Oh, sure, you probably think it’s easy to sell copies of Mexican horror films like “The Devil’s Backbone” or “Attack the Gas Station,” a kind of Korean “Dog Day Afternoon.”
Or how about a widescreen version of “800 Bullets,” a Spanish Western about a group of misfit stuntmen, or “Convent of Sinners,” a German nunsploitation film about a girl accused of demonic possession?
Well, it isn’t.
It’s a niche market. In fact, it’s a nook within a niche.
So when the owners of Diabolik DVD decided they had to raise their profile, sell more slow-moving stock, and lure more guys, girls and ghouls to their online store, they moved to create a new presence on an infinitely mainstream entity.
And with that, Joseph Gervasi, a former punk-rock music promoter in Philadelphia, and Jesse Nelson, a phone company manager in Oaklyn, N.J., joined an ingenious league of Internet entrepreneurs: people who are using eBay Inc. to make a living.
Nine years after it began, the giant online auctioneer continues to be a place to buy and sell practically anything–beads, bayonets, old toys, vintage clothing, movie-star autographs, rubber ducks and kaleidoscopes, to name but a few items. But more and more, eBay is becoming a place to earn a livelihood.
More Top Picks Best Circular Saws
The company estimates that 430,000 people now run a full- or part-time business through the Web site, nearly triple the 150,000 of a few years ago. Some have exchanged brick-and-mortar shops for virtual storefronts, while others are running small businesses from converted bedrooms and dens.
“Not everyone knows about Diabolik DVD,” Nelson said, but “millions of people are looking at eBay. It’s like taking out an ad, almost.”
Diabolik specializes in hard-to-find foreign films and small-label releases, the stuff you’re never going to see in your local shopping mall. People who are browsing through eBay frequently e-mail to ask if Diabolik has other titles in stock. Or they go right to its main Web site (www.diabolikdvd.com), named for an Italian thriller called “Danger: Diabolik.”
Gervasi and Nelson, both 33, began selling stuff on eBay several years ago, haunting garage sales to find cheap stock. Nelson sold out-of-print videotapes; Gervasi sold punk record albums and laser discs.
“EBay is just one part of a whole,” Gervasi said of the company’s sales strategy. “But it’s been a very effective part.”
Weighing pros and cons
For people who hunger to start a business, eBay offers several huge advantages and a couple of drawbacks.
One asset: The Internet marketplace has effectively leveled the playing field between giant, multimillion-dollar corporations and small, cash-poor businesspeople.
“The benefit of eBay is it’s a huge and very efficient marketplace,” said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy. “If you’re somebody who is running your business out of your home in suburban Philadelphia, you have access to a worldwide market.”
Here’s another big attraction for at-home entrepreneurs: No start-up cost. Or very little. You don’t need to shell out for a quaint Main Street locale or a shiny shopping-mall storefront. If you have a computer, you can start today.
The disadvantages of trying to earn a living online? Some people are reluctant to buy goods over the Internet.
Active eBay traders say there’s no more fraud in the virtual world than in the bricks-and-mortar one, but it does occur. One tells of a man who was browsing eBay when he came across an auction for a boat. His stolen boat.
Steve Metterle of Bordentown, N.J., runs his own eBay comics store, Out of the Closet Collectibles, with an inventory of more than 1,400 items.
“It’s a great forum for someone who wants to open a store but can’t afford the overhead, or who wants to work at their own pace,” he said. “It’s not just records or comics or lights. It’s anything. … There’s somebody out there who is looking for what you have.”
It’s true. Just ask Valli Hammer, known to customers by her eBay moniker, “Duckarama.”
A few years ago, if you had searched “Rubber Duck” on eBay, you would have found perhaps two or three pages of listings. Today there are 18–a duck for every bathtub.
There are new ducks and old ducks. There are doctor ducks, pirate ducks, hippie ducks and devil ducks. There are celebriducks: Allen Iverson, Mae West, Kobe Bryant, the Lone Ranger.
In the last three years, Hammer has sold about 3,100 ducks–top price $125–to collectors all over the world.
Bad news for sales prices
But Hammer, who lives in central Illinois, doesn’t sell as many ducks as she used to.
If eBay has leveled the marketplace for sellers, it has also leveled–as in demolished–the sales prices of many collectibles.
Why? Two reasons.
One is supply and demand. On eBay, the sale of a particular collectible tends to bring more out of attics and closets and onto the market, lowering values.
The other is the nature of online competition. In Hammer’s case, oversupply has shot down duck prices. A rubber duck that used to bring $15 now may reap $4.99.
What hasn’t changed, she says, is the sheer fun of trading on eBay, the enjoyment of new and different finds. She still sells to her regular customers and is always on the lookout for a special duck for herself.
More Top Picks Best Full Frame Cameras For Food Photography
“It’s very addictive,” she said.