Member Spotlight: tsrpowell

Hello again, and welcome to our latest installment of the New Member Spotlight.  Response from readers after mikespoppy's unbelievable story was very positive, and we think that many of you out there will find this story moving as well.

Don't forget...we want to hear your stories too. Remember, it can be anything from a uniquely interesting item you sold, to how eBay has led to a dramatic change in your life. You can submit your stories directly to chatterblog@ebay.com (team), ryank@ebay.com (me), or on our dedicated discussion board thread. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our RSS Feed, so you can get updates each time a new post goes up.

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My eBay Experience
by tsrpowell

Our eBay journey started off in 2002 with a purpose that many people have these days – to try to find a way for Shannon (my wife) to stay home and raise our 2 1/2 year old (at the time) daughter.  Putting her in day care every day just didn’t feel like the right thing to do, so we started looking around for ways to allow Shannon to stay at home, yet still make a respectable income.  Along the way, we stumbled across eBay, and it seemed like the perfect answer.  Little did we realize how perfect it was!

Once we made the decision to go for it, Shannon quit her job and began learning everything she could about the online auction world to help our little business – html, digital photography, etc, - and making the difficult decision of what to sell. We went through a few different product lines at first, trying to choose just the right one. Shannon has always had a passion for jewelry (she is still like a little kid a Christmas when a new shipment comes in from our suppliers), so that is what we decided to go with.  We had really tighten our belts financially to do it, but everything about it just felt like the right thing to do. Slowly, but surely, our little eBay business grew to be a respectable second income.

In 2003, we received news that Shannon’ mom had been diagnosed with lymphoma (we are happy to report that she is now in remission).  At the time, we were living in Florida and our families were still in Illinois, where we were originally from.  This was the catalyst to really make us start taking a look at moving back to Illinois, so Shannon could be closer to her mother, and our daughter would be closer to all of her grandparents.  Had we not had our eBay business, it would have been difficult to relocate, and would have taken many months for both of us to find a new job.  But the flexibility of taking our business with us turned out to be a huge blessing – we were actually back in Illinois within 2 months of when the decision was made. 

Once back in Illinois, our eBay business continued to grow.  Eventually, we had to make another hard decision – should I quit my job and go to work full time for our business, or should we halt the growth of our business and keep things at they were?  I had been working at it part time since the beginning, and the hours I was putting in at this point was beginning to rival those of my full time job. After a lot of thought, we made a decision to go for it.  That was two years ago, and we have never looked back.

As a result of all of those difficult choices, we now have a very successful business selling sterling silver, gold and stainless steel jewelry. We carry one of the widest selections of sterling silver rings on eBay, and are continuing to expand our selection.  We also recently added a full line of 316L surgical stainless steel jewelry, for those customers who are allergic to other types of jewelry.  We are constantly on the lookout for new styles and trends, and are always happy to try to find and add new items to our inventory that our customers request.

We get to spend every day doing what is important to us and what we love – spending quality time with our family and being there for our daughter. And, we now have created something that hopefully our daughter can take over someday.