Perri Huddleston
Ebay Store: The Tickled Turtle 

Quick Stats:
Length of Time on Ebay: 5 years
Time to Powerseller: Silver Level in Two Years
Main Inventory: Girls Designer & Boutique Clothing
Income from Ebay Sales: Full Time Income

Perri is a full-time silver lever Powerseller and has made eBay her full-time income for almost 4 years. She was able to quit her day job and stay home with her darling daughter.

GNGC: Hello Perri, tell us a bit about yourself.

Perri: Hi, I'm a full-time silver lever powerseller and have made eBay my full-time income for almost 4 years. I was able to quit my day job and stay home with my darling daughter.

I have written a book about how others can make a living on eBay like me and I've sold over 600 copies. Yea! I also have a website at www.powersellerincome.com and a free newsletter that I send helping others sell on eBay. I am also a free consultant to all my customers.

So, obviously I love selling and talking about ebay. Hobbies are few since MOST of my time is working online. I really enjoy spending all other time with my husband and daughter. Oh, and shopping of course. I find some great deals from everywhere to sell on eBay and LOVE Gymboree.

GNGC: How did you get started on Ebay?

Perri: I started selling a few things in my spare time to test the water and make some extra money. When I became pregnant I decided that it was time to do my homework and make this a full-time gig. So by the time she was born I only worked my day job for 3 more months before I was ready to make eBay my full-time income. I was able to leave a career in pharmaceutical sales where I travelled alot and could not be away from her anymore!

GNGC: Do you ship internationally?

Perri: YES, of course. Many of my customers come from all over the world. I would lose many sales if I did not ship worldwide.

GNGC: What shipping service do you use and where do you get your packaging?

Perri: I always let my customers decide on first class or priority. (Assuming proper weights). (International must be 4lbs or less of course if shipping first class international.) I buy the bags for first class off of ebay and I order all priority supplies from usps.com. For the few items that I sell that are not clothes such as American Girl dolls, I use packing peanuts that I also order off ebay. I also buy my shipping labels from ebay and any other supplies. I always get my fliers and business cards from VistaPrint.

GNGC: How do you keep your inventory organized and synchronized with your Profit and Loss or inventory control sheet?

Perri: My entire guest bedroom is my storage room. I have plastic, labeled bins stacked up around the perimeter. In the center, I have a table which is my shipping center.

As soon as I receive any inventory I go ahead and enter it into Inkfrog's inventory feature, along with the cost. Next, I simply place it in the correct bin. All clothes are labeled by size. All other items are added to a sheet I have taped to the front of each box. I simply write the item on the sheet when I put it in the box and check it off when I ship the item.

Inkfrog will calculate the profit and loss for me automatically. The end of each month and year I save the excel spreadsheet of the profit/loss and fees that Inkfrog provides.

GNGC: Do you use a Listing/Image Hosting service? If so, which one and what do you like about it?

Perri: I use Inkfrog and love it. Cannot live w/o it! It handles everything for me....image hosting, inventory, cost, profit/loss, and provides me with sales reports. I can save and print out all listings, ebay fees, paypal fees, cost, profit etc from an entire year and simply hand to my CPA. It doesn't get any easier. And, its only 9.95 a month. I usually get enough referrals a month to even pay my subscription.

GNGC: Do you have any advice on taking attractive photos, writing effective descriptions, or anything else related to the listing itself?

Perri: Photos sell your item online, period. There isn't a salesperson, the customer can't handle the item and examine so your photos sell the item and are extremely important. I have a very nice digital camera and I use Photoshop to edit all my pictures. That program will do anything!

Listing descriptions are next important in my opinion. I include every possible question my customer might have. Don't make them have to send you a message. They might move on to the next seller. I have a long checklist that I use (its in my head now) before listing an item.

GNGC: What advice do you have for people just starting out on Ebay?

Perri: 3 Keys that are essential to be successful on eBay:

1. Be organized- or you will never truly succeed in this fast-paced market.

2. Get on a schedule and use your time wisely. Work on the projects that make you money and don't get distracted. It's important to let friends and family know about your business so although you are at home, it doesn't mean that you can chat on the phone all day, etc.

3. Market research- You don't want to ever get stuck with inventory that you lose money on or even worse...can't sell. It happens to all of us but doing your homework about your market is very important before buying any inventory.

There are sooo many more key ingredients to being successful on ebay. I could write for days. Thanks Gymboree News for reading my info!!

~ Perri Huddleston

Thank you, Perri, for letting us grill you this week. Congratulations on your success!

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