Interview with an Online Retailer
Here at RunningOnlineBusiness.com I like to cover a diverse array of topics regarding online business and opportunities to make money online – but one underrepresented method is online retailing. I conducted an interview with a friend of mine named Anthony Taylor, and he agreed to divulge some information regarding his online retail business with us.
1. Hello and thank you for the interview! Would you like to introduce yourself?
Hi and thanks for having me! My name is Anthony Taylor and I am based in Leeds, England. By day I work full-time as an SEO Executive for a Web Design firm, but on evenings and weekends I secretly earn a second income from selling goods on the Amazon Marketplace and eBay.
2. What initially inspired you to begin doing work online? What kept you motivated to keep up with the work?
My path to making a good living online was quite simple if I’m being honest. I sold some of my old toys, video games and cd’s on eBay several years ago and I was surprised at how much they sold for. I thought that if I could get more of these items cheaply then I could make some great profits reselling them.
So I started going to local car boot sales* in my area every weekend while spending hours researching what items in which niches sold really well online. In this sense, buying from car boot sales, flea markets or garage sales is like blogging – know your niche inside out and you can really crush it online.
*Car boot sales are the UK equivalent of the flea market or garage sale in case you were wondering!
3. How long was it before you saw a significant profit? Did you make much of an initial monetary investment?
I was making a profit from day one with the only outlay being the actual stock I bought. And whilst my initial overall profits were modest, my turnover grew very quickly. After 6 months I took my current SEO job and hired someone to take over all the manual work. (picking, packing etc)
Employing someone was definitely the best business I ever made. I now have 2 solid incomes and my eBay business runs on autopilot through the week.
4. What would you say were your most successful online business projects? Did you develop any creative methods to promote them?
My most successful online business project is definitely my eBay store. To be fair though, I am only just branching out into other areas so they haven’t had time to mature yet.
I didn’t need to any creative methods to grow my business either. EBay is such a popular site that all you need to worry about is getting people to buy your products instead of someone else’s. For me it was easy as I could undercut all my online competitors and still get great profit margins on my goods.
6. What advice would you give to someone interested in producing a significant online income?
Work hard – at least until you are making enough cash to hire someone else to do a lot of the work for you. While other students at my university were sleeping off hangovers, I was packing orders, replying to emails and hunting down my next set of bargains.
7. Last question. What plans do you have in store for the future?
Lots! I am going to continue to grow my eBay business at a steady pace – We are forecasting a net profit of over $30,000 this year. I also want to develop and promote my web properties.
The main focus at the moment is on Everything Car Boot, an online car boot sale advice website. I have some pretty cool ideas to monetize it over the next 6 months, but I am keeping those under wraps for the time being.
