Is the economy? Or is it me?

Leisa

Leisa

VFG Member
As most of you know, I don't list or sell by the 100's.

Right now I have about 10 things listed with my hit counter showing between 10 & 26 hits. I'd have to say at Least 3-4 each of those are from me looking at them to see why they aren't getting watchers or bids.

For VBO, I listed 12 things & so far have sold 2.

I do put a little time & effort into VBO ads, etc, but I mostly participate in in hopes that buyers will look at my other auctions if they click on a VBO item. Same with VLV, etc.

But I can't help but wonder if I'm not using the right keywords or if folks are missing my auctions some kind of way...? Or if my things just don't have any appeal...?

I know I can't post any links, but my ebay name is the one on the logo in my avatar. If you can't read it, please let me know. :-)

Most of the VBO things are relists, and I have a jacket (not vintage) with a bid that I relisted, lowering the opening bid & changing the kw in the title from Hippie to Gypsy.

Any help, critiques, suggestions, will be greatly appreciated!
TIA!
 
I think ebay isn't what it once was for vintage clothing. Unless you have something that collectors are looking for, it seems like the buyers are just not there.
 
Thanks so much, ladies.

Yeah - I've tried to step away from de bay for years now, but it's still the one place that I actually do manage to sell things in a somewhat timely manner.

Etsy was just okay for me & I never did figure out how to make the page look like I wanted it to. I like my photos right in the description & I can't do that on etsy.

I sell because I need to pad my income. I'm even getting ready to sell my own collection. Already started some of that.

As it is right now, after I pay all the darn fees, I'm not doing so well. BUT - anything is better than nuthin, right!?

And, joules - I don't understand it, but I signed up, so now y'all can follow me on twitter. It just seems like one more thing I have to keep up with at least once a day.
And I don't understand how it helps... oh well.

I just thought maybe my auctions had no appeal or that it was because Vintage Wear is a bit of a luxury..?
 
i think its a mixture of a few things, this time of the year you have the credit card bills for christmas,

plus i hate ebay at the moment as you got to filter your way through the vintage catagories to actually find the true vintage, and not the 'vintage style'

I am now going to try and sell some things in vintage fashion fairs...

could you try the same?

vintage fashion fairs, antique fairs, or maybe get a little stall at a market etc?
 
Leisa, I have found that I do obtain increased views, via the use of Twitter. I learn all kinds of things on Twitter too, plus it's fun, so I don't consider it a chore, more of an online recreation. But, I do know what you are saying.

I'll follow you on there; link me up!
Here I am:
http://twitter.com/joulesstar
 
Originally posted by mags_rags
I think ebay isn't what it once was for vintage clothing. Unless you have something that collectors are looking for, it seems like the buyers are just not there.
Click to expand...

when I started collecting 5 years ago the only place to buy vintage was on ebay even today in 30 min traveling time there 15 brick and mortar shops, of couse there a lot of rubish in these shops and buying from a dealer who have been trading for years is the best way to go.
People very new to vintage do not know that and may pop into a local shop and spend more than the item really worth as these shop open one month and close a few month later!".
 
Can you tell me please what do you mean by VBP and VLV?
:duh2:
Also I am sitting on my vintage items, because,well, I am seeing a trend on ebay, that many things are NOT auction, they are listed as buy it now or store inventory or auction just a view dollars less than the buy-it-now price.
A successful reseller on ebay that always has 10 or more bidders is
inventive copy
lucrative and professional photographs
various models
all these items cost money..so they are either a group of talented friends or someone is using another agencies resources to produce these quality listings.....
 
joules - thanks!
I was able to "follow" you, but I don't know how to link up w/ya yet. I'll figure it out when I have time to play around with it.

DeCoDiVa - VBO is a quarterly sale that goes on on ebay. It stands for Vintage Blow Out & if you search ebay now with VBO as your keyword, you'll find the sale goodies. I always search it in clothing & accessories, tho because it also stands for some weird electrical thing.

VLV is Viva Las Vegas - a rockabilly weekend that goes on her (Las Vegas, NV) annually over a 3? 0r 4? day Easter weekend.
 
As someone who only buys from Ebay, it's become harder to sift through the "junk" to get to the good stuff... I have a few sellers bookmarked but I find most things are a one of a kind from "Bob & Mary in the Midwest that's gettin' rid of stuff."

I remember almost 10 years ago I found an Emma Domb dress I wore to my high school prom that cost about $60.... the same dress now would easily be $300-$400 on Ebay.

I find myself doing searches for particular designers rather than looking for a category, and those "vintage style" "reproduction" items drive me nuts!

