Troy Ylitalo (periodpaper) loves his wife, Sarah Schaller Linn. A lot. They realized they just weren't spending as much time together as they wanted, and they missed each other.
In 2003, Troy cut back his work schedule and began to put together a business plan that would allow the two of them to work together.
The previous year, a friend had asked Troy for his help selling an old stack of magazines on eBay. Troy noticed that some of the magazines didn't move, but that one ad from one magazine sold for quite a lot of money.
Vintage advertising. Troy was intrigued. He and Sarah started researching this category on eBay. Troy refined their business plan. But it was when they attended eBay Live! in 2004 that they really saw what they could do with an eBay Store. "We understood the potential to create a unique brand with an eBay Store," says Troy.
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"Our eBay Store has built our brand, rounded out our product offering, and helped us increase our add-on sales, upselling, and cross-selling."
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Today, Period Paper lists a minimum of 250 top-quality one-of-a-kind items each week and maintains 15,000 listings every day in their eBay Store. Troy and Sarah used to sell at antique shows every now and again, but found their eBay Store so much more profitable, they gave it up. "eBay has been pivotal in launching our business. When we first started, we thought we would launch our eBay Store and our dot-com site at the same time. Now, in 2007, we have yet to launch our dot-com business because eBay is so successful for us. eBay is our entire online source of revenue for our business and will be our number-one source for the foreseeable future."
Troy and Sarah are indeed spending more time together than ever before. Sarah retired from her 20-year career in publishing in April 2005 to join Troy and several employees at Period Paper full time.
They are now expanding into a 2,000-square-foot facility moving their home and business to Wisconsin. "The beauty of an eBay business is you can do it anywhere, with no interruption in business. We're moving closer to family, and the new facility will accommodate the new product lines we have planned, which will require a lot more storage space. We'll be working with local artists to create one-of-a-kind, high-end pieces using original art, as well as notecards, calendars, coasters and gift items made from digital reproductions of art we have archived over the years."
Troy and Sarah are successful by any definition, but their eBay Store "is a culmination of a dream," says Sarah. "It started with rough ideas jotted down on Post-it notes displayed on our living room wall, and now it's more successful than we could have imagined. The last five months have been extraordinary for us-our upcoming move to a larger facility, major plans for updates to our Store, product line expansion, and incredible new opportunities for growth-all thanks to our eBay Store. We feel blessed to run a business that sustains and brings our family together, allows a flexible lifestyle, contributes to charitable organizations." And for Troy and Sarah, that's what real success is.
- Use Custom Pages. Capture canned searches to help your buyers navigate your site easier while marketing your unique product lines.
- Differentiate through branding. You must stand out. "Tap into why your buyers come to your site. For us, it's nostalgia, and that's what our branding evokes."
- Use the Best Offer feature. This listing feature works best for one-of-a-kind or rare items. "With Best Offer, you can start a conversation with customers," says Troy.
- Attract new customers with Markdown Manager. "It's a great way to offer discounts and attract a new customer base to your business."
- Build relationships with your customers. "Use powerful eBay tools like Promotion Boxes, E-mail Newsletters, and your About Me page to establish a more personal relationship with your customers -key to most winning business strategies."
- Attend eBay Live! "You'll get hands-on advice from eBay experts and witness first hand the care and interest eBay employees have for the eBay Community of buyers and sellers."
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