Meet Skip McGrath, another one of our power bloggers on BlogCatalog who’s an eBay Power Seller. Just how much do you have to sell online to have that kind of title? It only requires your selling $1000 a month for three straight months, with 98% positive feedback.
McGrath says that really wasn’t so hard, and if you stick to it the fun starts when you’re doing over 25K in sales. His biggest month pulled in $95,000. His average month is over 25K in sales, and he does this all from home.
Not only is he an expert on starting and teaching others how to make money online, he has written more than eight books on how to create and sell products on eBay, Amazon and pretty much all over the Internet, to include how to make money from blogging at home.
His first book about eBay was only 70 pages long and sold over 40 copies on eBay the first week alone. He then started to add more material for teaching others how to do this. Today that book alone has sold over 25,000 copies. He also happens to be the guy who publishes The eBay Sellers News, the oldest and largest newsletter for professional eBay sellers, which allows him to see what sells best on eBay from day to day.
McGrath’s message is about making money online 
with eBay and Amazon affiliate programs, and it may just be the greatest business in the world. Because one can get started with a minimal investment, and there are literally hundreds of categories from which to choose, which allows you to sell thousands of products. Best of all you don’t need to invest in inventory. eBay and Amazon not only do all of the shipping for you but they take all the risk. HOW COOL IS THAT?
Me: Skip, I had a bunch of questions for you to answer about your business. Then I started to read your blog and found the answer to every single question right under my nose. The information you have captured for your readers is amazing. For example, I never would have guessed that the perfect eBay product to sell online would be “Information”, in the form of your own knowledge-based book. You teach people how to get started and how to meet the challenges that will inevitably arise. Your book educates them.
Did you come up with this because of how quickly your books sold online? Or was this information measured in a different way?
Skip: With the success of my first two self-published books, I realized just how profitable selling information could be. Think about it. You create an eBook. This might take you hours, days or weeks, depending on how fast you can research and write. But once you are done, you sell the book for – let’s say $19. Your only costs are the website where you host the delivery pages, and a couple of percent on each transaction for credit card fees. That works out to about 90% profits. And if you set the marketing up correctly, the books (or videos, audio files, etc.) are sold on autopilot – you make sales even while you sleep. What could be better than that?
Me: I’d say “NOTHING”. Can’t get any better. How long have you been selling on eBay and how did you get started?
Skip: I started selling in 1999 after watching my teenage son buy and sell comic books on eBay. My wife, Karen, quit her job in 2000 to do eBay full-time, and I quit my corporate job in 2005 to join her. We have both been doing this full-time since. About that time we expanded the business to add our websites, and in 2008 we started selling on Amazon.
Me: Yes, I noticed your other websites: The Official Geezer Guides website, for helping seniors make and save money, and your “Learn How To Make Money on eBay”, a complete eBay Marketing System, and The ezAuction Tools.com. I am sure these tools can really help with displaying smaller products on line. Then there is the Consumer Program Reviews, an online business resource website where you’re offering your services to help people make smarter decision when it comes to starting an online business, as so many people are easily scammed. All great services for people who want to start making money online. 
Me: Ok, so now I have to ask you. Being a Power Seller and selling over $25K/month on average, it does make me wonder, just how much do returns affect your averages? Does eBay take care of this as well?
Skip: eBay and Amazon work differently. On eBay you have to handle your own returns. If you use Amazon’s fulfillment system (Fulfillment By Amazon), then Amazon handles it for you.
Me: Does that mean that the following month the funds are taken out of your bank?
Skip: On eBay we handle the refunds ourselves. At the end of each two-week period, Amazon deducts refunds from the money they owe us.
Me: Is running a home-based eBay business today still a viable small business idea?
Skip: It’s a little harder today than when I started but it’s still very much viable. It’s just that there is a lot more to learn and eBay policies are complex and often hard to follow. What this means is that in the early days you could figure it out by yourself, but today you really need some training.
Me: What sort of money can someone make selling on eBay part-time?
Skip: Part-time can mean a lot of things. Devoting 20 hours a week the average person should be able to make $1,000 – $2,000 month.
Me: Then more or less how much time would you say one needs to devote in order to get at least $10K/month in sales?
Skip: That much in sales is a full-time business. So you are looking at at least 40 hours a week and probably more. One secret to doing more business with less time is automation. There are dozens of third-party tools designed to help eBay sellers automate their businesses.
Me: Yet you’ve also written that the average person makes no money on e-Bay? So how do you explain that?