I probably do a few hours of searching 2-3 times a week and maybe bid on an item once a month, I can't afford much more. I also am very picky on what I buy since it's all for my personal collection/use, it HAS be in very good condition.

Good look on selling all your goodies, I'm sure they'll find a home!
 
I know as a buyer, my needs are almost the direct opposite of sellers: you need to sell high, I want to buy low, and I respect that :)

I'm thoroughly frustrated with trying to find vintage clothing these days. I'm a browser and not a targeted buyer - I don't often go out saying, Today I Want a Red Shelf-Bust Dress in Velvet, but rather: What Bargains Can I Find in Clothes from 1910-1964?

Ebay remains the easiest place to browse and over 95% of my transactions are on eBay, with the remaining 5% split up between local stores/Etsy/webstores. I'm happy to put up with the repros/contemporary mislisted stuff in order to see the widest selection, and I dearly love those midwestern couples cleaning out the attics of town and selling me tailored 1940s suits for $40! Please don't stop, you lovely midwestern couples!

But yeah, a lot of devoted vintage sellers have left eBay, I find Etsy (still) terribly difficult to browse the way I like (and there's PLENTY of mislisted stuff there too - I've found great vintage clothing in Handmade and in Supplies categories, there's no browsing by era and I cringe at many of the "Upcycled" listings in Vintage, etc), and webstores are reserved for very, very special occasions when I'm feeling splurgey about once or twice a year. If we didn't have the VFG it would be an even more frustrating exercise to find good webstores, so I'm really happy to have you guys as a resource.

And there's your free market research for the day :)
Jen
 
I think that there are people who still make money hand over fist on ebay but they do things differently than putting everything up at auction and feeling its entitled to sell. They seperate what is auction worthy and what is not. Either they don't buy the stuff for resale if its not auction worthy or more likely offer it at a fixed price with or without a best offer. For buying, if something is more of a basic, I tend to buy things at "best offer" or fixed price so I can just make a buying decision, grab and go. If its something that is terribly underpriced, is something that i REALLY REALLY have been looking for for a long time or is really extra special I might wait out an auction. I have probably purchased one item in the last six months via auction. I won't buy something on buy it now if there is a low auction start price unless it is something I have to have and the buy it now is reasonable - it doesn't have to be a giveaway but its a price that makes me not want to take a chance at auction.

Also, as far as auctions - pictures are key. There is no excuse for blurry photos, extremely bleached out photos, or photos that have a yellow/green cast to them from an overhead lightbulb if one has been selling for a length of time. There are very cheap and economical ways to get around all that. To me when I see that, I don't think the seller is very serious. it is fine for "cleaning out the closet" or 'selling grandma's stuff" but if you really want to sell on ebay, I think it does bring a lower final price on average.

Is it the economy? No. People are turning to buying at consignment, thrift, and vintage more than ever. There may be fewer people fighting over a $3,000 gown, but in general, for basic stuff, if you finagle the bagel the right way, you an work this all in your favor. It is up to you to market your stuff and self in a way that will make people want to choose it, and to edit what you offer.
 
Originally posted by laughingmagpie
If we didn't have the VFG it would be an even more frustrating exercise to find good webstores, so I'm really happy to have you guys as a resource.

And there's your free market research for the day :)


Jen
Click to expand...

Hi Jen, did you know that when on Etsy, you can type vfg into the seach field under all items and everything that comes up will be from VFG members??

Just thought that you may be interested :hiya:
 
Originally posted by TheVintageVortex

Hi Jen, did you know that when on Etsy, you can type vfg into the seach field under all items and everything that comes up will be from VFG members??

Just thought that you may be interested :hiya:
Click to expand...

Yep, I do that every week or so. One of the problems is that I want to filter out the 1970s-1980s things, which I'm not all that interested in seeing. The search looks something like:

vfg -1970s -1970's -70s -70's -1980s -1980's -80s -80's -hippies -hippie
(I call this a No Hippies search :) )

You can't save a search, so I have to type that out every time.

Also, I actually do want to see what other vintage is being listed by non-vfgers *ducks* so that means when I log onto Etsy I have to do a bajillion different searches, from scratch, compared to the 4 I do daily on eBay (I counted. It's a bajallion ;) ).

But, I can adapt.

The real issue for me is that it's as though I used to be able to drive down to the same downtown neighbourhood to browse on eBay, and I knew where everything was, but now you're scattered all over town. Driving off to the Etsy suburbs takes more effort so it happens less. For seller websites - those are like special trips to a whole other town!

Jen
 
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