The first real job I had was at an eBay Store. AKA We Sell Your Stuff on eBay. These were brick and mortar stores, commonly in suburban strip malls, where customers would consign their items for sale on eBay. We just did all the leg work on ebay listings. We wrote the descriptions, took pictures, handled customer questions, and shipping, etc. We took a $10 non refundable listing fee up front, and then took a commission of the items sale price (if and when it sold.)
EVERYONE thought this was genius business. There were 20 big chains, including the store I worked at - all with various PE backing, so at the onset the stores looked great. We totally emanated “the next big thing,” with WSJ and Forbes articles touting “Turn your junk into cash!”
We quickly realized the business was a breakeven venture in the absolute best case scenario. Most people think their junk is worth way more than they’ll ever get on eBay. For instance, we might list an old engagement ring, something high end, and people would expect to get every penny back from retail. Shockingly - used diamonds were almost worthless back then. We might sell that ring for $500-1000 if we get lucky. So all the time it takes to manage the listing, we’d never actually sell it, because the owner would insist it’s worth thousands and would set an unrealistic reserve. End of the day we net $10 for multiple hours of work. This compounded across almost everything we sold. It was shocking how quickly that small store filled to the ceiling with worthless junk. Our landlord joked that we were basically a climate controlled landfill.
After a year, our owners wised up and started marketing B2B to machine shops, photographers, tool and die makers. Basically selling specialty tools and equipment that these operators weren’t using nor cared about what they sold for. This was a better strategy but even then we’re selling $10,000 Hasselblad cameras and only netting $500 which was barely enough to cover the overhead associated with that item.
By the two year mark we were done, and so were the rest of these stores in my city. FYI this was still my all time favorite job. Really enjoyed my time there, but still, a TERRIBLE business model.
The first real job I had was at an eBay Store. AKA We Sell Your Stuff on eBay. These were brick and mortar stores, commonly in suburban strip malls, where customers would consign their items for sale on eBay. We just did all the leg work on ebay listings. We wrote the descriptions, took pictures, handled customer questions, and shipping, etc. We took a $10 non refundable listing fee up front, and then took a commission of the items sale price (if and when it sold.)
EVERYONE thought this was genius business. There were 20 big chains, including the store I worked at - all with various PE backing, so at the onset the stores looked great. We totally emanated “the next big thing,” with WSJ and Forbes articles touting “Turn your junk into cash!”
We quickly realized the business was a breakeven venture in the absolute best case scenario. Most people think their junk is worth way more than they’ll ever get on eBay. For instance, we might list an old engagement ring, something high end, and people would expect to get every penny back from retail. Shockingly - used diamonds were almost worthless back then. We might sell that ring for $500-1000 if we get lucky. So all the time it takes to manage the listing, we’d never actually sell it, because the owner would insist it’s worth thousands and would set an unrealistic reserve. End of the day we net $10 for multiple hours of work. This compounded across almost everything we sold. It was shocking how quickly that small store filled to the ceiling with worthless junk. Our landlord joked that we were basically a climate controlled landfill.
After a year, our owners wised up and started marketing B2B to machine shops, photographers, tool and die makers. Basically selling specialty tools and equipment that these operators weren’t using nor cared about what they sold for. This was a better strategy but even then we’re selling $10,000 Hasselblad cameras and only netting $500 which was barely enough to cover the overhead associated with that item.
By the two year mark we were done, and so were the rest of these stores in my city. FYI this was still my all time favorite job. Really enjoyed my time there, but still, a TERRIBLE business model.