by Katiyana

Created on: June 11, 2008   Last Updated: June 27, 2008

Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes, and one of the ways in the past 10 years that several have launched themselves into the business world is through the eBay marketplace. Due to low barriers of entry and a wide variety of buyers available around the world looking for commodity and collectible items, sellers from around the world have turned to it as a way to make money. Some have grown what started a way of cleaning out their house or a hobby into successful and prosperous businesses to supplement their income from full time jobs, or even created a business centered on providing services to other eBay users.

Martin Adamo (eBay ID: clact) is a successful accountant in Connecticut who started selling on eBay to clear things out from his house. Finding eBay to be fun and profitable, he began shopping garage sales and thrift stores to supply product to his growing business. In any given week, he might be listing Duncan Yo-Yos, jigsaw puzzles, Cabbage Patch Kid dolls, or collectibles books in his eBay store. It is a family affair with the Adamos, as his wife, daughter, and sister-in-law all have a role to play in keeping their eBay store (Once Upon A Bid) stocked, and finding products and preparing them for sale. While Adamo uses other sites like Squidoo to advertise and drive traffic to his eBay business, his online business is extremely eBay-centric, with the majority of his sales occurring through the site. Martin was elected to the eBay Community Hall of Fame in 2007.

Stephanie Daugherty (eBay ID: katiyana) is also a successful accountant in Nebraska who started selling on eBay as a way to pay for her family's collection of Pokemon trading cards. Buying in bulk, she and her daughter would sort through the cards, keep a set for themselves, and enough cards to build decks with, and then sell the leftover cards on eBay to fund their purchase of the next set. As the business began to grow, Stephanie looked for ways to diversify her business. First she added trading card supplies to her store, and that was quite successful. Looking to further diversify, she decided to turn one of her hobbies, knitting, into part of her business by selling custom made doll clothes with seasonal pictures knit right into the sweater. This part of her business developed slowly over time, and now she has 3 successful independent websites in addition to her eBay store and other sales venues. Changes in the eBay marketplace and tragedy in her personal life almost put her out of business

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