EBay entrepreneurs winning success (Article About TOP eBayer---13,000+ Feedbacks!)

Los Angeles Times via Chicago Tribune ^ | October 31, 2002 | David Colker

[PJ-Comix]

You can find everything on EBay from a Learjet to a velvet painting of Elvis. But Jay and Marie Senese have found something far more rare on the auction site: a new way of life. EBay Inc. has afforded the husband-and-wife entrepreneur team the chance to earn a living selling CDs from their Sierra Madre home. They wrote a business plan, found sources for the more than 5,000 used CDs they put up for bid weekly, worked out the considerable logistics for handling their auctions and hired two full-time employees and several part-timers. The Seneses report to no one. If only they could take a day off. The couple's operation, known as 1 Cent CD, is by far the most successful home-based business operating on EBay, as measured by volume of merchandise. But like thousands of other full-time EBay merchants, the Seneses have discovered one of the great ironies of the Internet: The 21st century technology that has enabled them to run a business from home also has trapped them in an 18th century, work-consuming lifestyle reminiscent of farmers tied to their land or shopkeepers who lived above the store.

[PJ-Comix]

I am getting ready to start selling lots of CDs (and jewelry) on eBay. So while I was doing some research I came across "jayandmarie". At first I was impressed by the 1300 feedbacks. Then when I realized it was actually 13,000 feedbacks, I was ASTOUNDED!

The Seneses speak longingly of taking a real vacation. But that would mean getting thousands of CD titles typed up ahead of time so an employee could start the auctions later. They haven't managed to do that. "On paper, we should be able to get ahead," said Jay Senese. "But something always comes up."

So why not cease listsing the CDs for a couple of weeks and take a vacation? I don't get this.

[PJ-Comix]

Oops! I screwed up the title. I meant 130,000 feedbacks. That number is so astounding that the mistake is understandable.

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[PJ-Comix]

Here is their EBAY PAGE.

[laurav]

Probably like most people getting a business off the ground they're worried that if they leave for a bit, people will forget they exist. I don't think the eBay market is quite competitve enough for that to be the truth, but if I was worried my job wouldn't exist when I came back, I'd be reluctant to take a vacation too.

[PJ-Comix]

eBay has changed a lot since I first started back in 1999. Back then I would get TOP DOLLAR for stuff I sold. Sometimes I was shocked by how much people bid on stuff. I sold a 50/50 Ren & Stimpy T-Shirt to some guy in Denmark and it came to about $50 with the shipping. $30 Pink Floyd T-shirt to another guy in Japan. Also I had a drop shipping deal and sold scores of digital cameras for no less than $75 net profit each. Back then bidding online was such a novelty that people would bid up the prices over what you could get the items in the stores for.

Then prices plummeted on eBay. Now things are often cheaper (even with shipping) than the store prices. Since I got spoiled with the big net profit margins of the early years, it was hard for me to accept the much lower profit margins. However, I have now got my "mind right" and will soon be selling hundreds of items each week with small profit margins. As long as you can accept very small profit margins with high turnovers (like "jayandmarie") then you can do business on eBay.

BTW, thank God for robot e-mail to the auction winners. That took a lot of work out of eBaying.

[PJ-Comix]

The best net profit margin I ever had was the time I picked up Dune Encyclopedia (hardback) at a flea market for a buck (if the vendor said two bucks I wouldn't have bought it). I put it on a 3-day eBay auction on a Sunday night and Wednesday night it sold for $202.50. That book became my holy grail and I still keep my eye out for it. Once I found the paperback version at the flea market and snapped it up at $10 and sold it for about $60 online. However, even Dune Encyclopedia prices have fallen. The hardback edition now fetches "only" about $100.

[PJ-Comix]

FYI. Brooklyn has a lot of wholesale outlets. Good place to get stuff for eBay.....But downtown L.A. is even better.

[dawn53]

I bought my husband a Japanese puzzle box at a garage sale for a buck. He loved to work out puzzle boxes, but mentioned to me that this one was rather unusual in that it had close to 50 moves in order to open it. After he had mastered it, I decided to sell it on ebay. The little box brought $430. We were astounded.

[1stFreedom]

Was that the box from "Hellraiser?"

[PJ-Comix]

Yeah. It is often amazing what you can get stuff for on eBay. A big part of the eBay buzz is that unknown factor when you list stuff and you never know what kind of great bids you will get. This is especially true for collectibles.

[gogov]

Yea, well it aint all rosey on eBay. Check out this seller. Over 4,600 people have had a bad experience with it.

Bargainland-Liquidation Link Here

[Libloather]

Court fines man for internet kidney sale
Tue Jul 15, 5:49 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court has sentenced a man for trying to sell one of his kidneys on the Internet to a four month suspended jail sentence and fined him 2,000 euros (1,400 pounds), authorities said on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the court in the western town of Kassel said the 48 year-old Austrian mechanic was accused of violating laws on illegal organ trading for offering his kidney as a "blood purification organ" online at a starting price of 66,500 euros (46,700 pounds).

He was hoping to use the proceeds to ease his girlfriend's financial worries, said court spokesman Theodor Weber.

"Apparently the firm she worked for was in trouble and he wanted to help them out," he said.

A journalist later spotted the advert, and posed as a potential buyer before exposing the unusual money-spinning ruse.

The man made a full confession in court and said he was pleased he still had both kidneys.

"He said he was glad because he'd been having a problem with one of them for a while," said Weber.

[EllaMinnow]

My eBay specialty is antique photographs. I have a pretty consistent clientele, and new buyers every week, too. I can't do more than 30 items a week - I really can't find more than that many to sell, and I can't put more time into it.

About 2 years ago, I bought a box full of photographs, and spaced them out on eBay. The last one turned out to be the earliest known photograph of Hall-of-Famer Christy Matthewson. I got over $1500.00 for that one, but not on eBay. I got dozens of emails about it the first day, but no bids. When I found out what I had, I pulled the auction and sold it through a Chicago dealer.

[Danette]

How much does it cost to ship that 1 cent CD?

I think the shipping costs are turning off alot of buyers.

[PJ-Comix]

Yea, well it aint all rosey on eBay. Check out this seller. Over 4,600 people have had a bad experience with it.

That's why it pays to check the feedback. My own rating is 100% positive so buyers are confident when purchasing from me. Why anyone would want to purchase from the example you cited with that horrible feedback record is beyond me.

[PJ-Comix]

My eBay specialty is antique photographs. I have a pretty consistent clientele, and new buyers every week, too. I can't do more than 30 items a week - I really can't find more than that many to sell, and I can't put more time into it.

Pssst! Newspaper photo morgues.

[PJ-Comix]

How much does it cost to ship that 1 cent CD?

By media mail, about $1.86. But I think most sellers will charge $2.00 even. That's what I plan to do.

[EllaMinnow]

You ever thought of doing half.com?

[PJ-Comix]

The best thing that happened with online auctions was the advent of PayPal. One click and everything is done for you. No more having to write a check and dropping the payment in the mail. On the seller's end, you get your payment right away and PayPal will automatically send out e-mails to your winning bidders.

BTW, I would like to tell you the name of that GENIUS who called up PayPal in January 2000 and recommended that they provide special PayPal banners for the online auctions but I'm much too (BLUSH!) modest. Oh, and PayPal IMMEDIATELY took the advice of that "modest" caller.