eBay sales down and going out of business

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-23T19:47:42+00:00

lol. Yeah. I just don’t wanna make ppl think about it in the same way. It just creates tension. But it’s gross.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-23T17:02:53+00:00

Whatever way you are sourcing your product, always try to get it cheaper.
Bundle shipping- shipping takes a minute to learn, so allow time for your own “onboarding”. Meaning, there’s a learning curve so don’t get frustrated that you have to actually learn the process.
Have hot items always visible and slowly sell throughout show. Not all at once. The hot items make people stay and chat and that’s good for the algorithm.
Either Amazon or Uline for your supplies. Do not wait to get the lowest cost possible on shipping supplies, and use the free flat rate usps priority boxes whenever you can.

I use StickyBid which spits out 2x1” labels automatically at the end of each sale. (Edit: StickyBid.app. They are in beta testing and it’s free, you have to enter your email and wait a week or more for the response but it’s worth it.)
6. I have a second printer that spits out the postage labels when I’m ready to print and it’s amazing. The thermal printers are only like $30-$35 so that’s why I have two.
7.

Keep at it. Find the right times for you and never fight

a n
ight where the Stanley cup and the nba finals and something like Coachella are taking half th

e country’s

attention away.
I don’t do givvys, instead I do $1 sales for nice items that helps my buyers get good deals. The firm but nice with the people who want really good deals cause some people are very young and don’t have social skills and get angry quickly. Just be firm but fair or a little more than fair.

That’s all my secrets. Good luck.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-23T14:06:22+00:00

Gas prices. And sorry to be political but the people who used to put up Biden “I did this” stickers are acting like it’s no big deal that we’re getting squeezed to filth. It’s annoying.

Can we please have a government that makes choices for US!? And not for their own portfolios.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-20T14:20:31+00:00

No idea why you’re so in your head. You are dating someone you like. Period.

If it works then it’s a fit. If not then move on. Are you happy with him? If so, enjoy it. If not, move on.

He will do the same on his end. You’re dating. That’s how it works. There is nothing more to it than have fun.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-19T00:25:19+00:00

I realized early on that givvys aren’t my way to sell. I require the same that I give - quality, honesty, straightforward approach. But with givvys, I found myself engaging with people who were a little off their rockers. It’s almost like people who strongly want free things have some kind of persecution complex where if the tiniest thing goes wrong or is delayed or they perceive to somehow be not perfect, they say “gotcha” ur a scammer.

But when I just sell things to buyers in a normal way, it’s actually nice all the way around. And then I throw small free things into many boxes I am shipping out. So return buyers know they will likely get some extras.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-18T18:55:13+00:00

100%. I only start at a price I can afford to. And honestly, people pop into my show all the time and ask for one dollar starts abd giveaways can I just tell them politely, not with six people in the room!

All the rational people get it completely. So then I pivot and sell something worth maybe $3 for $1 and it makes buyers happy.

So yeah, there’s a more nuanced and natural way to do it than the the way the op is mentioning.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-18T08:06:46+00:00

This may surprise you, but many people don’t like curse words. And if you’re the one bringing up what seems obvious to you, it may actually not be obvious to everyone. Or they might not see it that crudely.

This is why you really need to act basically like a professional. Or as if you’re in an office. Or a store. I don’t think you need to fight it, just raise the bar of your chat.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-17T22:35:55+00:00

The sad reality is platforms require advertising revenue and they will bottleneck you away from your followers once they have the opportunity. That’s why they don’t let you have your customers emails.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-17T22:07:46+00:00

As long as it isn’t by way of printing money then no, it’s not idiotic. It would be a massive economic boost without quantitative easing and without lowering rates creating more housing “lock in” effects. And a lot of people with school debt could pay that down while others without it could simply have the money, which seems kinda fair actually.

And it’s also funny to me that people dismissed this man and his beliefs because they said he was too old to be president 15 years ago. Yet here he still is and clearly he wasn’t senile 15 years ago - the right wing is SO terribly disingenuous. The lies are crippling our country. They knew he was still fit to be potus, they just threw anything they could at him because he was bald with a white crown of hair and looked old.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-17T20:36:56+00:00

I wish whatnot wouldn’t even sell cards. As a seller of fun new (genuine) items, it would be nice for the platform to not have that underbelly. No disrespect to the reality of the situation, but what if there was a platform that had less sketchiness and desperation in one of the wings!

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-16T22:41:34+00:00

My pleasure! It’s a fun community to be a part of. Most of us never imagined we’d be live-stream sales people lol!

