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BiggerPockets Business Podcast

4: Building a 6-Figure Business Buying and Selling Items Online with Bill and Maida Webster

BiggerPockets Business Podcast

BiggerPockets

Business, Careers

4.8696 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2019

⏱️ 61 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What does it take to jumpstart your own ecommerce operation right from your home? That’s the topic of today’s show with Bill and Maida Webster, a “retired” Connecticut couple who launched second careers as eBay sellers in the early 2000s. They came to love the wheeling and dealing—and soon realized the earnings would allow them to avoid dipping into their retirement savings. As Maida says, “eBay (literally) floats our boat!” You’ll learn Bill and Maida’s tips for researching comparable sales online and hear how they routinely sell items for as much as 6x the purchase price. They reveal how they source their niche products locally, then market them internationally to create bidding wars (Chinese buyers bidding on a sunglasses case?!). You won’t want to miss Bill and Maida’s story about how they helped an heir to a famous Hollywood couple by selling their belongings on consignment… OR their story about trying to figure out what to do with a U-Haul truck filled with antique dolls. Bill and Maida also reflect on working together as a married couple, and how they divide up their responsibilities (and physical workspaces) to avoid driving each other crazy. J and Carol can relate! This is an entertaining and insightful show that will inspire you to start looking around the house for items to sell. Whether it’s Amazon, Facebook, Craigslist, eBay, or another platform, if you’re looking to create a new income stream by buying and selling online, this episode is a perfect starting point. If you enjoy the episode, make sure you’re subscribed so you won’t miss an episode! In This Episode We Cover: How Bill and Maid were able to start an online business right after retirement Making your "small business" a "real business" Research and other skillsets that you need to start your eBay business The story of their first customer and first products they sold How the market dictates value How they got to the point of having over 2,500 items in their store How Bill was able to personally ship 23,000 items! Using social media and other sites to increase the visibility of your store Why they decided to do something great in their 60s And SO much more! Links from the Show Ebay Amazon Etsy Craigslist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

So, you want to be a marketer. It's easy. You just have to score a ton of leads and figure out a way to turn them all into customers. Plus manage a dozen channels, write a million blogs and launch 100 campaigns all at once. When that's done, simply make your socials go viral and bring in record profits. No sweat. Okay, fine. It's a lot of sweat. But with HubSpot's AI-powered marketing tools,

0:23.2

launching benchmark-breaking campaigns is easier than ever. Get started at HubSpot.com slash marketers.

0:30.5

Hello, blue skies. Hello moving onwards and upwards. Hello, taking control of your money.

0:37.9

Say hello to tax-free investing.

0:40.7

Open a Stocks and shares, ICER,

0:42.8

and act by the 5th of April to get 100 to 3,000 pounds cash back.

0:47.8

Cargreaves lands down.

0:49.4

Hello Life.

0:51.6

Register and add or transfer £10,000 plus.

0:54.1

You may get back less than you invests and tax benefits vary.

0:56.7

For terms and conditions, see hl.com.uk.org slash ISA.

1:00.9

This episode is brought to you by Vanta. Stressing over cybersecurity, whether you're a startup, growing fast, or already established.

1:08.7

Vanta can help you get ISO-27,001 certified and more.

1:13.7

Plus, it allows your company to centralize security workflows, complete questionnaires up to five times faster, and proactively manage vendor risk to help your team stay compliant.

1:24.4

Head to Vanta.com slash Spotify to learn more.

1:28.9

Welcome to the Bigger Pockets Business Podcast.

1:32.6

Show number four.

1:34.8

The abilities as an entrepreneur to be able to know that you can generate enough money

1:40.0

for whatever your goal is. We have five teenage granddaughters. I want all of them to know how to do

1:45.0

this in case there's ever a time in your life, well, you don't want to be dependent on working for

1:49.9

somebody and you want to be able to generate some cash.

1:56.1

Welcome to a real world MBA from the School of Hard Knocks, where entrepreneurs reveal what it really

...

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