AN EBAY entrepreneur has revealed how she built up a $150,000-a-year business from scratch selling second-hand items online, and how one particular object netted her a small fortune.
Cassie LaBelle, a full-time eBay reseller, told The U.S. Sun how one seemingly unremarkable item ended up selling for thousands after it caught the attention of ghost hunters.
EBay seller Cassie LaBelle made thousands selling a voice recorder to ‘ghost hunters’[/caption]
EBay is used by some 130 million buyers and sellers worldwide[/caption]
Cassie made $150,000 in 2023 selling on eBay[/caption]
Speaking from her home in Aurora, Colorado, Cassie explained how she started selling on eBay around 20 years ago, before becoming a full-time reseller in 2017.
“I love finding things,” she said. “I go to estate sales, I go to thrift stores, I go to auctions.
“I love finding things that have value to somebody and meeting them with their people.”
Cassie sells around 3,000 items a year, with her gross profits in 2023 hitting $150,000.
“This has been a constant in my life since I was a kid, and when I realized I could go full-time with it because I was really starting to get into it, I just devoted myself to it and it became a real passion of mine,” she said.
“I’ve always had other little freelance things going on, little side hustles. But this became my main profession in 2017.”
Cassie says that one of all the items that she has ever sold stands out.
“One of my favorite things I found was a little digital voice recorder,” she said.
“It looked like nothing, but apparently ghost hunters use it to pick up ghost signals, so it was worth several thousand dollars, and it was just this little voice recording that I found.”
Another favorite of Cassie’s was a little Civil War soldier model.
“You never know what you’re going to find,” Cassie enthused. “I found a Ronald McDonald statue from Japan from the 1970s, a big life-sized one.
“That’s why I love my job. You can find anything.”
She also described how her job allows her to “help people” achieve their dreams.
At a recent yard sale, Cassie said, “There was a little kid selling little handmade pottery with his mom, and no one had bought any all day.
“And I went over and talk to him, and I bought a few things.”
Cassie said the boy’s mom personally thanked him for making her son’s day.
“His mom’s like, ‘He’s autistic. This is his passion. He’s so happy that you stopped by and engaged with him.’
“I think there’s a lot of joy I can find connecting with people out in the world with what I do,” Cassie added.
That’s why I love my job. You can find anything.
Cassie LaBelle
More recently, Cassie had issues with eBay after the reselling platform shut down her account for selling an “illegal” item.
In July, she went to an estate sale and picked up some antiques, including several old apothecary items from the 19th century, and a pill press from the 1890s.
With illegal drugs not on her mind, Cassie listed the item on her eBay account and eventually sold it for just over $250 plus postage and packaging.
A few days later, she received a form letter from eBay telling her that selling such items was banned.
Just weeks later, she found out her account was being suspended for a week for “multiple violations of eBay’s drug pill and press policy,” she explained.
After calling eBay and eventually getting through to customer support, Cassie was told that she was supposed to have been punished more harshly the first time around, so she was being penalized again.
Then late last month, Cassie’s account was completely shut down with no explanation.
SELLING ON EBAY
SET up in 1995, some 138 million active buyers now use eBay across more than 190 countries worldwide. Some people – though by no means all – have made small fortunes selling their second-hand items online.
- Decide on a business model – whether that is reselling, dropshipping, wholesale, or private label.
- Decide on the types of products – and aim for a particular price point to maximize your return on eBay sales.
- Create an eBay account – and click on “seller dashboard” to see all of your selling choices, and add your personal information on the “My Account” section.
- Signup for a store subscription – it costs $4.95 a month if you can sell up to 250 products each month. After that, for $21.95, you can add 1,000 listings and pay lesser final value costs. Users with more sales can subscribe to eBay for $59.95 per month.
“I understand that they want to prevent illegal equipment from getting into the wrong hands, and I am all for that,” Cassie said.
“But this is clearly a mistake. I sold something that could not do any harm and lost my livelihood over it.”
Eventually, eBay restored Cassie’s account.
A spokesperson told The U.S. Sun, “eBay is proud of its well-recognized, proactive, and voluntary efforts to remove products that could be used for counterfeit pills – including dies, molds, and pill presses – and has zero tolerance for illegal activity on its platform.
“In this case, involving the sale of an antique press, we have been in touch with the seller and have reinstated their account.”