Skip: The “average” person dabbles at eBay, or they think they can get on eBay and start selling iPads, Plasma TVs, Gucci Shoes or Coach handbags … and they fail. The people who make money usually specialize in a niche that features products that are easy to source and are not on the radar of the huge professional sellers.
Me: So, if someone is completely new, what’s the first step in getting started?
Skip: The best way to start is first to buy a few things on eBay from several different sellers, so you can see how everything works. Once you understand the basics, get a book about eBay selling. I publish The Complete eBay Marketing System, that is written for people who are serious about starting and running a business. If someone can’t spend that much money, look for The Complete Idiots Guide to eBay or Three Weeks to eBay Profits – both by me – and available on Amazon and eBay.
Next, start out by selling stuff you have around the house. This is the best way to raise some cash to buy merchandise, and to learn the steps and get a head start on building your feedback. Once you have done this, all of my books contain information on researching and finding a niche. Find your niche and start selling!
Me: OK, then what categories would you suggest for beginners to stick with so they don’t go out and start trying to sell TVs and iPads, and Gucci Shoes?
Skip: I like to tell new sellers to start with used or vintage goods. When you sell new merchandise, if you get something wholesale for $5 and sell it for $10 – after your eBay fees – you make $3.50 to $4. But if you buy something at a garage sale you can usually mark it up much more. For example I buy books for $1 at garage sales, and can often get as much as $10 or more. A while ago I bought a bread machine at a thrift shop for $5. It was still in the box with the instructions. I got $25 for it on eBay.
One of my readers is a stay-at-home mom who buys nothing but used blue jeans at garage sales and thrift shops. She gets 300% to 500% markup and makes over $2,000 a month working part-time. My daughter-in-law got her eBay business started by buying used toddler clothing at garage sales. She would arrange them by size and sex and sell them in small lots; for example three tops and three bottoms for a boy, size two. She routinely made over $25 profit on every sale.
Me: Holy Cow, I’m in the wrong business, though that does take patience. I’ve read that your entire family, and even their married children, are all part of your business because it has done so well. Do any of these family members still come to you for advice? If so, what is the best advice you can give to them, or to anyone who’s just getting started in their own business online?
Skip: When they were young both of our teenagers helped out in the business. We paid them as casual labor instead of giving them an allowance. This way our payments to them were deductible as a business expense. Both of my sons are grown now, but my oldest son’s wife still works with us in the business.
Me: How much margin is needed to make a sale worthwhile – and how can someone source his or her stock at the right price?
Skip: If you are selling used goods you want to at least double your money. For new merchandise I like to make at least 25% after eBay/PayPal fees to make it worthwhile. If you are selling low-priced items, then you need to sell a ton of stuff to make all your efforts pay off. For example if you are selling an item for $10 and making $4 on each sale, you have to sell 100 items a week to make $400. But if you were selling items for $75 each and making $25 profit then you only need to sell 16 items a week – that makes a lot more sense.
I can’t answer the question on sourcing except to say that you need to find a source where you can buy items at a price that will allow you a profit.
Me: “Marketing”? What do you do or use to help get the word out on what you’re trying to sell?
Skip: I use Vendio to automate my eBay and Amazon listings, FBAPower to submit my Amazon FBA orders and Stamps.com to automate our postage and shipping.
Me: On your blog you wrote that you pay out more each month in listing fees then some Power Sellers on eBay SELL in a month? Can you explain? How much is an average listing?
Skip: The eBay fee schedule is far too complicated to list here. You can see all of the eBay fees at this link. In general eBay & PayPal fees are about 12%, when you average in the listings that close without a sale. Amazon is a little higher – about 15% – 16%. But Amazon does most of the work for you so that easily offsets the higher fees. Also, there are no fees to list an item on Amazon so there is no cost whatsoever if something does not sell.
Me: You also have a section for running your business on autopilot? Can you elaborate a little bit on this?
Skip: This relates to two things: My Information & Training products are set up to sell from my website pretty much on autopilot. The electronically delivered products are delivered automatically 24/7. My printed products are printed on demand and shipped from the printer direct to the buyer, so that is pretty automatic too.
The other auto-area is Amazon. Because I use FBA – Fulfillment BY Amazon, when something sells, Amazon collects the money, communicates with the customer and ships the item. For example, when I woke up this morning, there had been four sales overnight that Amazon will be shipping today.
Me: You’re right! What could be better than that?
Skip: Giving up too soon really is the biggest mistake people make. They start selling on eBay and things go wrong and they blame it on eBay or PayPal or someone else. Let me tell you. Over the years I have made tons of mistakes – many of them serious – and I still make mistakes today. But that is part of learning and growing. As long as you accept responsibility for your mistakes and learn from them you will ultimately be successful.
