Starting Over: Sellers Change Careers To Sell On Ebay

[mandy]

Lisa and Hugues Deriau started The Frenchy Bee, an eBay store, for fun.

But the business, which features French soaps, chocolates and gourmet items such as escargot and foie gras, was so successful they moved into an office within six months and have moved to larger spaces twice since.

It was no get-rich-quick track, or leisurely hobby for that matter. Initially, the Deriaus worked seven days a week, 16 hours a day, and it took three years until they turned a profit, though sales doubled every year...

full article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/...ers17.html

[FiberGuy]

The more interesting part of the article:

The eBay portion of the business is now decreasing as the couple sells more on its own Web site, thefrenchybee.com, designed by Hugues, who also has started his own Web design firm.

(EDIT)

Another great quote from the article:

"The average eBay customer," Lisa Deriau said, "is really high maintenance. And that's a fact."

Because eBay is flooded with sellers, it's a highly competitive environment, she said. Plus, there's the "garage sale, bargain basement" approach of many buyers. They expect super low prices and like to barter.

[amy]

"The average eBay customer," Lisa Deriau said, "is really high maintenance. And that's a fact."

That is a fact.  Website and even Amazon shoppers are much lower maintenance (and they never try to haggle with me over my listed shipping prices ).