I am in the same situation. I do this because I can't work a normal job due to health reasons, so I create and sell jewellery, I don't make a fortune but it helps pay some of the bills and get a few little extras occasionally. As you said, retail is sometimes a sellers and sometimes a buyers market, just like real estate, and you have to go with the flow, try to use it to your advantage. I find that I have to do my research and see what kind of things are selling better in my field and concentrate on those things for now. I don't want to waste money paying listing fees on things that I don't sell many of.  I also have to purchase some of my components from overseas usually in US dollars and because the Ozzie dollar is down a bit at the moment, it means my costs are a bit higher and I make less profit unless I put the price up on my items. I tend to just accept a lesser profit though unless the Ozzie dollar drops considerably, otherwise you lose your customers if you make your items too expensive, unless of course you have a niche market. So you do what you have to do to  get by and hopefully things pick up. Things are improving a little this week, so I'm an optimist 🙂  Hang in there guys and gals 🙂