What Sold On eBay
On Monday, April 1, 2019, I sold one item on eBay.
1. I sold a Windsor Canada White Milk Glass Coffee Mug at the full asking price.
This was picked up at a thrift store and listed in May 2018.
While mugs like this sell, expect them to be a long tail item. Milk glass just isn’t as hot as it used to be.
2019 Q1 Sales Wrap-Up
The first quarter is now behind us and looking at the numbers things aren’t headed in the right direction over at eBay.
Same quarter sales were down 6.7% over 2018. While that may not sound like a lot you have to take into consideration that we have 4 times the inventory listed this year on eBay and are selling through seven different platforms this year, many items cross-posted.
Last year we were only selling on eBay in Q1. Sales numbers this year also include sales through those 6 other platforms, so those numbers actually inflate the sales numbers above what eBay is doing.
Quantity wise, sales in 2019 Q1 were down 20.9% over 2018 as well.
What’s more troubling is that January sales were up 283% compared to 2018 but February sales were down 35.3% compared to 2018 and March were down 50.5% compared to 2018.
February & March sales combined to equal January sales. And that’s a problem since you usually see “Taxmas” season sales in February & March and those months normally do better than January does.
Is eBay on the Downslide?
The takeaway from all of that is that eBay appears to be on a downslide for some of the types of items that we sell.
As seen in my What Sold posts we sell a wide variety of items on eBay.
Clothing currently accounts for around 1/3 of our listings but typically sells less frequently than that.
Hats, mugs & other glassware & kitchen gadgets account for another 1/3 of our listings and those categories are selling at or slightly below that rate.
Then the last 1/3 is a hodgepodge of antiques, vintage, jewelry, collectibles and other random things that I come across. These are the items that sell the most frequently for us on eBay and are going to move into the 50-60% range of our eBay inventory in the coming months.
That said, unless something changes at eBay soon, I think the solution for us right now is to go after things that are interesting and have less competition, or better yet, no competition. The bulk of the clothing has to go this year, which includes adding another platform to the mix, Poshmark. Wish me luck.
What’s Selling?
What did you sell yesterday and on what platforms? How are your sales going?
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