There must be something to it. Advertisers boast that their
product has something extra. People often talk about wanting to do
something extra-special during their weekend, or when preparing a
meal. And unless you're a boxer on the receiving end of a
punch, getting something extra is just about always a good
thing.
It's also how a lot of entrepreneurs are increasingly seeing
eBay--as something extra. eBay has allowed multiple enterprises to
expand by bringing in an additional revenue stream. And that's
becoming more necessary, as today's entrepreneurs are finding
just one source of revenue is no longer enough. "Our entire
economic culture is in transition," observes consultant Joe
Guertin. "It's an exciting time, filled with a lot of
opportunity." For many entrepreneurs, the way to tap that
opportunity is with eBay.
Neatly Done
Brian Schutzer owns Neat Stuff Collectibles. You can find him at a
dozen or so collectibles shows around the country, and sometimes at
comic-book conventions, but mostly you can find him on eBay (eBay
User ID: neatstuffcollectibles). He began his business without
eBay, and he still technically has a company independent from the
site. Nevertheless, when he added eBay as a revenue stream,
"sales started skyrocketing," says Schutzer, 27, who
works and lives in North Bergen, New Jersey.
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Schutzer now employs seven and estimates his company brought in
$2.8 million in 2005 and that 60 percent of his business's
income is due to his eBay outlet. Without it, Schutzer guesses his
business "would still be strong, but it would probably be in a
different form."
For starters, Schutzer doesn't think he would have seven
employees, although he concedes that he might have some, because he
likely would have opened a brick-and-mortar store.
That's an example of the transitional economy Guertin
describes. "People recognize they no longer have to invest in
a 200,000-square-foot department store," says Guertin, who has
a sales training and consulting firm in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
"The platform itself is right there--it's eBay. So the new
economic reality for many Americans is that multiple streams are
the answer. The old mind-set of a single revenue stream is
obsolete."
Jumping onto the eBay bandwagon, however, takes some work.
"I would definitely say to go for it, but to take it
slow," Schutzer advises entrepreneurs who want to add eBay as
a revenue source for their businesses. "A lot of people
don't realize how much time it's going to take them. The
time and expense involved in the customer service that you have to
[provide] when you deal with eBay customers can eat away at a
profit margin. Go slowly, and calculate everything you do along the
way as you increase your involvement."
Debbie Levitt, an eBay Certified Provider, says marketing in
particular is a big factor in succeeding on eBay. "We find
that buyers tend not to remember sellers," says Levitt, owner
of As Was, a Tucson, Arizona, online marketing firm that
specializes in helping individuals and companies start, market and
improve their eBay and online businesses. "Buyers tell people
they bought from some guy on eBay. We want our clients to be
memorable brand names, and not just 'some guy.' "
Again, this takes some work. "The biggest mistake is not
having a deep enough understanding of the eBay marketplace,"
says Levitt. "And that includes the relationship of the
shoppers to the seller, the economy, eBay's own economy and
value of the products, the way products get sold, the interplay
between making strategic choices and how that affects both your
fees and potential revenue."
In other words, there's a lot to this eBay thing.
"We find that some businesses have unrealistic
expectations," says Levitt. "People think, 'I can
just put something on eBay, and somebody will buy it.' But
getting the public to buy depends on a lot of factors:
presentation, the shoppers' perception of you. It's not
just about price. Since eBay is a community, shoppers care about
trustworthiness and even how friendly a seller seems. Some
[sellers] tend to assume they can throw anything on there and that
nobody will ever contact them. They may not be prepared for the
sense of community that naturally comes out of doing business on
eBay."
If you own an offline business, you should realize that working
from home is a way to reduce your overhead, whether it's by
cutting down on work space or simply not having to decorate a lobby
or store, or pay a staff to monitor the premises every day. Or like
Schutzer, you might find that you can add more staff,
because you don't have to spend a lot of money on your business
storefront. It takes some work, of course, to add eBay as a
serious, income-generating sales channel, but in the end, eBay
allows you to free yourself from the confines of an offline
business.
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