While lots of people are still thinking whether eBay dropshipping is dead, we sat down to talk with Yevgeny about his dropshipping business and how he manages to make over $150,000 in monthly sales with 20-30% profit.
If you want to learn what makes a successful dropshipper, as well as tips and tricks about scaling your business, make sure to read the full interview.
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Yevgeny, 34 years old and I’m from Israel. Married for almost 10 years now with 2 kids and one baking in the oven. My only income is from the e-commerce world.
When did you first start dropshipping and what inspired you?
The first time I heard about dropshipping was in the worst period (financially) of my life, which was about 5 years ago when I was between jobs, and saw an online course about it. Back then I was too afraid to join, because I was scared of getting scammed over the web.
But then after 2 weeks, I met a friend and found out that he is doing dropshipping. After talking to him for a while, I decided to give it a try, knowing that if someone close to me is able to make money out of it, there was no reason I couldn’t do it myself.
What were your first thoughts when you started dropshipping?
At first, it was super challenging since instead of working smart, I worked hard.
In the first 6 months, the income generated comparing to the hours worked was funny. I used to sit on the PC for 6-14 hours a day, making around $300 a month. I was aware that his was a very thin profit, but also I knew that this was made completely on my own, while sitting in my underpants.
This was the first major sign of motivation. I decided to grab this opportunity and told myself that if I work smart, this could be what I was always looking for.
What were the biggest challenges and issues that you faced?
While everything was growing, and I was able to see that my profits are increasing, the worst thing actually happened. Ebay decided to shut down my store after 8 months of me working my ass off to develop it. Looking in the past now, that was the best thing that could happen, because it was right at the beginning where I was able to gain a lot of information about what have I done wrong and then start working on it.
The saying “If It Won’t Kill You, It Will Make You Stronger” was exactly what happened back then.
You should never ever base your income only on one source. Thanks to that closure, I went and learned how to work with multiple eBay stores without eBay linking them all together. That was the first major breakdown I had. From that point – tons of new changes were made on Ebay, Amazon, and even PayPal.
What did you learn from your mistakes?
The biggest challenge in this business is being up to date, because if you don’t move forward, your competition will run you over. The most important thing about mistakes is to understand that they are part of the learning and growing process. If you don’t make any mistakes, the fall when you make one will be much bigger and will hurt more.
For those who are wondering whether to start dropshipping or not, just know that you shouldn’t be scared of making things wrong the first time, remember to stay humble and face them for a better understanding in the future.
How did you scale your dropshipping business?
At some point you realize that there is a glass ceiling to where you can grow alone. There are only 24 hours a day, and even if you work all of them (ignoring your friends, wife, kids and family) you can’t really scale up anymore. At that point I started looking how to make my working hours more than 24 hours a day, meaning getting a team of people to work along with me and help me scale up as much as I wanted. Managing a team of employees in the business actually is the best thing a person can do, since instead of working 12 hours a day, you can work way less and the job will be still done.
I don’t think you can really scale up just by doing it all on your own and without automating most of the processes.
How do you automate and maintain all of your stores?
There was a moment as we already spoke, where I realized that by doing everything manually I was not able to scale and have my dropshipping business grow. Around 2 years ago I started using Trackerbot. This tool made wonders to the time and effort, me and my team were dealing with. We had 100% of the tracking numbers uploaded for all 21 stores (at that time). With zero human interaction, Trackerbot converted all AMZL trackings to BCE, sent out automatic messages and feedback reminders which, also made me provide great customer service. All of this helped me sustain my account in healthy condition, allowing me to grow even more. Today I have 34 eBay stores which are generating around 200-300 sales per day.
Sign up for the 14 Days Free Trial and check it out yourself.
You will get:
- Fully automated tracking uploader
- Copy/paste tool for lightning fast order fulfillment
- Complete messaging system that helps you provide exceptional customer service
- Automated and manual BCE tracking conversion (cheapest price on the market)
- 10 FREE BCE trackings
What is your advice to people that are just starting or simply want to scale their dropshipping business?
One thing that I don’t understand is, people “sitting on the fence” for too long and wasting their time asking too many questions and not just start doing things and learn from their mistakes. I believe that if something is “meant to be” – it will be! And the only thing that we cannot ever buy with money and can get back is time…
It’s better to try and fail, than never try at all! There is nothing wrong in failing a couple of times, before you make it right. There is no better time to start dropshipping than now.
As for the second part of that question, I think “scaling” is something each person takes individually. I really think that automation comes first when we talk about scaling your dropshipping business. By having most of the processes done automatically you can spend your time on what really matters.
Remember to always look for the opportunity to grow.
How do you manage work-life balance?
Luckily for me I have a very supportive family, and when I need my time to work – they will do anything possible to give me the space I need. These days, I can even work 2 hours a day and manage to support my family, so I do have plenty of time to live how I want.
