Missing the good ol days

[vintage*finds]

EBay isn't what it used to be. There was a time when if you had 19 watchers on an item, you'd have fun watching the feeding-frenzy in that last-minute scramble.  Today, it seems, 19 watchers are tire-kickers. I think they are watching as a way to keep it on their radar should you drop the price on a relist. I got one bid on an item last night that had all those watchers and the one bid came from a buyer with zero feedback. No payment yet, so we'll see how that evolves. And this is an item that once upon a time would have gotten well over $100 even in less-than-perfect condition.

Oh, I miss the good ol days. Today, it's so hard to predict how things will go.

[treasure.hunter.d]

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@vintage*finds wrote:

EBay isn't what it used to be. There was a time when if you had 19 watchers on an item, you'd have fun watching the feeding-frenzy in that last-minute scramble.  Today, it seems, 19 watchers are tire-kickers. I think they are watching as a way to keep it on their radar should you drop the price on a relist. I got one bid on an item last night that had all those watchers and the one bid came from a buyer with zero feedback. No payment yet, so we'll see how that evolves. And this is an item that once upon a time would have gotten well over $100 even in less-than-perfect condition.

Oh, I miss the good ol days. Today, it's so hard to predict how things will go.

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December 2015 was my worst month since I started selling full time on Ebay.

Has now been 11 days since my last sale.

I just had multiple auctions end with watchers and the itmes were priced beyond ridiculous as I was wanting to blow out some inventory. Sadly, the items have always been good sellers and now nothing.. Not a single bid on anything.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. I'm working harder than I ever have and seeing nothing back for it on Ebay.

If nothing changes this won't be able to be continued on my part, it just isn't worth it.

thD

[vintage*finds]

Could be a January thing. But I must say, I fear listing some of my best vintage stuff. I find I'm doing more BINs now than I used to.

I don't post on the forums very often, but I haven't noticed the mods being overzealous.

Sorry this month is bad for you.

ETA

I just noticed you sell a lot of glass and ceramics. That stuff used to fly for me, but I noticed last spring, it's no longer moving. Antique dealers say the same thing. Different times and I guess we have to move with them.

[sylviebee]

On line selling has changed the way people collect.

What was once rare is now readily available to everyone so it's no longer desirable.  That's one reason those items just sit and sit.

In addition, there are more sellers now who are willing to make a few dollars / transaction and Canadians can't compete with US sellers on that stuff because of our higher shipping costs. 

High end truly rare items, on the other hand, still do well (and often better than ever) because the demand is greater because the whole world is now the market place

Thus, the demand is greater than the supply.

One reason those items continue to get a lot of watchers is because other sellers are checking those items out because they have one too.

Remember Marshall McLuhan (The Medium is the Message).  The internet itself, and in this case eBay, has altered the way collectors collect.

[vintage*finds]

Agree with everything you just said. I'll add my own thoughts on shipping. I discount my shipping fees in order to compete with the US market. The crazy exchange rate allows me to do that, and I also partly build it in to the opening bid or BIN. I buy low generally and if I get a deal, I have no qualms about covering some of the shipping costs. I'm very careful about how I do this, but it works well for me. I even offer free shipping on my books, but that's only for as long as the exchange rate holds out. When the rate is more balanced, I'll probably stop selling books. I won't be able to compete with that US $4 for shipping them.

[nan*55]

I too miss the good old days 😞  I'm just getting back at it. And find in doing a search,some (most) of the items I used to get a reasonable price for ,aren't even worth the time to list.

 HooHumm

Going to be huge Yard Sale in Sask. in the spring

[treasure.hunter.d]

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@sylviebee wrote:

On line selling has changed the way people collect.

What was once rare is now readily available to everyone so it's no longer desirable.  That's one reason those items just sit and sit.

In addition, there are more sellers now who are willing to make a few dollars / transaction and Canadians can't compete with US sellers on that stuff because of our higher shipping costs. 

High end truly rare items, on the other hand, still do well (and often better than ever) because the demand is greater because the whole world is now the market place

Thus, the demand is greater than the supply.

One reason those items continue to get a lot of watchers is because other sellers are checking those items out because they have one too.

Remember Marshall McLuhan (The Medium is the Message).  The internet itself, and in this case eBay, has altered the way collectors collect.

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No disrespect intended but if you look at my listings you will see numerous items that are indeed exceptionally rare. 2 great examples are the Ernst Wahliss vases and the Mettlach covered cheese platter that I currently list and those are by no means the only ones. Those are monumental items in their genre. I challenge anyone to just run out and pick up one of those at your local antique dealer or flea market, thrift store, whatever.

So whatever else is the case, rare items are not selling either.

I also did not see a slow decline in sales and the opposite was actually happening. My sales were slowly but surely growing and then WHAM, like someone threw a switch, it all went to HE double hockey sticks almost overnight.

No there is something else going on here that has nothing to do with the market. I know for fact that Ebay is manipulating search results to benefit certain sellers and others who have better stats, pricing and listings are falling low enough in the search so as to kill their sales. To what end I have no idea but I see it happening.

I have been doing this over 20 years and I have seen the market soften and return numerous times. Granted that Ebay is a little different but still, to go from a thriving business to 0 sales overnight is not a market adjustment or change. No way.

thD

[treasure.hunter.d]

Wanted to add but ran out of time to edit my other post...

