I think the online Christmas rush is finally winding down for me with today the last day for buyers to get Ground Advantage orders by Christmas (hopefully). Tonight is the first night I've not had an eBay order in 43 days. I did have a Mercari order. It has been a good Q4 on my end. Gross sales for Q4 are up 20% over last year and net is up 13%. I've sent out 118 orders since the Monday before Thanksgiving. I'm pooped. I am debating on whether I'm shutting down Monday or stay open but increase my timeframe to ship to 2-days so I can get some other things done. I have to do an inventory count and reset before Jan. 2 and I do not want to have to worry with orders, too. I hope my fellow resellers here have done well this quarter. Here is to an even better 2025!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2024 04:35AM by ServiceAward.

These past few years, I haven't been active on eBay. The couple of sales were items that I forgot I had still actively listed.

When I get some free time though, looking to list sports memorabilia that accumulated over the years. But I finally got to getting a good portion of a card collection authenticated and graded. Most I think I'll list on eBay. But some rare cards, I was shocked at the high grade it received after all of these years. I might look into selling those on a different platform or look into a private sale.

Ooooh, anything we might see on goldin.co, okie?

@Okie wrote:

These past few years, I haven't been active on eBay. The couple of sales were items that I forgot I had still actively listed.

When I get some free time though, looking to list sports memorabilia that accumulated over the years. But I finally got to getting a good portion of a card collection authenticated and graded. Most I think I'll list on eBay. But some rare cards, I was shocked at the high grade it received after all of these years. I might look into selling those on a different platform or look into a private sale.

I am sitting on about 50k cards. I have my own collection of mostly baseball and some of those have value. Then, last year, the Salvation Army here got a huge donation of baseball, football, and basketball cards. They had complete sets priced at like $2. I bought about 75% of what they had. I'm sad to say that this was a year ago and I have not even been through it. Who do you use for grading?

I have no items that would reach that high of an amount!

I use PSA for grading. I think they are the most lenient of the grading companies. All of my submissions have been turned around within one to two months. I got a PSA membership and used the bulk submission to get the best value. On some submissions though, they did adjust it and charged me extra, according to the value of the cards.

It might not be worth it to grade the cards though. Unless it's an old or rare card, the grade has to be near perfect to be able to sell at a good margin. I had to research the value of the cards before deciding which ones to submit. Some buyers are worried about counterfeit cards. For me, some of the cards I submitted had sentimental value that I wanted to get protected.

I believe Beckett and CGC are other options. I think Beckett is picky and provides detailed grading for rare items. CGC provides more detailed grading and is cheaper than PSA, but is a newer company with a smaller database of cards.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2024 12:19AM by Okie.

My Ebay picked way up the first 2 weeks of December 15- 20 sales a day. October and November were averaging 5- 10 sales a day. This past Wednesday was my best all year had 50 sales. My Mercari dropped off to 1-2 sales a week after they started that the buyers had to pay that 10% buyers fee. Now that they are dropping it in January maybe my sales will pick back up on there.

I'm mostly a buyer, but starting next week, I plan to sell, at least to get ride of some excess items I have at home. I read Reddit to pick up tips. Interesting how different the various platforms are. People (sellers) complain that eBay is the most buyer friendly BUT it's also the widest audience of buyers...interesting.

@BarefootBliss wrote:

I'm mostly a buyer, but starting next week, I plan to sell, at least to get ride of some excess items I have at home. I read Reddit to pick up tips. Interesting how different the various platforms are. People (sellers) complain that eBay is the most buyer friendly BUT it's also the widest audience of buyers...interesting.

eBay definitely has the buyer market share. eBay does tend to side with buyers over sellers. Even if they side with a seller, they often still refund the buyer but not from your funds. In other words, they reward bad buyer behavior. The main thing is for sellers to do everything possible to keep an unhappy customer from going to eBay to resolve an issue. I do not normally have issues. My first line of defense is generally to block buyers who I believe could be an issue or are a high return risk. If they buy an item outright without making an offer or sending a message, I can't do that because I do not see their user ID until after a purchase. If they send an offer or a message about an item, I do see the username and that gives me a chance to go view what feedback they have left other sellers. (Buyers can only get positive feedback - another eBay flaw - so viewing a buyer's feedback does little good.) If a buyer has left a bunch of negative feedbacks or what I consider bogus negative feedback on other seller's accounts, then I block them and do not engage. Rarely do I let a crazy sneak though. I made two goofs over the Christmas rush and had to eat the costs. I sent the wrong item to a customer in California, and just on Monday I could not find an item and I had to cancel the order and take a minor hit to my account. OOS (Out Of Stocks) can hurt a seller if they have too many of them. This was my first OOS of the year. ALMOST made it though 2024 without one.

@BarefootBliss, I hope you are able to get some sales! Message me if you have questions or if you would like me to view your listings and give you constructive feedback on them. It is a nice way to make some extra cash.

Wow, congratulations on such a successful Q4! A 20% increase in gross sales is amazing, especially with how hectic the holiday season can get. It sounds like you’ve been super busy, and 43 days straight of eBay orders is no small feat. Taking some time to reset and do inventory before the new year sounds like a smart move. Switching to a 2-day shipping timeframe could be a nice middle ground if you want to stay open but reduce the pressure.

Q4 has been solid for me too, though not quite as intense! I hope you get a chance to recharge before the new year, and here’s to a fantastic 2025 for all of us resellers!

2020 was great for me in person (FaceBook) and on eBay. 2021 was average, 2022-2024 were slow, very slow.

I just keep my listings up there and no longer do auctions. I use my mystery shops to ship. It's like a 24/7 garage sale with no shoplifters right now for me. I started selling in 2000 by flipping Disneyland and Legoland tickets that I got from shops. Then I resold nearly 100% of my kids' designer wardrobes from birth through high school.

I am still working full-time, so I don't invest much time it in anymore. 20 years ago, I dedicated a whole room in my house to auction items and had a one car garage set up for shipping. My scale is much smaller now.

I'm glad to see that you are doing so well @ ServiceAward.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2025 06:32AM by BayShopper22.