819lavoie

At the point where I'm at right now, I'm averaging around 70,000$ to 80,000$ CAD per month in gross sales. I have 4 part time employees. They don't work much: around 4-5 hours each/week. I start my day at 11AM and finish at 6PM. Though sometimes I work much later when there's lots of work that needs to get done.

Yes. But the hard part is probably being able to get a steady supply of whatever item you're trying to sell. I normally suggest people working with whatever they're familiar with. If outdoor sports is your thing for example, you might want to stay in that branch. It makes things much more interesting and easier for you.

I've been able to do it for my niche. But I guess that each niche needs to be approached differently though.

What your net?

Last year I was able to average around 20% of net profit. This year shouldn't go any lower as my fixed costs didn't change much. It gives you an idea. I won't know exactly the 2016 number until April/May :) Numbers are constantly evolving. Gross sales have grown between 80% to 100% each year since 2011. I can't be happier honestly.

Would you recommend doing amazon or eBay more?

If you're starting, eBay will be much easier and faster. If you think you're not getting enough exposure, why not sell on both. I would recommend mastering eBay first though.

Do you offer any proprietary products?

No, I only sell branded products.

What websites have helped you through the technicals of selling online?

I personally use Wordpress for my own website. Woocommerce is the specific plugin. It has tons of plugins that helps you work with your inventory. Forums help me a lot for technical stuff for my website as I'm not particularly good at that. If you're asking about learning to sell on eBay or Amazon, I really learned by doing. eBay doesn't really have any secrets for me. But Amazon is another story. There's so many ways and different approaches to sell a product. That's why I think it's a way more powerful marketplace than eBay. But then again, it's much more complicated to learn. At least, that's my perspective.

What has been your most profitable product? Why?

For me, it was definitely shoes. Some because they're rare and one pair can sell for a lot; giving incredible profit on a single pair. But also because everyone needs some shoes/sneakers. Big profit can be made by getting a okay margin on each pair, but by selling a huge amount of them. Ideally a nice combination of those two features will give the best profit. Shoes are easy to store/stack/sell/ship.

Thank you for doing this it's very interesting subject :)

You're welcome! Nice to see some people are interested! Hope this helps.

I had the luxury to start part time. I was staying at my parent's place when I finished my bachelor's degree. I had the time to experience with different products, approaches and selling techniques. I was only selling on eBay at that time. That's what I would suggest starting with as well because it's super easy to start.

If I were you, I would start by using you time to work and stacking more than 1000$. If I had to start all over again, I would find myself a regular steady job at the government and slowly stack my money. My spare time would be used to purchase and list items online. Then you start experimenting with products so you know what's selling and what's not worth spending on.

Slowly you'll have enough items online to "survive" on your own. At this point you'll be more comfortable spending 1000$, 3000$ or 5000$ on an order of products from your supplier. Then you'll have to work full time on this! I'm just gathering this from my personal experience. Hope this helps!

A lot of people ask me that. And my opinion was quickly made after reading Tony Hsieh's (CEO of Zappos) book "Delivering Happiness". In other words, I stay away from dropshipping. Having everything in stock is way more money, but in the end you have 100% control of what you're selling and how quickly you're going to deliver it to your customer. I'm not saying there's no good business that can be done with dropshipping, but in my particular case, I prefer handeling stocks myself :)