One of the greatest things about eBay is the ability to turn your hobbies and passions into a lucrative business. We see it happen every day. Mick, one of the owners of Jeremiah’s Computer Store (JCS Computer Store) is a great example of turning one’s passions into a budding business. Mick is a seller whose early interest in electronics has grown into a thriving business, now operating out of 18,000 square feet of warehouse space with multiple employees. Read more about how Mick’s commitment to continued education of our eBay advertising solutions even when challenged resulted in significant growth of his business.   

You started refurbishing electronics at a young age. Tell us more

I have been interested in electronics all of my life. I began refurbishing and selling electronics at the age of 12 and have never stopped since! I have been selling electronics for so long now that some of the stuff I used to sell initially had become obsolete and relatively worthless. However, so much time has passed that these old electronics that I am so fond of have become relatively valuable again now! It fills me with great pleasure to find electronics from my childhood nowadays!

Why did you start selling on eBay?

My business partner began selling on eBay in college, starting with projectors. I thought it was a great idea and we decided to partner together. eBay allowed me to market all of my products to a wide audience without the cost of a brick-and-mortar store. The low cost of selling on eBay allowed me to create a store when I first started my business. Without eBay’s platform I would not have been able to market my products and start my business.

Growing your business is a primary focus for you. How are you measuring growth on eBay?

 Growth is VERY important to the overall health of my business on eBay. I have been able to work with eBay representatives over the years to grow my store through promoted listings and increase store limits. The growth of my eBay store has driven the majority of my overall income and allowed me to provide jobs to members of my local community. I have worked with eBay for a number of years and utilized the eBay/PayPal Working Capital Loans to help provide funding and liquidity to my business, allowing me to expand over the years. 

You promote your listings regularly. How is it going?

I started using Promoted Listings with a general campaign strategy in 2017, as soon as I realized it was available to me. In early 2022 I started using it more effectively and promoted all my items. I saw massive spikes in my business promoting my listings with the general campaign strategy. It has truly helped increase sales over the years. During the early days of my eBay Store, the listing placement was one of the hardest parts of selling on eBay. With very little feedback at the time, and a short history of selling on eBay, I was not able to sell very much initially. Promoting my listings with the general strategy allowed me to boost my sales by improving my listing placements and encouraging buyers to check out my products. I’ve continued to see great success over the years and seen sales grow by almost 50%

I recently had the opportunity to work with an eBay Growth Advisor who helped me be more efficient with my campaigns. I reduced the number of campaigns I have running from over 50 to 2 by grouping like products in addition to setting up automated features to help save time in the future. I have noticed a 20% increase in the number of impressions as a result of my new campaigns.

How has your experience been promoting your listings with the priority strategy? 

My experience with priority campaigns has been quite mixed. I have no background in marketing and before having the opportunity to work with a Growth Advisor, I created a VERY ineffective and costly campaign. The campaign generated sales with a marketing cost of nearly 100%! Luckily for me, the Promoted Listings Growth Advisor reached out and pointed out how I could improve my campaigns, by grouping my listings by items and brand. My costs decreased 85-90% immediately after this change. 

Seller feedback is really important to us. What changes, if any, would you like to see us make to our advertising tools to help you grow your business further?  

As a person who is not too familiar with marketing, I would appreciate it if eBay’s priority campaigns were simplified a bit. I found it a bit overwhelming initially due to the sheer amount of information that was required to be entered. 

I also think that it would be helpful if the ad fee for each keyword was adjusted automatically rather than requiring the seller to go in and adjust the ad cap rate for each keyword. It can be quite time consuming to do this when the campaigns have hundreds of keywords.

It sounds like eBay’s advertising solutions have played a critical role in your business growth overall? Is that fair to say?  

Yes, eBay’s advertising solutions have been integral to the growth of my business. I started off selling electronics out of my house and doing all of the required work on my own. Over the years I have taken advantage of eBay’s advertising solutions to drive sales and expand my business. The expansion of my business through eBay’s advertising solutions has allowed me to shift my business from the basement of my house to a 10,000 square foot warehouse with 10 employees at this time! I can’t imagine having expanded at the same rate and scale that I have, without the benefits of eBay’s advertising solutions.

At eBay Ads, we are energized by helping sellers like Mick achieve such growth in their business. By taking a leap and tapping into eBay’s advertising solutions, sellers can ensure their products are seen by buyers shopping for their passions.

Wondering what advertising solution is right for your business? Click the buttons below to learn more.