What's Selling Well on Ebay at the Moment?

Jarndyce

Will be visiting a few auctions over the next couple of weeks - just wondering what kind of items people feel are selling well at the moment? Be as specific or as general as you like!

Its been a few years since I sold regularly on ebay - I used to deal mainly in postcards and ephemera. My impression is that the initial popularity of ebay was with existing or new collectors expanding or developing collections, but that the customer base has now moved more towards the bargain-hunter market - would that be a fair assessment?

soolin

Many of us do very well on ebay, I think the trick is to keep one step ahead- be prepared to change your market once one starts to die off. Buyers do expect all sellers though to be professional, in the old days getting something into the post within a week was a case for celebration- now buyers expect their stuff to arrive within that time.

If you ar ethinking of starting up a business there are some thoughts on the subject in this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/47120145#Comment_47120145

Crowqueen

Jarndyce wrote: »

Will be visiting a few auctions over the next couple of weeks - just wondering what kind of items people feel are selling well at the moment? Be as specific or as general as you like!

Its been a few years since I sold regularly on ebay - I used to deal mainly in postcards and ephemera. My impression is that the initial popularity of ebay was with existing or new collectors expanding or developing collections, but that the customer base has now moved more towards the bargain-hunter market - would that be a fair assessment?

The market in those sorts of items is still reasonable because there are few outlets available, but it took a dive after the credit crunch - around the time I was seriously considering a business of my own - and I'm not sure whether it has recovered yet but when I tried an auction last year there wasn't much custom around.

I would imagine there's still interest there, though. There's not an awful lot of alternative sites with enough scope or traffic to provide thriving categories for what you (we) used to sell. There is Delcampe, but that's the only serious rival as many of the generalist rivals to eBay tend not to have the revenue to aggressively promote their sites.

eBay has definitely evolved - it's also better policed, and there have been a number of pieces of legislation which affect all ecommerce, with more to come in 2013, so it has had to develop. There's a lot more necessity to it now - necessity to register as a business seller, necessity to keep customers happy, necessity to watch your terms and conditions and increasing buyer protection schemes - but that does bring with it people who are prepared to pay a higher price.

I don't think it's an either/or. I think the easiest way to approach it is to pick a market and look at closing prices there. I buy and sell more media items there than I do collectables, but that doesn't mean there still aren't an awful lot of listings and an awful lot of buyers in the collectables market.

verityboo

Lego always sells well

Strapped

verityboo wrote: »

Lego always sells well

I've bought some this week

Crowqueen

PS - OP - you're not the Jarndyce of Jarndyce v Jarndyce are you? Just started reading Bleak House in preparation for my law masters...

MissGivings_2

Jarndyce wrote: »

Will be visiting a few auctions over the next couple of weeks - just wondering what kind of items people feel are selling well at the moment? Be as specific or as general as you like!

Its been a few years since I sold regularly on ebay - I used to deal mainly in postcards and ephemera. My impression is that the initial popularity of ebay was with existing or new collectors expanding or developing collections, but that the customer base has now moved more towards the bargain-hunter market - would that be a fair assessment?

I think those two customer bases combined is a fair assessment.:)

There's market for paper ephemera in the art market- collage etc, so it may be worth listing in that category.

Best Wishes

Jarndyce

Crowqueen wrote: »

PS - OP - you're not the Jarndyce of Jarndyce v Jarndyce are you? Just started reading Bleak House in preparation for my law masters...

500+ posts and you're the first person to mention it - I post mainly in a legal forum too! No relation, as far as I am aware!:)

MissGivings wrote: »

There's market for paper ephemera in the art market- collage etc, so it may be worth listing in that category.

Thanks thats a useful tip.

Aquamarina

Subbuteo and Warhammer. Seems people can't get enough of both! Pity I have none (anymore).

porto_bello

Jarndyce wrote: »

just wondering what kind of items people feel are selling well at the moment? Be as specific or as general as you like!

From what I've read on MSE, there seems to be a healthy market for well worn air stewardess's shoes (but I'm not sure healthy is the right word).

I'm tempted to pick up a pair of well worn, dark blue shoes from a charity shop, add a few photos from airline web pages to an eBay listing and see if a bumper profit really can be that easy!