnotom!]

Just checked one of your listings and you've got a really long exclusion list with a lot of countries that have no reason to be on an exclusion list, such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Singapore.  In fact, given what you're selling I can't see why you need an exclusion list at all.

Perhaps that's some of the problem?

[brandeentertainment]

How do you sell catalque's burnt on to cd's anyways you must be able to sell ice to eskimos  Lol

[nuvistors]

With about 30 seconds of searching you  can find everything the OP is selling  free  on the internet just for downloading it

All the books are in the public domain.

[mr.elmwood]

I "think" there has been an abrupt shift in online activity, all within the last year. Everyone and then dog is on a "get rich quick" scheme of selling online.

For me, instead of five others, priced the same as me plus shipping, I have ten other priced the same but with free shipping. Basically, driving down prices and increasing competition.

CD's of old catalogs? That is left-over disposable money spending, and that category is flooded. Look around at just "stuff" in that price range. World's biggest dollar store the size of the Edmonton Mall.

The amount of "stuff" competing for the same dollar is staggering. What is the fall-out? The money gets spread around more.

I "think" that the pool of buyers is bigger and spending more. I also "think" that the volume of "stuff" has grown even more. eBay and their 100,000 free listings is driving volume to be listed.

[recped]

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@nuvistors wrote:

With about 30 seconds of searching you  can find everything the OP is selling  free  on the internet just for downloading it

All the books are in the public domain.

---

Thing is, the OP was selling these quite well and not so long ago. I also did some searching, OP has some titles that are not so common and while generically there are lots of the type of product listed the OP's are near the bottom of the price scale and as I said a number of them seemed to be not so common.

[rose-dee]

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@recped wrote:

Thing is, the OP was selling these quite well and not so long ago. I also did some searching, OP has some titles that are not so common and while generically there are lots of the type of product listed the OP's are near the bottom of the price scale and as I said a number of them seemed to be not so common.

---

I agree with you.  I do know something about this area, and there was a huge demand on eBay and a very lively market for old, out-of-print ephemera for many years.  The OP isn't alone - like other "boutique" sellers of curiosities, my sales have dropped off slowly over the past year and now dramatically in the past 2 or 3 months.  It's as if the buyers have almost vanished.   

So my own view is that I don't think it's what the OP is selling; I think it's what buyers are buying that has changed, or perhaps more precisely, the type of buyers that eBay has attracted now.  Just take a look at some of main landing pages on eBay -- you don't see "funky" vintage stuff being touted up front, it's all cell phone paraphernalia or other electronic or household gadgetry, etc.  

We who have hung on here selling interesting and unique items from the past are in for a very rough ride in the next year I think.  Sorry for the rather depressing thoughts, but I'm trying to prepare myself...

[rose-dee]

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@nuvistors wrote:

With about 30 seconds of searching you  can find everything the OP is selling  free  on the internet just for downloading it

All the books are in the public domain.

---

This may be true, but the value of the CDs to buyers is in the time and effort spent in collecting and compiling the original material in an intelligent and curatorial way (if done really well).  And the OP's prices are certainly very competitive.  

It's just that eBay is bringing different people in the door now, in my view, who sadly have no interest in such items.  Maybe it's a completely different age group who currently represent the majority of eBay's prospective buyers -- 20 somethings? -- they won't appreciate the value of vintage/antique items until they're in their 40's.  Can we hold on that long? 

[femmefan1946]

And what the buyers born in the 1990's (Millennials?) will buy will be different from what Gen X (born in the 70s) bought, and from what we Boomers (1946- 1964) bought.

Don't expect a resurgence of interest in Eaton Beauty dolls or White Rose service station memorabilia.

I went to FutureCon last year over New Years, an SF "fun con" convention sponsored by the Kerzners (Liana K and Ed the Sock). Most of the attendees were in their 20s  and 30s (I'm 67).  They were into Pokemon, Doctor Who 8-11 (while I still think Tom Baker is sexy at 80), and Jem cartoons.

if you want to sell collectibles, remember that the demographic of  heavy-spending collectors is from 40 to 60. Younger have mortgages, kids, and student loans. Older have it already and are downsizing. 

Keep this in mind for garage sale season.

[recped]

With records there are a number of alternative marketplaces but fortunately eBay is still the go to place for rarities and realistic prices.

This is why I worry about across the board free listings, eBay could turn into those other sites, parking lots for overpriced, poor condition records from sellers with mediocre customer service that make buying quality items such a chore that buyers simply fade away. There are already enough sellers here with that exact business model (price high and wait forever if necessary).

[anguscoinshop]

"Just checked one of your listings and you've got a really long exclusion list with a lot of countries that have no reason to be on an exclusion list, such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Singapore.  In fact, given what you're selling I can't see why you need an exclusion list at all."

a lot of shipping is done with letter mail, got burned to often with not received item $40-$50 at a time X 20+ was adding up to much, can't recover or make up those kind of loses.

i'm only shipping to countries with reliable post system.

[bb_cool_stuff]

I have had no problem with Belgium & the Netherlands, Singapore, well we all know about that country.

On a short leash right now, Germany & Brazil, countries I had never had an issue with in the past until this year.

[femmefan1946]

Gee, some of my best customers are from the Netherlands, mostly buying underground comix from the 70s, come to think.  And I've never heard anything bad about Belgium since Monty Python went off the air.