- This topic has 7 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 6 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Hello everyone! Been listening to the podcast now for years and finally decided to sign up to the forum.
My name is Mike and I have been a seller on eBay since 1999. It been one crazy journey from then to now with lots of changes and stops for me along the way.
My very first sale in 1999 was a 15k knife That was sent after a payment with a check was clear after 2 weeks. Yeah, crazy times eh lol. So let me back up a bit and tell you how that happened. I was and still am a custom knife enthusiast. My dad was a custom knife maker and I use to go with him to knife shows around the US. I was in my mid 20s at the time and didn’t have a lot of free cash to purchase the beautiful knives I really liked and wanted from the talented makers. Mind you, these knives had a year or more waiting list. I figured out if you placed hefty orders (more then 1) then you would be a little favorited by the makers. I also realized people were paying 3-4x the original price for the knives for instant gratification.
Boom! My eBay biz was born lol. I ordered my first 2 knives at $600 each and in 8 months I had them both and sold them with in weeks for $2200 each. I rolled that money into 8 more and kept that going.
In early 2001 I got financial advice and sunk all my eBay nest egg into stocks. Then the crash came and we know what happen next. I lost everything. I quit. Got married. Had 4 children. Now fast forward 17 years.
In 2017 I had a horrific vehicle accident. Left me with a pile of bills permenantly injured Etc… Neededing some extra money from being out of work I turned to my wife and said hey we need to sell somethings. I said maybe I’ll try eBay. She laughed an asked if that was even a thing anymore and if the site was still around. Lone behold it was and my old account is still there! I started selling a few things I didn’t need around the house and quickly made several hundred bucks.
I turned To YouTube to see if I could find a few tips and tricks and discovered an entire subculture. Now 3 years later I have around 1400 items in my store and doing very, very well. Paid off all our debt and now we are debt free.
I hope I wasn’t to long winded. This is the first time I ever told some of my story. There is a lot more but i def won’t bore y’all! Thanks for having me. Mike MKFrog Treasures
-
-
Hey Jay! I’m out of the knife game. The market has changed significantly after 911 with competition, knife laws etc.
So in 2017 after my accident I literally had $94 in my pay pal and roughly $110 in my pocket when I went to my first garage sale as an official “reseller” those funds were after all the personal things I sold on eBay and local. We paid off a few overdue bills and some groceries before I set out on my expedition lol. It took me a good year before I showed a profit of small margin, built up a store and burned through some really stupid bad buys. I learned a lot after countless hours of really studying the current trends, markets and getting a good business feel for what way I wanted to go. I have the set it and forget it model. I don’t tinker much other then send offers. I sell 95% vintage stuff 3% new used and probly 2% NIB.
-
-
I sell on eBay mostly with a few things on Mercari and offer up. Also do some local stuff. I have tried Amazon and still have an account, really really hate that buisness model tho. I probly will try it again at some point just to make sure I still hate it lol.
We have a farm so Space isn’t an issue fortunately. I work out of my 29×40 workshop where I list, photo, clean and fix items. Right next to the work shop I have a connex container I think 50’? Where all my inventory is at. I’m solo mostly. My wife likes to plunder at garage sales with me on occasion as do my kids. Is there a way to post photos? I could share my set up.
-
-
-
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.