Wanda Silva - My Silver Toe Ebay Store Success Story

Wanda Silva; "Adapt to change. It's a constant fact that things change. Those that can adapt to changes will survive."

My eBay life started back in March 2002. I was part of the dot.com casualties that were so common back then and decided with my husband that instead of looking for a new job I would stay home with our son. Looking for ways to save money I started to use coupons which led me to eBay to find the hot coupons. As I researched more and more and started buying other things for the home, clothes for our son, and gifts I thought "Hey, I bet I can sell something".

In August 2002 I listed my son's winter coat that he outgrew and watched that auction constantly. Every chance I got to check on it to see if there was a bid I was doing it. My husband thought I was crazy. My listing sold for almost $20.00. Not bad for a coat that I paid 29.99 for. I was hooked. I was looking for anything and everything to sell. My husband saw me selling stuff left and right and just urged me on. I felt like I was now contributing financially to the household. I was making enough to pay the minimum on my credit card and buy groceries.

Believe it or not I ran out of things to sell. Selling was like a drug for me so I started shopping various stores for clearance stuff and it sold. I could not believe how good it was going and even managed to convince an online local buddy to try eBay. She is now a Powerseller and we are always swapping tips and our hot finds. We even tell our customers that if they find stuff from our friend's auctions we can ship the items together and save them on shipping.

I'm a researcher by heart. I want to know how to do things, the best way to do things, and streamline things. I discovered the eBay Stores board. It only seemed logical to open a store. I was stumped for a name when my mom said she wanted a silver charm of a toe because my son's name is Jared Silva Tow and with our Boston accent folks think we are really saying Jared Silver Toe. My Silver Toe was opened and I began tweaking and listings and creating a brand for myself. I found a great supplier for garden flags and still continued to list home decorative items. My sales really took off then and I had no problem keeping my Powerseller status.

Then my sales plummeted because I let them. After trying for so long for another child we found out we were having another baby. It was a rough pregnancy so I just listed on good days and relied on my husband to help bundle and ship stuff. I still kept merchandise in the store and was always surprised at how things would sell with out me listing any auctions or doing any promoting. Now our little girl is 8 months old and I'm getting back in the swing of things. I'm changing the look of my store and taking advantage of the extra custom pages we now have available. My personal goal is to be able to cover the credit card bill again, buy the groceries, keep my little girl in boutique clothing (thanks to the fabulous sellers on eBay), buy my son all the video games he wants and reinvest the remaining profit into my business.

My Tips:

• Find a niche. Sell what you like and can get your hands on. Keep in mind shipping and the supplies to ship those items


• Keep yourself organized either on paper, online, or with a spreadsheet


• When volume picks up find ways to decrease your workload and streamline your business. I just don't know how I survived with out my thermal printer, endicia.com, and USPS free pickup. It is so nice to not step foot in the post office with two small children.


• Recognize when you need a solution. I went from eBay's sell your item form, to Turbo Lister, to Sparedollar. I'll soon outgrow Sparedollar and will search out a provider that will help take my business to the next level.


• Make research a part of your daily routine. It's important to know what changes have been made, get tips on how to improve your business , and know when there are problems.


• Adapt to change. It's a constant fact that things change. Those that can adapt to changes will survive.

Wanda Silva   

"Wanda Silva also owns an E-commerce Website other than her Ebay Store. You can visit MySilverToe e-commerce site, and you will find great examples of Ebay MarketPlace used within a regular e-commerce layout website."