Deciding to Stop

Most sellers do not stop. They slow down, then answer more slowly, then one day realise they have not opened the account in five weeks and are faintly dreading it. That is drifting rather than deciding, and it is worse than either continuing or finishing, because it carries the guilt of the work without any of the money.

If you have been in that for a while, make it a decision. Stopping is an ordinary outcome and it is not a failure. People stop because the money is not there, because the admin outweighs the return, because their circumstances changed, or simply because it stopped being interesting. All of those are sufficient and none of them need justifying to anybody.

If you do decide, close properly rather than vanishing. Finish what is outstanding, because an unsent order is the thing that will follow you. Tell anyone who is waiting on something, briefly and without a long explanation. Put a line on your profile saying you are closed, with a date, so people stop messaging into silence.

Then take care of the practical things while you still remember them. Keep your records, because tax does not stop when trading does. Download anything you would be annoyed to lose, since platforms delete inactive accounts and rarely warn you properly. Decide whether to keep the name registered even if you are not using it, which costs nothing and stops somebody else taking it.

Leaving well is also what makes coming back possible. Plenty of people stop for a year and return, and the ones who return easily are the ones who closed the door rather than walked away from it. A shop that ended cleanly can be reopened. One that owes three people a parcel cannot.

And if you are only tired rather than finished, do not decide this week. Take a fortnight off first and see which one it turns out to be.