How many of your buyers are women and how many are men?

[musicyouneed]

I thought it might be interesting to see the % of buyers that are men and that are women.  Now some use their husband or wives account but for the most part it would probably balance out.  

Now of course it all depends on what you sell.  I can't see very many men buying makeup or sewing patterns.  I also can't see very many women buying car parts.  But for generic things who are your buyers. 

116 sales - 40 were to women and 76 were to men.  So it works out for me 76% of my buyers are men.  

I have several repeat buyers mostly men but a few women in the mix.  Thank goodness for those buyers, they keep me going. 

[femmefan1946]

Hard to tell, while I assume that most dress patterns are sold to women, the names on the PP payment may be male or female.

I actually know more men that knit than women who do. Often while involved in deep discussions of the superpowers of the Inhumans vs Asgardians and who will defeat Thanatos.

I hang out with a lot of geeks.

On books, you'd think SF titles would trend heavily male, but I think it runs about 50/50. Which reflects the attendance at SF conventions I've been attending in the past few years.

And how do you decide when the name is Chris, Cameron, Nicola, Olatokunbo, or Bobby?

[sylviebee]

I sell mainly purses.  Quite a few are bought by buyers with a man's name on the account and at first I thought that these were women using their husband's accounts for the purchase.

However, in time I learned that a lot of men collect antique purses.

For example:  I don't get many calls from buyers but last week a customer called me thanking me for the purse I'd sent "him."

He has bought several from me and he collects children's purses.

I've come across quite a few like that.

[sylviebee]

Sort of related...........  I often see newbies on here asking about starting an eBay business and usually they're into stuff like video games, CDs, electronics.    IMO a very bad idea.

A little thought and creativity and novel ideas aren't that hard to come by.

Years ago I had a friend who had a successful eBay business selling large sized women's clothing to men.

She even branched out and had her own line of "frilly" over-sized delicacies.

At the time it was an edgy thing to do, but now.......... not so much.  Thank You Caitlyn.

[cumos55]

Buyers are buyers.

It does not matter if they are male or female...

They buy.

Never assume anything...

--------------------------------------

Things are most definitely changing...

The male nurse... 40 years ago....Many of the patients thought  he was there to deal with bedpans...

 Women with degrees in Engineering....  just talk to  my daughter...

People graduating with a degree in Agriculture used to be close to 100 % male...  Today well over 50 % of those in the Faculty of Agriculture are female...

A new TV show was showing many who had major collections.....  There was a show about Barbie dolls.....  The host was waiting for the owner of the collection....  and was looking over the collection.. 

In walked the owner of the collection, dressed in leather.  He had parked his Harley-Davidson in the driveway of his residence.  Tough looking... but most... most knowledgeable  about Barbie dolls

Never assume anything about the buyer  on eBay...  We as sellers do not have face-to-face contact....

[rose-dee]

---

@cumos55 wrote:

A new TV show was showing many who had major collections.....  There was a show about Barbie dolls.....  The host was waiting for the owner of the collection....  and was looking over the collection.. 

In walked the owner of the collection, dressed in leather.  He had parked his Harley-Davidson in the driveway of his residence.  Tough looking... but most... most knowledgeable  about Barbie dolls

---

He was no doubt channeling his "softer" side (or perhaps his investment-savvy side -- those dolls are worth a mint these days!). 

My customers, as one would expect from my main product mix, are primarily female, but I do get a small percentage of male buyers for sewing patterns and other items, perhaps 10%, and of course mostly male buyers for my line of vintage neckties.  Still, buyers are buyers, it doesn't matter at all to me who buys what. 

I think more men are interested in sewing and knitting that was the case 30 years ago.  Just as girls are now taking welding and plumbing courses, I think the old stereotypes of "girls take Home Ec, boys take Shop" has gone by the wayside long ago, and that's a good thing.  People are now doing what interests them, regardless of gender.  

I would have loved to have taken carpentry/shop courses in high school, but as a girl had no choice but to be herded into the Home Economics classes even though I was already making tailored clothing by the age of 15 and was a decent cook.  So I yawned through 4 years of classes when I could have been learning something new.  I think today's arrangement is much better! 

[momcqueen]

Cumos hit the nail on the head. Never assume! 

I sell toys for the most part and some of them quite collectible with a higher price tag. I never assume that a $100 toy is going to an adult and the $10 going to a child. It is just as likely to be the other way around and I would inadvertently offend my buyer by saying something dumb in my thank-you note to them. 

There is, however, tons of statistical information available online on purchasing and who buys what in a household. Generally speaking, women do most of all shopping for the couple-or family-based household and therefore have more purchasing power. In Canada and the USA anyway. 

[cumos55]

.....women do most of all shopping for the couple-or family-based household .....

But ...

How many times did the Man-of -the-house say?.... Please buy this for me.......

and then...

How many times did the younger generation decide what was to be purchased?

[pierrelebel]

"How many of your buyers are women and how many are men?"

I would estimate:

90% men

5% women

5% unknown  (I guess Mario is a man; Maria is a woman, but do not know the gender of "Tracurolli" for example)

[mr.elmwood]

I was sitting at a table with about 8 women sellers, a few years back. I was remarking on what I thought might be a large amount of my sales being addressed to women.

It was rather quickly pointed out to me, by all the women, that women still control the purse strings.

This caused me to re-think some of my ideas. I now list with the concept of:

"Honey, this is the part I need, can I buy it?"
"Show me the pictures. Does it list your car, year, make, model? What is the refund policy? Is my money safe if something goes wrong?"

Having lunch with those lady sellers made me realize that I am not just listing car parts, I am selling to two people at once.

I was sitting and chatting with a car salesman at his small town lot he owns. I said "There's a guy looking at that truck."

He pulled up the shade to casually keep an eye out.

Then the guy's wife got out of the car. I said "He brought the decision maker with him."

My buddy about ran over me going out to close the deal.

A lot of times, more than we think, we are not just selling to the buyer, but to the decision maker as well.

[lucitabby]

Collectors and their collections are very diverse.

Last weekend I was selling at an antique show and had a great deal of fun actually seeing the people who purchased items which of course we miss out on when selling on ebay or other sites.

A man purchased a pair of 1902 coronation scissors - had busts of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on them.  He was not a collector of Royalty items - he collected scissors and he had scissors of all shapes tattooed on his arms.

You never know!

[triber]

I would say 95% women, just because I mostly sell craft items. One of my best buyers years ago was a man in Norway who would buy any poncho patterns I could get my hands one.