Christmas Sales & Ebay

It's that time of year again when everyone packs up the car and heads out to their favorite shopping mall in order to score the best deals on toys, home goods, clothes, and everything in between. November through January are high volume times on eBay, due to people searching for the perfect gift and then after the holidays buying what they really wanted. Due to this, my eBay sales should have been soaring through the roof. Everything that I listed should have sold. I should be feeling like Santa, delivering gifts all over the country. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I've hit a slump - a major one. For whatever reason the reselling gods see fit, my sales this month have been zilch. Yes, I know it is still early in the month but that doesn't account for having listed almost twenty items for the end of November and not having one of them sell. Bah humbug. 

So what is the problem? I've gone the Christmas route and have listed vintage/retro Christmas items... I've offered free shipping... I've lowered my prices and yet nothing. When times like these happen, I always tell myself that I've had enough and that it is time to hang up the eBay hat for awhile. Maybe I've lost my touch, maybe my "eye" for things has grown cold, or maybe there is just a dry spell at my local thrift stores and estate sales. I still consider myself a newbie at this reselling business, so I am constantly learning. Having dry spells is one of the processes of learning, albeit an unhappy one.

So what can us resellers do when the sales run dry? First, take a look at your inventory. What are you buying and how much are you paying for it? Spending money to make money is always a risky business. For me, spending $5 on one item is a huge bargain but to others this $5 could be chump change. I always think of it as "If I buy one item for $5, how much profit can I expect to make? Is this profit more than if I bought five items for $1 a piece?"

Second, don't buy everything in sight. It is super tempting to load up a shopping basket or cart at Goodwill in the hopes of flipping for a profit. There is that adrenaline rush when you think of all of the bids that could start over an item. Do your research by taking your items to a non busy part of the store and look up each piece as best as you can. You must remember though that mobile eBay does not show all of the solds/completeds. This needs to be kept in mind when you are searching for something and nothing is coming up... chances are that if you bring up the same search on a desktop, you will get some hits. Again, compare the asking price to what your selling price will be.

Third, have a good attitude. This one I am constantly reminding myself of. If you don't a great item in one store, who knows what could be waiting for you at the next thrift shop you walk into. There is good stuff out there, sometimes sitting on the shelves for months and other times it is that item that has just been put on display that morning. Positivity goes a long way - think that you are going to find that $100 profit item and you just might!