157: How To Hustle & Grow Your eBay Store - Robert Courtemanche

Robert started his resale journey at the age of 8 years old that moved quickly into sports cards which gave him the knowledge to get to where he is at now. Today, he is a jack of all trades and expert in making money out of nothing. Interesting Notes Rob's reselling journey started when he was in grade school. He saw a bunch of kids who were members of a certain school club selling Blow Pops. He told himself that he wanted to do the same even if he is not a club member. With his mom, who had a membership at the Smart & Final Supermarket, he bought three boxes of Blow Pops. He was able to pay his mom and had some money left to buy another box. He kept on turning his profit so he could use the money to play the Star Wars games. Then came along the Garbage Pail Kids, a series of sticker trading cards. He wanted to have it too, but he did not know how to get them. That was when he started doing the hustling. One day when he exchanged a dollar for a quarter, he saw the cards and bought his first pack. He started trading with the other kids. Little by little, it grew up and pushed him into sports cards. The first big collection he got was from his brother in law. It was a big photo album full of cards from 1968 to 1973 of all sports. When he was growing up, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Bo Jackson, are the hottest players. He would trade their cards price for price or player for player. He would trade the 1973 cards for a $5 Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie cards. He attended card shows, started to buy sports promo cards, and became smarter. He would buy the promo cards for 50 cents or $1 each and sell it for $10 or $20 each. The kids in their neighborhood thought that his promo cards are all unique. So, they traded their good cards with his promo cards. Some traded their bike, shoes, and other things. Rob started selling the things traded with him. He would put the bikes and other stuff in his parents' yard sales. Little by little he evolved and moved on to test everything that would sell. He started selling on eBay in 2000. After two years, he closed it down because of a feedback fight. He had more negative feedback than he wished to have because of the fighting. When he closed, he started to get more responsible. He had a full-time job then. He did the same hustles on a part-time basis. He made mistakes along the way. But his knowledge grew. Rob considers himself a master of making money out of nothing. There are so many things that people disregard or throw away. But with Rob, he thinks and sees the worth of money of a thing and resell it. He does not have a particular day dedicated to sourcing out. He can buy one product and gets 20 products out of that one. When online auctions pop up, he will hit those up as long as it is in within his local area. The weirdest thing he ever bought and sold on eBay is false teeth. It was part of the $150 worth of truckload from an estate sale. He put the false teeth on eBay and it flies as high as $80. Another pair is sold for $100. He follows a good workflow. He has a designated place where he takes pictures of his items. Behind it is a spot where he measures, scales and weighs the items. Next to it is a spot where he has his computer and does the listing. Everything is listed in one sitting. At nighttime, he would check YouTube videos. He wants to see what everyone is doing and see if he can help anybody who is struggling on eBay. He sees a lot of people struggling with learning eBay. eBay is not that hard or difficult. People are often confused on how to do it and over think. This is because they listen to a lot of people who teach how to sell on eBay. There are issues and negative things on eBay. But these are a small price to pay for what eBay allows a seller. Rob thinks that eBay is the only platform where a seller can virtually sell almost anything as long as it is not going to be a hazard to the customer. Rob has two stores; both subscribed to a Premium Store. One of his stores has got more feedback than the other. His goal is to grow his small store and dedicate a theme to it. He will convert his 19th Vintage Store into a High-Quality/Auction Store. He knows so much stuff that it is hard to pass it off when he knows it's going to make money. With the items that may not be of high quality, he will put it on auction and see what it do. If the items do not sell, then he will put it on the yard sale pile and do a yard sale. He also wants to have a third store that would sell high-end stuff like furniture, arts, and other high-end stuff. Rob thinks that eBay is moving in the right direction as far as growth. He thinks that most people over analyze the whole eBay algorithm. So, Rob and his wife work on a Reselling Facebook Page for people who will come and get help. They are strong believers in trying to help people for free. Advice, Tips, and Tricks The two biggest sellers on eBay are Items of Nostalgia and Items of Necessity. Items of Necessity are king over everything. Everybody needs clothes. But nobody needs a branded one. You can go to Walmart and get a shirt. To some, a car is an item of necessity. But if there is a bus line where you live, it is not really a necessity. Diesel parts are more of a need than a want as opposed to car parts. Rob does not single out any particular place. He learned that there is money everywhere. If you just go to thrift stores, you just find thrift store stuff. If you just go to auctions, you will just find auction stuff. Do not be afraid to try anything. It is part of learning. With the cell phone, you can look things up, wherever you are. The best way to grow a store is to put anything and everything into it. You will attract a lot more eyes instead of those who are only looking for clothing or looking for parts. So if you have cards, clothes, hats, comics, parts, etc...all sorts of people will come in and check out your store. These people are all potential buyers. Then grow your feedback and credibility. The advantages of having an eBay store: 1. You get better results as far as the views. 2. You can put a name to your business instead of being a person. A store conveys a message that you are serious and credible to deal with. 3. You can do sales promotion. The best thing to do before you get on eBay is to start looking for stuff around your house. Then try to sell the stuff locally first to get capital. You may not have stuff that is worth selling on eBay but would sell in a local market. When you have the capital, do your research and source stuff for eBay and list it. You need to get the feel for buying and reselling before you try to quit your job. You need to build your store and list your items. Make sure that you are on top of everything, doing it 100%. The goal is not to have all the stuff for people to get, but to get good stuff for people to buy. Quotes "I mastered making money out of nothing!" "The two biggest sellers on eBay are items of nostalgia and items of necessity." "There is money everywhere." "The best way to grow a store is to put anything and everything into it." "The goal is to get good stuff for them (customers) to buy." "Everything out there has a value. It depends on where you price it and where you sell it." "I know nothing about art but I know enough to buy art." Contact Information eBay Store: 19th Vintage YouTube: Reselling with Robs Instagram: @resellingwithrob Sponsors Solutions4Ecommerce 3DSELLERS eCom Chicago Norila Digital Marketing

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157: How To Hustle & Grow Your eBay Store - Robert Courtemanche is an episode from So You Wanna Sell On eBay by Ali Young & Ron LaBeau.

This episode is 33:29 long.

This episode was published on Sep 11, 2018.

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