Darrel is a full-time Operations Manager for Shofur, a charter bus startup in Atlanta, but has built a sizable side hustle on eBay.
Despite working “crazy hours” and being a top-performer at his day job, he’s sold over $100k worth of merchandise in the last 12 months.
We’ve covered ecommerce in many forms on Side Hustle Nation before, including the popular Amazon FBA model. But I know from conversations in the SH Nation Facebook group, eBay is a common starting ground for side hustlers — and it’s a topic noticeably lacking in the archives.
(Most recently, “Flea Market Flipper” Rob Stephenson mentioned eBay as his favorite platform for reselling items.)
As one of the first and largest peer-to-peer commerce platforms, eBay still gets massive traffic. According to Alexa.com, it’s currently the 7th most popular site in the US and 26th most popular in the world. That’s a lot of eyeballs, and more importantly, that’s a lot of buyers!
In this conversation, Darrel breaks down his inventory acquisition strategies, his step-by-step auction strategy, and how he batches packing and shipping to make the most of his time.
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Learn:
- Darrel’s favorite inventory sourcing marketplaces.
- His favorite types of products to flip for profit.
- Some of the tools and apps he uses to run the business, limit his liability, and keep the sales rolling.
- The target profit margin he aims for on each sale, and how to estimate what an item will sell for.
- The systematic way he sets up his auctions for maximum exposure and profit.
- How new sellers can quickly and easily earn their first positive feedback ratings on the platform.
- His take on the new “sell it for me” service on eBay.
- Darrel’s #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation.
Links:
What do you think? Could you use Darrel’s tips to earn an extra $100 a week? An extra $500?
Download the Free PDF "Highlight Reel" from this Episode
With all of my guest's top tips and resources included.
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Success! You just unlocked the highlight reel from this episode ... AND over 200 other subscriber-only bonuses. Check your email for details :)
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I created an excel spreadsheet to help out with seeing what a six-figure eBay business looks like.
It is embedded within the website, so you can see revenue, expenses, and financial metrics broken down.
https://www.1kexperiment.com/#!ebay-calculator/qgbn5
thanks
Nick, really liked this one as I sell on ebay as well. Did he happen to mention his ebay store name? Would love to see it. I found it intriguing that he does auctions and still has six-figure success. I think I read somewhere today there are less than 30% auction-style listings on ebay now and it is still decreasing so this would be great to analyze. Thanks!
Thanks Jen. When we were chatting offline he mentioned he actually didn’t have a store because of the fees. I know as an ebay BUYER, I’m all about the Buy It Now, but I can understand how the auction psychology can work in a seller’s favor :)
Definitely understand that. The fees are respectable for the store, but mainly if you have VOLUME. Listing fees are where you see the most impact. I, too, am all about the buy-it-now mentality. I guess what I should have asked was his user name, which would show us the listings he has.
I did watch a youtube video recently showing how auctions can work in your favor sometimes. I wish I’d have bookmarked it, but the premise was list the items at buy-it-now for 7 days, see if there is any interest (i.e. how many watchers and views). If there are a substantial amount of clicks to the listing but nobody buys it, relist again for another 7 days and see if interest is similar. If results are high with clicks again, list at auction for 7 days. If you wind up getting a buyer (with the BIN listing) while gathering information, great, if not, try the auction. I think he mentioned views and watches being at least in the 100s to make this auction theory work.
Thanks again for the great podcast!
Darrel is really a hustler trying things out and seeing what sticks. Thanks for bringing him on!
thanks, usable
Thanks Nick for the post.
Thank you for thanking him for me!
Hi Nick! Thanks for all your work, I’m working my way up to a side hustle.
My wife and I are setting up selling on eBay, but it’s telling us we can only have 10 listings a month starting out. From what I can tell, that’s for anyone starting to sell. Just thought I’d let you know, and anyone else out there to pick your top 10 items before trying to list everything you own haha
Thanks for posting this episode. I decided to try Darrel’s idea of selling on EBay, and my first item is a success (almost, the bidding isn’t over!).
I bought a pair of carhartt women’s overalls from the thrift store last year to flip on CraigsList and got ZERO traction. They were about to get thrown away and I listened to this episode and decided I’ll try listing them on Ebay….current bid is at $102.50 with a day left of bidding!
I think I caught the itch!
Whoa nice!