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I don’t really know the answer to that question, and I’m not sure where to get that information. However, from what I’ve read on this forum and elsewhere, I can suggest a few possibilities:
People who used to wear or use an item and have nostalgia. Or, someone who wore out or broke an item and wants that exact replacement.
Younger people who are interested in retro style and like the older stuff.
People who want bargains and don’t care that something is old or out of fashion.
People want to buy certain styles that come back into fashion like Mid-century modern. When bell-bottom jeans came back in style about a decade or so ago, I’m sure that many people bought the original ones.
TV, play, or movie sets that want authentic period pieces.
Designers that are studying older designs as inspiration for new ones. Jay & Ryanne have a repeat customer who purchases older shoes for that purpose.
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It doesn’t completely answer your question but you might find this article interesting: https://www.blog.size.ly/blog/what-your-need-to-know-about-the-modern-online-shopper?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=D4stu&utm_medium=email
Along those lines I think that online vintage shoppers are a small subset of vintage shoppers overall. My wife and kids are pretty solid thrift shop patrons (clothing and other items, both vintage and current) and also buy new clothing and accessories online but would never buy anything vintage or used online. Most people I personally know are like that.
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I used to follow a few mid-century modern groups on Facebook. There are tons of FB groups catering to every type of vintage aficionado: Mid-century modern kitsch, DIY Farmhouse vintage, Vintage Junkies, Vintage Linens, Vintage 80s toys. You name it, there’s a FB group. Try joining a few if you’re on FB. some of them have a ton of posts each day so you might want to join them but not follow them (to keep them from cluttering up your FB timeline). It was educational to see what people are in to and what they get excited about buying.
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Im not sure if there’s one group of vintage buyers since “vintage” is a huge term for many different types of items and eras.
People buying vintage leather boots will be different from people buying vintage china patterns.
How and where are you marketing where you need to target specific groups?
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Thank you for the replies. You all make great points. Jay, my gross sales have been down significantly since last year, even though I’m working harder and being more selective about what I source. I listen to you and Ryanne faithfully and read these forums. I want to solve my income loss, but am not sure I even understand what has happened. I know there’s downward pressure on clothing prices and even retail stores closing. I listen to other business podcasts that mention your “target market” and realized I don’t even know what mine is.
P.S. All my metrics are good: 100% feedback, shipping on time, low defects, etc. I’m a Top Rated Seller
I hope I don’t sound like I’m whining — I know my success depends on me. I recently started using Promoted Listings and I think I may need to run more sales. I added free shipping on some items and it seems to have helped.
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Our sales have also been down this year. I will say that this happened to us over the past ten years with no rhyme or reason. We sell the same exact items, and some years is good and some years is less good.
What do you mean by marketing your business? Or you advertising somewhere?
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I, too, find it frustrating to not be able to meet people in my target market and get to know them and hear from them about what they’re looking for, not looking for, what new things they’re thinking about maybe looking for, etc. In my previous life with a “real” job, it was part of my job to do exactly that for customers of our software products. I spoke with tons of customers at conferences, then also groups of 15-20 customers at a time in special mini-conferences at our offices, plus I had 5-10 customers that I interacted with on an almost weekly basis – getting feedback on new features we were considering, sending out surveys, etc. I really miss having that source of input/feedback.
Now, do I really need feedback related to the latest pair of <5 years old Sorel boots I just sold? Not really. But boy for some of the vintage clothing that I’ve sold or hard goods, sometimes I just want to ask things like:
– Why wasn’t this super rare/unique item of vintage clothing worth more to you? It sat and sat with lots of watchers for over a year and didn’t sell until I reduced the price to $5.99. What’s the deal?
– Why did you pay $400 for this particular vintage christmas item? What makes it so special and more valuable than all these other cool vtg christmas items that don’t sell for as much?Sometimes I just want to simply ask “Why did you buy this item?”
I’ve always assumed that it’s just “not done” to ask buyers questions after the purchase, so I haven’t. But sometimes I really want to. Does anybody reading this ever do this, or even do it regularly?
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Jay, when I was expressing concern to my husband, he said I should do an experiment with Promoted Listings and any of the other tools Ebay provides. I resent paying ebay extra, but I realized I needed to humble myself and try everything.
He also suggested maybe I need to advertise some of my stuff on Facebook or Google ads. My sister is a Marketing Director for the company she works for and she says it drives her crazy that I am not doing more on social media. I spoke with another vintage clothing seller recently who said one person she follows on Instagram has such a large following that whatever she posts sells right off of Instagram.
I’m slow to change but I thought instead of worrying and feeling lost, I need to get smarter and maybe try some new things. But I haven’t made a decision yet about ramping up my advertising efforts.
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Promoted Listings is easy enough to try out. You can try as little as 1% of the sale price. Obviously using this method doesnt need you to know who your audience is. The Promoted Listings just target whoever is using certain key words.
My opinion is that stores like ours dont need marketing. Unless you have a specific brand you’re promoting, people are just coming to us based on titles, photos, condition, and price. I dont think its as easy as buyng some google ad words and calling it a day. Successful marketing would mean creating a brand which takes a hgve amount of time and resources to push it.
If you feel your current inventory is not selling well, try selling other items. Our inventory is so varied because we are willing to sell anything and everything. Just getting caught in one or two categories could be an issue.
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In a way, eBay is our marketing company. They do the advertising, SEO, etc, and their website and name brings in the buyers that may want to buy our stuff. That said, eBay is huge, and you have competition within eBay to sell your products.
You can improve your chances of selling something by doing your own marketing on top of eBay’s, making better listings, or just listing more items. I actually have a Facebook account for my business, but I hardly use it. I keep getting messages to pay for Facebook adds, but my focus has been to just list more.
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