Me: What do you find is your biggest challenge?
Skip: The biggest challenge is the learning curve. Too many people get impatient. A few things go wrong and they say, “Aw – this game is rigged. You can’t make any money on eBay.” And they give up. In truth if they had just kept going, things probably would have worked out. They would have learned from their mistakes, changed what they were doing and started making money.
Me: Which of your books should someone order first to get started right away?
Skip: I have a really good deal now on two of my books: If you buy The Virtual Peddler, which teaches you all about selling used goods at high profits, you get a $20 discount on the Complete eBay Marketing System.
Me: Any additional advice we haven’t covered?
Skip: As I said earlier, the current complexity of eBay means you really need some training. That is where my books come in. The advantage of my books over others is that I am selling full-time on eBay every day and I make money doing it. So, I don’t teach theory – I teach what I do. And, as I also pointed out above, be patient. You will make mistakes and things will go wrong. But you can’t really fail at this unless you quit.
Me: You have a coaching program you offer on your website and you have personally trained other coaches to help and teach others who are serious about making money online. Does the program basically go through the books you’ve written with one-on-one personal assistance to make sure you’re doing things right? Or do these programs offer something totally different that the books can’t teach you?
Skip: Actually I have two programs. If you want personal coaching by real PowerSellers who sell on eBay every day, we offer a personal coaching program. Here is the link to read about that. A couple of months ago, we started a low-cost online coaching program. These programs consist of eBooks, videos, audio files and a forum where you can ask questions of our experts and coaches. It is a month-by-month program and there is no contract – you can quit at any time. That site is www.onlinesellingcoach.com.
Me: In your book, How to Make Money Blogging From Home, you say once a blogger has steady readers there is a market to sell your blog. Are there any stats on this?
Skip: I don’t know of anyone who keeps stats on this, but there are several websites where you can sell your blog (including eBay). The prices of the blogs reflect the traffic to the blog. The more traffic you have the more you can get for your blog.
Me: What I found to be most interesting is your information on how to sell used books on eBay and Amazon and how insane the high profit was for selling used books. I think I just might start doing this, sounds like fun. My son Andy has tons of books he’s read since he was a kid and this might just be the thing to get him started. He’s one of those people who spends most of their free time at the discount book stores and now has a good collection. Anyway, I thought of how this just might be the thing to introduce him to and should be a win – win situation. I’m signing him up with, of course, the intention of his having to give me 10% of all sales!
Skip: That is one of my best-selling books of all time and the one on which I receive the most positive feedback. At last year’s Amazon conference in Seattle, several booksellers came up to me and thanked me for getting them started.
Me: The link you have for one super cool tool, that allows you to create a Billboard for your headers and footers, and that can be applied to just about anything, can be helpful in so many ways.
Skip: That is something I just came across and it’s a really cool app.
Me: How is your How to make Money with the Amazon Affiliate Programs and why this might be a good choice for you! presently doing?
Skip: That book has sold very well. In fact I have been invited to speak on this topic at this year’s Amazon Seller’s conference in July in Seattle. To be honest, most people use this to make a little extra money or supplement their income. There are some huge Amazon affiliates who make really big money with that program, but most folks doing this make less than $1,000 a month. Having said that though – you need to realize that once you do the work to set up the affiliate sites, you pretty much sit back and collect the money as Amazon does all the work for you.
Me: Oh, that sounds hard. 
I noticed that when someone signs up for your news letter you give them three moneymaking eBooks. Are those three e-books the same ones you sold on line?
Skip: One of them, Auction Photo Secrets, is a book I used to sell for $17. The others are books I wrote just to be free bonus items.
Me: What is it that you wish you could change today about online selling to make things even easier? Or perhaps safer for the consumers?
Skip: Wow – that’s a tough one. If there were some way to force Internet marketers to stand behind their products with a 100% money back guarantee that would be huge. We offer a 100%, NO-QUESTIONS-ASKED, money-back guarantee on everything we sell. Yet our returns average less than 2%. We get the occasional creep who buys a book just to get it and then asks for a refund, but that is a cost of doing business – much like shoplifting is for retail stores.
Me: Off-the-wall question: What is it that most of your readers and peers don’t know about you?
Skip and his wife Karen
You might be surprised to learn that over half of the full-time sellers on eBay are over the age of 50.
Angie, you sure have covered everything – and your questions were phrased in such a way that I was able to include important info.
Thank you!
Skip McGrath
Connect with Skip on BlogCatalog
I would love to read more from you on this enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
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