The Wholesale Forums

[AuctionCUT]

This is an interview I done with Robert Frechette at my site. Rob's story is a massive inspiration to me and still shows how ANYONE can build a business using eBay. You can read about Robs story at his website grandstageselling.com. As The Wholesale forums has a lot of ebay queries, I thought the interview may be interesting to some members.

Robert Frechette, author of Grand Stage Selling started selling on eBay part time, and grew his sales into a 2.2 million dollar business. Rob, based in North Carolina has gained the title of Number #1 eBay seller on five occasions.

"An extraordinary accomplishment", is how Jim Cockrum describes Robs business. AuctionCUT thanks Rob for being the first in the 6 Question interview series.

1) - In your opinion is it still possible for a newbie to create a business and full time living on ebay, or is it the marketplace still too crowded?

Rob: I think there's a tremendous opportunity for anyone who wants to start selling on eBay. In the past 6 months, we've added two more eBay accounts because of some different products we are offering. With more eBay accounts, it allows us to brand ourselves and sell more products in different ways.eBay is a very unique business opportunity. I wouldn't spend a whole lot of time developing a business plan and mapping out a lengthy strategic plan. The best way to get started is to simply spend a bunch of time browsing eBay. Once you focus on a eBay category and some product ideas, do a completed item search on eBay to see what customers are
willing to pay for products. For example, one of my first products that I continuously sold on eBay was used blue jeans from thrift stores. I can easily go to eBay and do a completed items search on Gap jeans, for example, to find out what used Gap jeans are selling for and compare that to my purchase price. This is a simple analyss for a gross profit.
eBay is the world's leading online marketplace. There always seems to be opportunity for more sellers.

2) - What would be the biggest single piece of advice you'd offer to those looking to sell on ebay?

Rob: Start! This is probably the single leading question I get from people. When I ask them how are their current sales going, many reply that they haven't even started selling on eBay yet. I think people make it way to complicated to get started and start earning some additional income. Sign-up for a free eBay and PayPal account, sell some things from around the house, and you're off and running. Then your next step is finding a continuous supply of items to sell and learning to manage your selling process.

3) - Whats the biggest lesson you've learned when building up your ebay business?

Rob: Measuring whether or not I am making money. Seems pretty simple, huh? Let me explain. Selling on eBay can be very time consuming. Especially for the part-timers who use eBay as a source for a second income.

People often think that because they are so busy, that they must be making a lot of money. Or people see your busy so family and friends think things are going well. You need to determine what your time is worth. Keep track of how many hours a week you are spending on your eBay business and compare that to your revenue and costs. I know of many people who sell on eBay that would make more money working at their local McDonalds.

4) - Are you surprised at how well your ebook has been received?

Rob: In some ways I am surprised with the number of readers. After selling on eBay for seven years, the eBook was just an idea. I really think people appreciate the advice from a very active eBay seller, not just some sales vendor or something like that. The bulk of the eBook is my story of how I started selling on eBay. It's like a case study. I've been working on the next edition, planned to release by the end of April. It will include more details, graphs and photos.

5) - Do you have any more goals within ebay or have you achieved everything you've set out to do.

Rob: I'm just getting started! Right now it's just may dad and I that work in our warehouse full-time along with a small 1st class group of part-time employees. Last year sales topped at about $3 million and we were the #1 volume sellers for 5 consecutive months. The volume selling statistic kinda scared me because while we worked hard, it wasn't all that complicated. I was wondering where all the other sellers were at! But technology has changed so much since we started that we can sell a whole lot more with little effort.

There are tons of other ecommerce opportunities, too. Just the other day one of our industry competitors (who doesn't sell on eBay) hit $200 million in sales. And their not much bigger than us.

6) - Any other comments you wish to volunteer to our readers?

Rob: eBay is one of the biggest opportunities right now. If you want to start a business, you can start today. I'm not in any way affiliated with eBay, so I don't have a bias reason to say that. Once you start selling, you'll have more ideas than you will time to implement. But, those ideas won't come until you get started.

[dean707]

yes its sooo easy. Just start and you will be a millionaire this time next week.
Except he forgot to tell us how to get a product cheaply enough so you can sell it at a profit.

