Why I returned to selling on Ebluejay.
In March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, my state began implementing laws that forced 2.1 million small businesses, out of business by August 2020.
I made a measly $259 in 2020 from Mercari, a marketplace that I am still a big fan of, but by August 14, 2021 I was out of business, my suppliers were out of business, my shipping supplies locally were out of business, Why, because we have elected leaders who are both incompetent and lack basic economic and business sense. Meanwhile, the governor of our state owned the only winery allowed to remain fully open.
My state HAD 4.1 million small businesses, which made up 98.9% of the states employers. But only the top 1% were allowed to remain open, mainly businesses with long extended hands into the pockets of our politicians, Walmart, Target, Amazon, and a few others.
By August 2021, 40.8% of all small businesses in my state were officially out of business and either not coming back or had been forced to relocate to another state to survive. 2.1 million out of business. That is close to 1/2 of all employers in the state.
In September 2021, 36.6% of us in this state, realized that our state is in serious jeopardy amid a failed recall election of our governor, Gavin Newsom. This leader survived the recall, and that means the unsound economics policies of this states administration poses an enormous threat against to the remaining small businesses that are struggling to survive in California.
This is the same elected official who raised sales taxes while the majority of the state is either out of work on unemployment or homeless, who supported the American Rescue Plan that changes the laws at the start of 2022, decreasing the 1099 reporting by marketplaces that process payments from $20,000 and 250 minimum sales, down to $600 and no minimum amount of sales. This essentially means everyone who sells to addresses within this state, from within this state, is a business under the law. Imagine selling three pairs of expensive shoes you no longer need and receiving a 1099 tax document at the end of the year requiring you to file a schedule-C profit and loss 1040 tax filing at the beginning of 2023. It's here.
So it's time to take back some control with an online, "Boston Tea Party", if you will, however best fits your online presence narrative.
Marketplaces like Mercari, Ebay, Etsy, Depop, Bonanza, Offerup, Storenvy Amazon, Poshmark, etc. at least in this state are now considered the Retailer, collecting sales taxes for all sales, making up the rules and policies for all sales, defining conditions in which a return can be made of the product, where the product can be sold to. They make up all of the policies, and you have to abide by them.
For instant, on Mercari, sales are available to all US States but not internationally. On Ebay, sales are available to all US States, but you can exclude Alaska and Hawaii, and international sales are optional. The other marketplaces are similar.
Additionally, Mercari, Ebay and Amazon, all process there own payments, which means each of them you sell on, will be required under the new American Recovery Act, to send you a 1099 Tax form at the end of 2022 and going forward if you made over $600 on one or more of those marketplaces. What a mess.
What makes EBlueJay different, is that you as the seller create your own policies. You decide your own return policies, you define who and where you will sell to, and in 2021/2022 that is very important for someone like me. I may not want to do business in a specific state, especially not a state that penalizes its small business community.
I always wondered and even asked on a few marketplaces, why are Alaska and Hawaii allowed to be blocked as ship to states, but not other states. None gave a reasonable answer, they didn't know, it was just what everyone else was doing. Then there are those marketplaces that ban sales to places like Israel, because they are heavily engaged in identity and social politics.
I'm done playing this game, at least in part, because I will still sell on the marketplaces I always have, but I want to begin moving away from those marketplaces more. EBlueJay allows me to set the policies and terms of service.
So to me, in a time when I no longer trust my local government or the federal leaders that put me out of business for over a year, EBlueJay just makes good sense as a marketplace alternative.
My EBlueJay Policies will exclude states I don't want to sell or engage with, states where I've had lost sales, too many returns, states with government boycotts and banned travel for elected officials and state workers to other states in the US. As far as I am aware, there is no law stating that anyone selling online must sell to a specific state. If that existed, how would retailers of the past and present prevent sales to Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico?
In my state for example, there is an official law banning sales and travel to and from the state of Texas. This ban applies to all state government offices, employees and those directly associated with the state, like state universities. We never voted as a state on this law, it was not a law I or several million others agree with; it was imposed for political reasons by the super-majority, veto proof politicians and governor.
The following is a comprehensive list of states subject to California's ban on state-funded and state-sponsored travel as of 2021:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- Montana
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- West Virginia
READ THIS UPDATE EBLUEJAY ARTICLE: Why you should sell on Ebluejay in 2020
I'm unable to relocate out of my state for multiple reasons beyond my control, but EBlueJay marketplace provides sellers with a lot of freedom, decision making, peace of moral conscience, that other marketplaces can not or are unwilling to give.
EBlueJay also gives me a storefront for free, a very low set-up fee that anyone can afford, no fees of any kind going forward other than the normal payment processing fees from Paypal, Stripe or Amazon Payments. Even then, I get to decide which payment processor I want to use, either all three, or one or two. No listing fees, no store fees, no marketplace commissions.
I admit, that sales are generally slower on EBlueJay, but in my past experience EBlueJay sales were and are higher than Bonanza, Ecrater and Storenvy.
I kind of feel like EBlueJay is the online marketplace of "The American Dream", because other than some normal common sense restrictions on prohibited products, it gives sellers freedoms that simply do not exist on other marketplaces. EBlueJay isn't a new kid on the block either, sellers have been making money on it for over 14 years at the time of this article, and there is no sign, or reason to assume its going away anytime in the near future.
As I've said in past articles and videos about EBlueJay, it's not for everyone. If you can't successfully sell on Mercari, you definitely don't want to sell on EBlueJay. Mercari is a marketplace for non-sellers according to their mission statement, non-business, people not trying to make a profit and that means there are a mega-ton of rules and lots of inexperienced sellers. But Mercari is built to make it easy for them, with rules and a algorithm that helps prevent that inexperience from impacting buyers and shoppers. Someone who got banned on Mercari, won't be successful on EBlueJay, nor Ebay or Bonanza, nor pretty much anywhere else online. Maybe they might do o.k. on Facebook Marketplace, but Facebook Marketplace doesn't have a very good reputation among experienced sellers anyway.