New seller, items not selling

[thriftandtweed]

I have listed some vintage  items for around 3 weeks.  There have been views on some of the items, one or two wirh none.  I have had no sales and I have made sure I am selling close to or abit less than similar items.  I do not know why I have not sold anything, I put a lot of work into selecting items, photographs and listing.  I would appreciate some advice from sellers of similar items

[thriftandtweed]

Thank you, I will revise this listing.  It is great advice.

[siddieswans]

OK so it sounds as though you are hoping to make money? (a business? a living?) out of selling stuff on eBay. Not just clearing out unwanted items. MANY years ago we had a stall in an antique market. A dealer’s mark up of 300% was then considered necessary to start making a decent profit. Of course lots of things have changed – for example a physical presence is no longer necessary – but there are still things like eBay fees, packing materials, and maybe eventually Store fees.

If you are sourcing items in Thrift Stores, then I think you must be spending considerable time on your project, as well as the time you spend photographing and listing. Later there will be time spent on chores eBay sellers are expected to handle – checking and responding to messages etc. Perhaps the time spent is not important to you, so it does not have a value.

But all I can offer is that if you are from the start BUYING items to sell, and just hoping to sell into the general eBay market (rather than having a niche product you hope to introduce), it may be a long time before you start to see a serious return on your time, money and effort. But again good luck. PS you may have noticed a spike in your “viewings” coming from folks on this board checking out your listings. Don’t be discouraged if they do not turn into “watchers” and sales.

[rocket2retro]

I sell vintage items. These days selling on eBay is a waiting game unless you have something really special. To put this into perspective some of my items have sat, listed on eBay, for 10 years (and other items 1, 2, 3... years).

I currently have 1300 items listed but have sold nothing for the past 3 days.

Based on this, I'm not surprised your items are not selling quickly. You will need to be patient & have many more items listed if you want regular sales.

[chameleon54]

I sell into the vintage and collectibles market and find the problem with thrifting is that there are a lot of people competing for very limited supply of good stuff.  This results in prices for the few real diamonds being too expensive to be profitable and the vast bulk of thrift items being too common and uninteresting to be worth listing on ebay.

Another problem with thrift shops is that often the best items dont even make it into the storefront. Either the shops have their own volunteers doing ebay sales of the best stuff or they have arrangements with dealers who regularly take the cream in the back room before it makes it to the shelves.  I have got an arrangement like this with a charity book shop and a museum where I get a phone call when an interesting bulk lot comes in and get to choose items before it is offered for sale to the public. I pay them good prices and take large quantities each time which means they get a good input to the finances without having to price things, loose some items with theft, serve customers etc. It works well for both parties.

You probably need to look to find better supply sources such as auctions, both in auction houses and through estate auctions, garage sales ( get in early ) or markets where general sellers can have diamonds that they dont understand the value of.

This means that you will need to become an expert in your chosen field. Try to find a niche that you enjoy and study, study, study. ( ebay " sold items"  searches is a good place to start )

If its ceramics and glassware, learn who the best makers are ( and the makers marks ). Learn how to date the items by looking at the style of design and decoration, type of glazes, ceramic materials etc. Learn how to spot reproductions. Find out who the desired modern, contemporary ceramic and glassware artisans are as often their items can be worth more than vintage stuff.

There are millions of common craft, ceramic and glassware items on ebay. Its almost impossible to stand out with ordinary items. You need to find exquisite, rare and sought after items that few others are selling in order to stand out from the crowd. This gets down to knowing your specialist selling field and finding supplies with much higher strike rates of quality items than thrift shops offer.

[brickworksmarket]

Thats a hard area to make an income long term and would expect it to take many years of experience. Plus keeping up with changes as what sells this year may not sell down the road.

[domino-710]

LOL - well that's affordable advice.

[chameleon54]

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@domino-710 wrote:

LOL - well that's affordable advice.

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Remove the LOL and you are spot on. It is affordable advice. There is a lot of competition in the thrift shop market for very few good items, so it is too hard to find unusual quality stock and if they are found, prices in thrift shops are regularly too high to make a decent profit. 

It is just as easy to stop at a garage sale or market as a thrift shop, but if you know your product, these are much better places to find quality stock. Many market operators are generalists with a little knowledge about a lot of things. They often dont have the specialist knowledge to identify the rare items from the ordinary.

The following photo is three of the little gems I purchased at a garage sale on Saturday morning. Jewellery is not my thing, but something unusual and different is. The first is a vintage,oriental, turquoise cuff bracelet with Chinese dragon motifs either side of the stone. It passes the bleach test for solid silver and is quite heavy. If confirmed by a more accurate test it should be worth three figures in dollar terms. The second bracelet is a very unusual dragons claw design. Not high quality and not worth much but would turn a small profit and add interest to any ebay store. The final item ??? I dont really know. It is silver plated, has a ring for finger at the top, several charms and what looks like an incense burner with tassle chains, so my guess is religious or spiritual incense burner. . Again not expensive but definately different and will sell no problems on ebay.

COST - a dollar each. Three unusual, very different items, three bucks. Resale value ???   Dont know its not my field, but anything from $150 - $500. so HIGHLY PROFITABLE and perfect for anyone looking to launch a new ebay store..

You wont find that at a thrift shop..... 

[sugar249]

@chameleon54 wrote:

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@domino-710 wrote:

LOL - well that's affordable advice.

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 There is a lot of competition in the thrift shop market for very few good items, so it is too hard to find unusual quality stock and if they are found, prices in thrift shops aIt is just as easy to stop at a garage sale or market as a thrift shop, but if you know your product, these are much better places to find quality stock.

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I find I can find heaps of good quality stuff at thrift shops,  and half the people in there dont know how to price them, so are often bargains.

[imastawka]

Cham, it would be of benefit if you knew the difference between a bracelet and a bangle.

Someone looking for those items will not find them under 'bracelet'

[siddieswans]

Garage sales.  Those were the days. 25 years ago in the Southern Highlands (NSW) you did not have to clip the garage sale locations from the free weekly local paper classifieds. You just turned up at one and then followed the garage sale caravan as it made its way around to all the other venues. I think at one time someone may have put on a small bus service. Now we no longer have a free weekly local paper and we don't have garage sales.  All the "professional" garage sale sellers have gone to the local antique market; we have a local auction house; I assume anybody who doesn't want to use either of those venues is now using Market Place or Gumtree. Obviously it depends where you live but if you can find local garage sales where you can source suitable stock, then good luck to you.  Our local Charity thrift stores are often dearer than the Antique Centre.