Step On Up
This entrepreneur gained her footing on eBay by doing intensive research and getting tips from those in the know.
By Andrea C. Poe •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Tamera Noll (eBay User ID: yourshopgirlstore) owes much of her success on eBay to the kindness of strangers. "There are a lot of people who want to share their tips with you," she says. "I grabbed ahold of all that information and put it to use."
Your Shop Girl started out as a way for Noll to unload her extra Starbucks gift cards. In a little over a year, it's blossomed into a business that sells everything from retro phones to DVDs, complete with drop-shipping and about $4,000 in sales per month.
Noll, 39, a single mother of two teenage girls, set out to learn the business by tapping advice from more experienced online sellers. She started by observing high-volume sellers on eBay, reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting an eBay Business, posting questions on the eBay boards and learning the ins and outs of wholesale operations on www.worldwidebrands.com.
Noll continues to incorporate the good ideas she gets from successful eBay sellers. Recently, she added affiliate listings and launched a MySpace page that links back to her eBay Store.
"I've learned so much from others, and I'm really grateful," says Noll. "I'm happy to say that I'm now at a point where I can start sharing some good advice so other people can create great businesses, too."
