Fishing Analogy for eBay
Most of my days are spent working on eBay lately. I’m slowly building a decent-sized inventory of Pokémon cards, coins, yo-yos, and other random objects I no longer need. Initially, I focused on the few items that might return a decent bit of money quickly. But lately, I’ve shifted that focus to volume.
After reflecting on my initial strategy, I landed on an analogy that felt useful. If I think of my eBay account as a fishing endeavor, then my first steps were like casting a line or two and hoping something bit. But one day a few weeks ago, it dawned on me: that strategy relies on things outside my control. I might—and often do—go months from listing an item to selling it.
But if I were to cast more of these lines—list more and more items, which is within my control—then I increase the odds of a sale. I may not be able to make the fish bite the bait, but the more lines I have in the water, the greater the chances of a catch. By focusing on what I can control (listing), I improve my results with what I can’t (selling).
Recently, I began to focus exclusively on Pokémon cards, and another analogy formed. Having a large selection of similarly themed items is like weaving the lines into a net—it creates a wider surface area and brings in more catches.
There’s a certain gravity to this as well. As more and more themed items are listed, sales increase not just from that initial point of exposure, but because buyers already interested in the genre often browse other listings and buy multiple items at once. Some do it because they stumble upon other things they want. Others do it to combine shipping and save money.
Dropping the analogies, I also want to talk about eBay’s special shipping option for cards, coins, and stamps sold for under $20. In that price range, eBay offers a deeply discounted shipping rate—nearly 90% off what you'd pay to ship items of similar weight otherwise. They've apparently negotiated a deal that lets you send these collectibles in an insured, card-stock envelope for between $0.74 and around $2.00.
When I first started selling on eBay, I didn’t know about this feature and ignored my lower-priced cards. I assumed that if one sold, either the buyer—or I, if I offered free shipping—would have to pay $5 to $6 just to ship it. But with this discounted rate, it suddenly is worth spending 5–10 minutes photographing, titling, writing descriptions, selecting item traits (for better filtering in search), setting the price, and choosing shipping.
Sure, making five bucks isn’t always exciting. But when you have almost 200 items listed and your rate of sales increases, you start to see several of these small sales each week. It adds up quickly—and it definitely motivates you to sit down and put in a few hours each day.