"Race to the bottom"

[Shortcut]

Hello all, I was just recently asked these questions and they took me by surprise. What do you think?

1.) What makes you think you stand a chance of competing?

2.) He than told me to look up “race-to-the-bottom” on google.

Before I answered him I wanted some feedback from y’all first.

Thank you

[MyCottage]

Not sure who was asking you these questions?

[Jay]

I wouldn’t even answer whoever asked those questions.

[whiskey]

If it’s another seller it is possibly attempted price collusion. Don’t respond and report it to eBay?

[Shortcut]

It’s an old acquaintance, I know from years back who has been doing it for awhile now.

[Jay]

If you know you have a solid business model (ie your numbers work month to month), it’s a losing battle to someone who might just be grumpy because they’re not very successful.

Send him this if he’s trying to make eBay work: http://www.scavengerlife.com/manifesto

[Zach]

That sounds like someone who has burned out on eBay and needs to find something else to do with his time. Tell him to keep his negativity to himself.

[Nanisdad]

EBAY is one place where you can start today and immediately be on equal footing with everyone else. There is a lot to learn but you have the same chance as everyone else. With the help of generous people like Jay and Ryanne your only limit is the amount of time and effort you want to dedicate.

[Incompetent Picker]

There is no “race to the bottom” if you buy the right items.

[Shortcut]

Thanks for the awesome backup and support with this. The race to the bottom subject is something I’ve heard before and yes, that does scare me. But, if we keep looking and finding “weird” and interesting items to post that “should” keep us in the race. Unlike, with Amazon where there could be more of a race to the bottom scenario.

I’m having a run on 1950s airplane models right now. Which makes me think I should focus on models niche only. Thoughts on niches?

[Liz]

I think niches can work if you have in depth knowledge of the niche and a steady supply of the source item. Spinachetr, (the post card guy), does well with his niche.

If you don’t have a consistent way of getting the inventory, It seems more risky.

Also, your acquaintance seems jealous that you are selling on ebay. Maybe he liked being known as the ebay-guy, and sees you as competition. When he says “What makes you think you can compete?”, I would respond with “What makes you think I can’t?”.

Don’t let his crabbiness erode your confidence!

• This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by Liz.

[Jay]

The “Race to the bottom issue” is definitely a problem on Amazon because the bar is so low to sell. Anyone can buy stuff at Walmart and mail it on. Or even easier, order items online through a wholesaler. It’s all the same stuff being pumped out by the same Chinese factories. Lower price is the only differentiator.

With eBay, the bar to sell is a little higher because you have to take photos and list each individual item. You have to figure out a storage system. You must be willing to ship consistently. We’ve seen plenty of people try to start an eBay business, but realize its not for them. Some of them (like your friend?) then take up the hobby of complaining to anyone who will listen why eBay is a horrible place.

We would get bored of niches. Too much cool, fun stuff to find and sell.

[cebanak]

I think eBay does have the potential for a race to the bottom but only with people who are trying to unload items very quickly. I want items to sell every day but I don’t want them to sell so cheaply so that it’s not worth my time to pack them. When I do research you can tell the market for some items is saturated and has been run down but I just try to avoid those markets.

As a example, I got a stack of 25 Blu Rays a while ago and I figured they would be worth about $10 and I could make about 7$ after fees. Nope this market as well as more recent generations of video games has been driven down by how easy they are to sell, all you need is 2-3 pictures and a poly mailer and you can unload all your movies or games for $5 each. After cost of buying, shipping materials and fees I am only making about $2 each, I’m still selling them because it’s money, and I did price mine at the high end of the spectrum but its not worth it to only sell in that catagory all the time.

I do have to revisit items to see if my pricing is out of line with the market but if you did look at the definition of race to the bottom it’s about a deteriorating process and if I can’t turn 1$ into $100 but I can turn it into $50 I honestly am not going to complain. Most everything loses value over time, yes some things become collectable or scares so price goes up. But guess what, we are always making more stuff so in 20 years the crap we made now will be vintage!

[Habnab]

The only race to the bottom is me running over to kick his.
Ignore him and carry on.

[Anonymous]

The race to the bottom is a big problem on Amazon, not so much on eBay.
At least that has been my experience (since 1999)

But as someone else said – if you sell the right products there is no race to the bottom – BINGO

[Author]

Posts