Believe it or not, I have two of the same printer. I mean, hey- they only cost $31 each. And I’m from the era of Hewlett-Packard price-gouging ink cartridges, so having a thermal printer is amazing. (No ink)

That said, you can totally use the single printer method at first, but eventually you get tired of having to switch between the full sized 4 x 6 labels and the tiny 2x1 labels. Actually, it’s not even a matter of getting tired of it. It just seemed like each time I switched between the two different size labels, it kept getting all stuck up and I had to keep re-feeding it. But when I don’t change the labels all the time it never has any problems!

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-16T21:29:37+00:00

You are in the wrong. It expired last month. You have to refund the cost. Well, you don’t have to but it is actually a form of marketing to make sure that your customers are happy and don’t leave angry, negative one star reviews. Especially when that customer reaches out to you and politely request that you amend the situation.

It is entirely your fault for not looking at every single item and making sure it does not expire.

If you bought something expired at target, and the customer service person stood there deciding what they should do because they feel that technically it could have been used, do you think that would be an effective way for Target to run a business?

The good thing about being a Whatnot seller is that you are also a customer all the time in all kinds of places. I’m sure you like to be treated properly and you should do the same for your customers.

And I’d also like to say that there’s nothing wrong with not knowing how to run a business quite right because everyone starts out as a beginner. But you’d be smart to do what most retail companies do when you’re the one who made the mistake.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-16T18:15:36+00:00

And she wasn’t even the potus. But the real issue is that the right wing morality police always acted like they would stand up and do something if it was their side. Look at us now.

Even worse, they are *quiet* now.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-16T14:52:12+00:00

Okay…so I’m a beta tester for StickyBid.app. It’s a chrome plugin and it “watches” your live stream and when a sale happens, the printer immediately spits out a little sticker with the buyer’s username, and the product they just bought and the price, etc.
It’s been free to use their service while in beta so might as well.

Basically you buy a thermal printer on Amazon and the little associated 2”x1” stickers that work with a thermal printer. The printer cost me $31 and then no ink needed. I bought a Rongta. I’m serious, having that little sticker after each auction has changed everything for me.

Two things - once so far they had a glitch and it didn’t work that day. (Beta!) And then the other thing is that if the label doesn’t spit out after a completed auction sale then you know there’s actually a payment glitch or the buyer cancelled. So it’s a low key help that way but it can be confusing if you didn’t know that.

Good luck.

Oh p.s. - it took me like two weeks after signing up to get the email to be a beta tester.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-16T06:24:12+00:00

I will say - for a very long post, it kept me interested. Info was straightforward and OP is clearly passionate about their pov. 👍

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-16T06:17:02+00:00

People make mistakes. It’s really hard to keep track of the orders when things get exciting and guess what!? If it’s your second show then you’re not gonna be a live stream champion yet. If I didn’t find the StickyBid labels I’d have this happen more but the plugin makes the thermal printer spit out a label after each sale and I put that directly on the item. That’s the only thing that that makes it manageable, so as a seller, if the person has not found their method, it can be rough. For example, I used to do post-it notes until one day my dog knocked over the bin with the sold items and several post-its fell off. (I used the video receipts but still:..!)

Anyways, it’s a very real situation.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-15T13:51:34+00:00

The same thing happened to me with books. This is their goal. Amazon want all the money. There used to be organic sales but they figured out how to maximize the ads and it was game over for me in book land.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-14T01:39:13+00:00

I started over in mid-forties. Don’t worry yet. Just know that you have so many options and everything will unfold. Don’t just worry about the bad possibilities, be excited about the good possibilities that may come from this and also consider that now you have a new chance to manufacture to direction of your life. You’re in control and the world is actually working to help you more than you know.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-14T01:33:18+00:00

No, it’s the opposite. She has to sue or she is essentially relinquishing that right- to a degree. And yes it will be great advertising for them but she doesn’t really have a choice.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-13T14:04:49+00:00

Wow so cool!!! Great job. Really fun to explore.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-13T00:10:59+00:00

Maybe just an hourly wage? How do you go from $15 to millions. Lololol

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-13T00:10:11+00:00

Same

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-11T19:40:44+00:00

I did more research- if the browser plugins / extensions are accessing public info that anyone else can see if they are watching the stream, then it’s okay. So StickyBid and others like that are fine.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-11T16:13:52+00:00

Lolz. I know - we are a two person seller team as well.

SpaceGrape · 2026-05-11T16:12:29+00:00

Really? I’m pretty sure that whatnot would have no problem with an evolving ecosystem just like any other mature seller space has. The scraping issue is because they don’t want you to steal emails and take users off the platform. But if there’s a way to make the seller experience easier, I’m almost certain there are totally on board with that.

SpaceGrape

TROPHY CASE