This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Longtime listeners know that I got my start in the world of entrepreneurship when I was 19 years old and learned to sell on eBay. Now, you know, ebay.com had just come out at the time. This was approximately 100 years ago. Electricity had also just been invented. Commercial air travel was still in the early days.
For the most part, we got around with horses, but you know, things were just kind of evolving. Like it was getting better, but you know, early days, right? Listen, in all seriousness, it actually was a different world. You know, maybe not for all those reasons, but in terms of eBay and selling online, it was very, very different than it is now. I mean, this is going back well over 20 years now at this point.
So of course eBay is still around today, depending on how old you are, depending on how engaged you've been with the world or online commerce and such. You know, your relationship with eBay may be different than mine. Now, lots of people still buy and sell on the platform, but as our caller notes, our caller is one of these original eBay sellers, or at least close to it, like me. And as they note, the vibe is a little bit different than those olden days when we would all ride our horses to the post office to drop off all the shipments. So what does this mean for sellers?
That's what they want to know about. How is eBay different? It feels a little bit less personal. And what does it actually mean? I think that's probably the important point.
What does that mean for someone who wants to sell on eBay these days? All right, detailed question, maybe even my answer coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hey there, this is Mitch calling in from Minneapolis. I got into eBay selling a long time ago. Then I stopped for a long time.
And I was thinking of getting back to it. So I logged on, I took a look around, and overall the platform seems less personal now, if that makes any sense. What I mean is, is that it seems more auctions are set to a buy it now price. So there's not really a bidding process for those. And overall, it just has more of a commercial, bigger business vibe than it used to.
Since you used to sell on eBay, have you noticed a difference? What do I need to do before jumping back in? It seemed like a logical idea since I used to do it before, but now I'm not sure. Maybe I should find something more modern. - Well, listen, if I have learned anything in close to 25 years, maybe more than 25 years, I don't know, lots and lots of years of selling online, it is that everything changes.
Everything has changed. Everything will no doubt continue to change. Change is the constant, right? Now, when it comes to eBay, there is still a community, a large community in fact, of regular people that are buying and selling in a similar manner, at least somewhat similar, than the way it used to be, to use that phrase. But our color is right, that it has evolved quite a bit as well, with much more emphasis on features like Buy It Now, like you can just go to eBay and buy something.
I actually find that convenient as a buyer, like I don't shop on eBay a ton, but once in a while I'm looking for something and I don't actually want to compete in an auction for something that's pretty low priced. If it's there and I can purchase it, I'm just happy to pick it up, right? So eBay has realized that a lot of people prefer that, so they have adjusted. Of course, there are still auctions there too. Let's see what else, a couple of other changes.
Well, one thing is mobile, like the growth of mobile shopping, like with the rise of smartphones, tablets, many people, most people in fact, are shopping online using those devices. So that has changed quite a bit. And like many other platforms, eBay has gone hard in leveraging for that. That has affected the design, the user experience, the perspective of both buyers and sellers. Another major change has been the expansion of eBay's fulfillment services.
So that's also new. In recent years, eBay has made it easier for sellers to store and ship their products directly to buyers through its fulfillment centers. So that's a big change because back in the day, the original sellers, we did everything ourselves. So this has helped to streamline the selling process and reduce the burden on sellers. Of course, eBay gets paid for this as well, just kind of works for everybody or at least it potentially can.
But this way, sellers no longer have to handle every aspect of fulfillment on their own. Now, by the way, what do these things remind you of? To me, they remind me of Amazon, right? This whole like one-click buying, the mobile optimized checkout, and for sellers, the fulfillment model. Amazon has kind of led all other competitors, all other online sellers for years and years.
So a lot of people have looked at Amazon and said, what has Amazon done? How can we do that? How do we apply that to our business, our model? So some of what you're seeing is just the general evolution of e-commerce. Some of what you're seeing is eBay trying to be like Amazon to not lose too much market share to Amazon or maybe recapture some of it.
But to go back to where we started, I definitely think you can jump back in. And I think it's a great place to jump back in, especially since you have some experience before. So if any of our listeners have sold on eBay at some point, well, nothing wrong with continuing, or you can use it as a jumping off point to move into something else. But yes, eBay has changed. Yes, it is still a viable model.
You just want to kind of keep up with the times. And hopefully listening to this podcast will help a bit with that. So thanks for tuning in today. Of course, new episode tomorrow. We've got a question or feedback comment, sidehustleschool.com/questions.
We've got all kinds of stuff coming up in the months ahead. Be sure you're subscribed. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
