Back in December we opened up an eBay store to earn some extra money and help pay the bills. Things were going pretty well, and then a global pandemic hit. How would this affect our sales?
As soon as Covid-19 began affecting the United States, our sales dropped off immediately. I was concerned that this revenue stream for us would no longer be viable. Things got even worse once thrift stores and auctions were shut down — those are my two main options for sourcing inventory, so it was definitely a concern.
After a few weeks of little to no sales, things started picking back up. I mean, sales were still down overall, but we were still making consistent sales. At least a few every week. The downside was that with every sale, our inventory diminished. This is a good thing, certainly! But we had no real options for updating our inventory.
Thankfully, it appears those concerns are over for the time being. While Covid-19 is still a very serious threat, stores and businesses are at least allowed to reopen. Since we never had an opportunity for garage sales this spring, I would expect a large amount of those coming up. I am eager for the opportunity to restock our inventory in the coming weeks.
I think that this is a concrete example of how lucrative it can be to sell things on eBay. Even in the midst of a global pandemic, a part time reseller like myself is still making some decent money on the side. As we continue to grow our business, this experience will only strengthen us.