Complete opposite end of the spectrum for categories but look at the Diane Von Furstenberg dress I have listed and the Marie Gray skirt. I don't sell a lot of clothing but when I do it is almost always high end or something quite rare. Those 2 designers have always flown out the door and there they sit going nowhere. Same with some rare hats that I have listed currently, again, go ahead and find them someplace else if you can. The Tokyo Skyline New Era and the Blue Jays caps are retired and were limited runs when they were available. Both have a history of being great sellers.

If Ebay has gotten to the point where all you can sell is such limited types of items then wouldn't you agree that it's not the market but rather something specific to Ebay.

thD

[sylviebee]

treasure, no offence taken.

Just because an item is rare, does not make it desirable to collectors.

For example, a purse from the 1800s might be extremely rare and the only one in existence, but that doesn't make it desirable.

In addition, just being high end does not make an item desirable either.  It takes more than that.

[sylviebee]

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@treasure.hunter.d wrote:

If Ebay has gotten to the point where all you can sell is such limited types of items then wouldn't you agree that it's not the market but rather something specific to Ebay.

thD

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No, I don't agree.

I believe that eBay is a reasonably accurate reflection of the market itself.

eBay and other online venues are the cause of most of the changes you are experiencing simply because they exist.

However, if you list items that are desirable to collectors at a competitive price, they will buy.

[gilliankehler]

Where in Saskatchewan are you? I'm in Regina 🙂 Don't see a lot of us on here!

[pierrelebel]

"Missing the good ol days"

We all do.

[i.am.vivian]

Does anybody else think that high costs of worldwide shipping fees contribute to it? I mean out of 19 watchers how many really want the item but cant' really justify the total costs, not with other expenses. Everything we buy is expensive or even if it is cheap junk it only lasts a few minutes so we have to buy a new one and keep buying more and more. I'm not trying to open an negative can of worms, just wondering if other readers feel long term lower prices and fewer sales may have the recent higher shipping costs as a factor.

[recped]

In the "good old days" of eBay we were all still living in the fantasy world of the false promise of the internet. The "false promise"? That consumers would save money by cutting out the middleman and/or be a more efficient distribution model and/or give even the smallest merchant access to the world.

While some of these came to be partially true most didn't.

Middlemen are rampant, there are dozens of hands in every transaction all trying to grab a nibble.

Less efficient, shipping small packages around the world, packages with goods sourced from all over the world and passing through many hands along the way is not efficient.

The small merchants can access the world but all the big players can too and then can use their resources to dominate.

As in tradition retailing there are too many players spending too much money on operating, marketing & overhead.

The "good old days" are gone and they won't return until the next round of dramatic change and that return will once again be short lived and not up to the hype.

[sylviebee]

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@i.am.vivian wrote:

Does anybody else think that high costs of worldwide shipping fees contribute to it?  (a decline in sales)

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Not really.  Shipping costs have always been a necessary part of on line sales.

For lower priced items with a lot of competition high shipping costs can be the kiss of death, but that's not the same thing.

Keep in mind that adding sales tax to a purchase when buying on eBay is not the norm and most items enter the country with no added import charge.

Although we've come to take that for granted it balances out the added cost of shipping for most online purchases.

[73rhc]

I know I will take a lot of flack for this, but oh well.
The big change that I have noticed is most seller's starting price. Way too high. In the good old days, one could get a bargain. Not any more. Sellers have become too greedy. Or they spend too much aquiring their wares. Gone are the days that a buyer felt like he got away with one.

[realjazz-123]

No doubt in my mind that for international sales shipping cost has been" kiss of death".

     Many collector lp vinyl buyers are in Asia where many of my past  sales have gone.Today a package with  a single vinyl lp record is $22 to send UNTRACKED airmail and a  slightly overweight  single lp or 2 lps combined together is now $42. Sales to Asia are now very infrequent with shipping costs the buyer's most asked question. I have no solution.

[realjazz-123]

Starting with low price worked when there were lots of buyers and lots of bidding wars. Now the problem is that with so few buyers and fewer bidding wars, a low price may sell at just that- the low price. Starting listing at lowest acceptable price is one approach to auction. I still believe (Google search ??) the traffic to eBay listings for many of us is WAY DOWN and coupled with high shipping from Canada, sales have plummeted.

[sylviebee]

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@realjazz-123 wrote:

No doubt in my mind that for international sales shipping cost has been" kiss of death".

     Many collector lp vinyl buyers are in Asia where many of my past  sales have gone.Today a package with  a single vinyl lp record is $22 to send UNTRACKED airmail and a  slightly overweight  single lp or 2 lps combined together is now $42. Sales to Asia are now very infrequent with shipping costs the buyer's most asked question. I have no solution.

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Yes.  Shipping lower cost relatively heavy items overseas is not practical for anyone, but it's my experience that this expense has always been high.

Before eBay stepped in and put checks in which forced sellers to keep shipping costs low, sellers often tacked on huge handling fees.

'Therefore, even though actual cost of shipping was lower, the added handling fees often bumped it up much higher.

In other words, shipping was high in the "Good Ol Days" too so I'm not sure that the cost of shipping has caused a decline in sales.

[dutchman48]

A few years ago, I could send a token to the US for $2.65. Today it is $5.70. And no handling fees at all. Also Ebay's and Paypal's % of the shipping go up constantly. Overseas is even more ridiculous. My sales outside of Canada are almost 0 right now.

So yes, I do believe shipping has a lot to do with it thanks to Canada Post greed as well as Ebay and Paypal greed