My primary business is selling auto parts, and a high percentage of my business right now is done on eBay. I do a mixture of parting out vehicles, consignment sales for clients, and reselling items from eBay, swap meets, and junk yards. The "fastlane" plan for my model is to continue to grow inventory and hire employees to handle the day to day (pictures, listings, meeting with local customers, packing and shipping, etc.) so that I can focus on buying and begin to detach some of my time. The idea of selling used items seems to get a bad rap around here for not being scale-able but in my opinion with the right processes and systems in place it can be a lot better than people give it credit for. I buy my inventory pretty methodically and steadily, and as long as people are fixing cars they'l be buying it. No I'm not going to go viral and sell $100k worth of used car parts overnight, but I'm also not exposed to some of the risks and volatility that some ecom businesses are.
However, I also recognize the huge potential in creating a new product that is more easily scalable, so I'm working on my home decor brand/product as well. After creating and managing thousands of listings on eBay I see the appeal of selling a single line of products and creating a brand around them. Once the product is created, you can focus on selling it - and it doesn't go away once it sells like my other products do.
Overall I love eBay because it's the selling medium that I built my business around and has allowed me to quit my job. The built in traffic that they have for my items is a huge value to me.
Like Vigilante implied though, it's not so much about eBay as it is your products and your execution. You can win or lose with any selling platform.
However, I also recognize the huge potential in creating a new product that is more easily scalable, so I'm working on my home decor brand/product as well. After creating and managing thousands of listings on eBay I see the appeal of selling a single line of products and creating a brand around them. Once the product is created, you can focus on selling it - and it doesn't go away once it sells like my other products do.
Overall I love eBay because it's the selling medium that I built my business around and has allowed me to quit my job. The built in traffic that they have for my items is a huge value to me.
Like Vigilante implied though, it's not so much about eBay as it is your products and your execution. You can win or lose with any selling platform.