Slow Sales?

To stay inspired with working from home and have good sales, you must find items that speak to you. Don't just buy because you know you can make a buck on something. Wait for the items that you are excited about, the items you almost want to keep for yourself, but you'd rather share them with someone else and stay profitable. Plus selling things helps you from becoming a hoarder.

We all go through times when things are a bit slow, but keeping your eye focused on your niche items will help. Especially when you are just starting out selling. If you know what items do well, and sell for a lot online keep researching those items and make yourself an expert. Keeping track of the current sale prices on Ebay does help as well. You can click on the completed listings box after you have searched for an item and it will list all the completed auctions on similar items. This is my go to somewhat accurate price guide. Every item will have highs and lows throughout the year. If you learn the trends you can make adjustments accordingly.

I need to listen to my own advice here. My sales have been slowing because I have made the mistake of impulse buys on things I think are a great deal. Then come to find out they were a great deal because the market isn't hot for that particular item. So I am trying to liquidate some of my less inspired buys. Local Antique Dealers that buy items from pickers, and Estate Auction Houses might be able to help out in this regard as well. I haven't tried either as of yet, but when I do I will let you know how it goes. For now, my advice is buy what you know and love!

Etsy Vs Ebay Continued

So I've been trying out my Etsy Vs Ebay scenario - posting vintage clothing and accessories mainly to Etsy and other various collectibles to Ebay. It seems to me that Ebay gets more hits in a shorter period of time, which is good if you are trying to liquidate fast and you don't have a set price you need to get for an item to be profitable. Ebay seems to be a more popular site for antique and vintage collectors so there will be more competition with other similar items bringing your sales price down. That's usually what the buyer expects from an auction - they want a great price! So even though you might be getting more hits, if someone happens upon your item on Etsy and it's described well with good pictures it is more of a storefront than Ebay. You can charge retail, or close to retail taking into consideration shipping costs for the buyer and ask a higher price. It does require patience and the ability to sit on an item for some time until it sells. So for me if I need a set price for an item and I am willing to sit on it until it sells, I list it on Etsy. If it's a larger piece that I don't have much room for or I need to get my money back fast I list it on Ebay. My biggest issue is space, I live in a small home and my office is located in my dining room. So if I am running low on storage, or I went on a shopping spree, this has some bearing on where I list items as well. 

One thing I might try in the future is list things to start on Etsy, see if they sell for my asking price at the lower 3% transaction fee. If they don't sell in the allotted time then list them on Ebay to see what I can get. This might help my inventory to stay liquid. I keep all of my photos uploaded in Dropbox until the item ships to it's new owner. So even though I would need to take the time to relist the item on a new site, the hardest part for me is always taking pretty pictures. If that is all ready done, you can just copy your description from your Etsy listing into the Ebay listing, upload the existing pictures and waa laa you have a new Ebay listing!