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....