Secrets of the eBay

48 Secrets of the eBay Millionaires
New Hampshire. “The Internet allowed us to go brick-and-mortar,” he
remarks. Selling directly through his own brick-and-mortar store allows
him to achieve higher profit margins. But selling on eBay and elsewhere on
the Internet has its advantages as well. “You generally have to work very
efficiently to sell on the Internet, and you get a very quick turnaround, but
the profit margins are lower. Business 101 holds that it’s all about return
on investment—profit margin times returns. It is a difficult way of doing
business, but if you can make it work in a low-margin, quick-turnaround
environment, you can clobber the competition. Traditional dealerships
cannot survive at the low margin we work on because they just don’t have
efficiencies that we have. eBay is just like any type of business. The only
thing spectacular about eBay is that they can put a motorcycle in front of
2,000 people a week.”
“The More People Become Comfortable
With Us, the More Profits Go Up”
Nathan Sanel admits that selling vehicles online has a number of built-in
negatives. You can’t always inspect a vehicle in person and shipping can
be expensive. He overcomes the negatives by building trust. “I’m trying to
protect people and educate them as to what to look for. The more people
become comfortable with us, the more profits go up. What people were
willing to pay for our bikes has increased as they became more and more
comfortable buying from us.”
Like other highly successful PowerSellers, Sanel developed his own
customized software, which helps the company present the information
from their extensive vehicle inspections. The big payoff is in return business
that results from customer loyalty. “After the sale, after four years, I have
customers who have bought multiple bikes from me who I’ve never met.
I want people to be afraid to buy from anyone else but me. That’s exactly
what I want. That’s what you get by telling people the truth. People talk
about you on chat boards. We have word of mouth in a very global way.”
Lessons Learned in This Chapter
● In order to perform all of these tasks that go into running a successful
eBay business enthusiastically and diligently, you need to have the
right frame of mind: You need confidence in yourself and what
you’re doing.
● Be clear about your business’s mission and believe that you’re
doing the right thing; all of the steps involved in running a successful
business come that much easier.