[iBuy]

Yeah but its advice! Its free to read and use so stop complaining!

[curacao]

Originally Posted by dean707

yes its sooo easy. Just start and you will be a millionaire this time next week.
Except he forgot to tell us how to get a product cheaply enough so you can sell it at a profit.

well if he did that he might be giving away some of his hard earned money making secrets

[MustHaveMobiles]

Originally Posted by dean707

yes its sooo easy. Just start and you will be a millionaire this time next week.
Except he forgot to tell us how to get a product cheaply enough so you can sell it at a profit.

With all due respect, an ability to source a product has to be a fundamental requirement for anyone wishing to sell on Ebay profitably. Now I realise its not easy but you really need to be able to do this yourself as the likelihood of anyone giving away a source is minimal.

[Colourful Zone]

Yes, I agree that without the good source of the products, no matter how good the idea you have, it is meaningless and just give that good idea to the people who can get the good product source.

Personally speaking, I do not like eBay since I always think that why I need to give so much "insertion" fee to eBay no matter you can sell the product or not. Also, about the scammer, it is ton of scam email by the new member or old member's account which is hacked by the scammer from such as Nigeria. I put much time and money to do the business in eBay but the result is not proportional. Also, the protection for the non-US/UK/Canada sellers is not enough, I can say it is nearly nothing. Thus, I like to make business in online store. It is happiler to me and I can feel that I can master on my business.
It is not likely in eBay, just to rent the place from them and you need to follow many rules from them and give you many restrictions. The feeling of it is not good.

[adam2007]

I would like to ask him if paypal have ever limited his account.

[BillyA]

Yes it is an inspirational story.... however...

Running an Ebay business is not that difficult a task. You acquire a product, sell it, and ship it out. Not much to it.

The real story is that Robert started selling on Ebay years ago, when the market wasn't as saturated with sellers. His business grew and now he has buying power - so sure, he can start up new accounts and business lines - you'd be sitting pretty too if you could purchase $200K of one product at a time.

[AuctionCUT]

yes its sooo easy. Just start and you will be a millionaire this time next week.
Except he forgot to tell us how to get a product cheaply enough so you can sell it at a profit.

Actually if you read his ebook he does go into specific details about his early product sources. I didn't provide a live link as I know the forum rules are quite strict about advertising. And if you also read his ebook you'll see he only made around $200 his first year. Hardly becoming a millionaire in a week is it.

I would like to ask him if paypal have ever limited his account.

I'll put that specific question to him & add to the thread when I get an answer.

The real story is that Robert started selling on Ebay years ago, when the market wasn't as saturated with sellers. His business grew and now he has buying power - so sure, he can start up new accounts and business lines - you'd be sitting pretty too if you could purchase $200K of one product at a time.

I've actually interviewed quite a few number of eBay marketers - many of which aren't published yet & it seems to be the opinion of the vast majority is that they could all use eBay to rebuild their business to it' current status again today - starting from scratch.

[BillyA]

Originally Posted by AuctionCUT

Actually if you read his ebook he does go into specific details about his early product sources. I didn't provide a live link as I know the forum rules are quite strict about advertising. And if you also read his ebook you'll see he only made around $200 his first year. Hardly becoming a millionaire in a week is it.



I'll put that specific question to him & add to the thread when I get an answer.



I've actually interviewed quite a few number of eBay marketers - many of which aren't published yet & it seems to be the opinion of the vast majority is that they could all use eBay to rebuild their business to it' current status again today - starting from scratch.

Again, with no disrespect to Robert or any of his accomplishments, the Ebay market has changed since he got there. He is sitting in an advantageous position and cannot see it from the other end of the spectrum. With no supplier knowledge or money.

Sure anyone can say that if they lost everything they could rebuild it, but those are just words. People nowadays are not dumb. They know that the most important thing to selling on Ebay is product acquisition. Sales strategy ebooks have been around for years.

I read that he started sourcing from thrift stores for goods to sell. Have you tried that lately? Almost everything can be bought cheaper on Ebay with greater variety and quality.

In my opinion, success on Ebay in today's market requires one of two things - an outstanding source that can compete on price or niche marketing.