When Rick Senko began re-selling used objects on eBay, he was “flat broke” — a lately unemployed single father who was determined to earn sufficient cash to help his 5-year-old son.
That was 2008, and the primary merchandise he offered — a cellular phone he purchased for $35 on Craigslist and flipped on eBay for $75 — felt like discovering a “glitch within the Matrix,” says Senko, now 41 and primarily based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Realizing he may flip a tidy revenue by flipping used objects on-line, he went all in. He studied manufacturers and gross sales tendencies, exploiting market inefficiencies and sometimes working as much as 20 hours a day “simply going to the flea market, going to the thrift retailer, making relationships, learning my craft, studying, itemizing [items] each single day,” he says.
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What began as a method to make ends meet slowly grew right into a reselling empire, bringing in thousands and thousands of {dollars} a yr in gross sales as considered one of eBay’s high sellers. In 2023, Senko began a wholesale enterprise known as Technsports that sells as much as 5,000 objects of used clothes per day to different skilled resellers. Technsports introduced in additional than $6.5 million in 2024 income, in response to paperwork reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Technsports is worthwhile general, with a revenue margin of roughly 50% per merchandise offered, Senko says.
“I’ve not taken a time off in virtually 20 years,” says Senko. “It isn’t misplaced on me how lucky I’m. However it additionally took an incredible quantity of labor, an incredible quantity of dedication, and an incredible quantity of sacrifice to get from the place I got here from to now promoting thousands and thousands of {dollars} per yr and residing a really, very lucky life.”
‘You do not want some huge cash to start out’
After turning into a father at age 18, Senko labored as a CVS pictures lab supervisor for 5 years to make ends meet for himself and his son. He attended a vocational faculty to earn a pc restore certificates, which landed him a better-paying job at Circuit Metropolis in Fall 2008.
Two weeks later, Circuit Metropolis filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety. Senko discovered himself out of labor and unable to discover a new job throughout the Nice Recession. Then, his cellphone broke. “I did not have some huge cash, so I went onto eBay to get a pre-owned [phone],” says Senko.
He noticed one on eBay listed for $75, after which noticed the identical mannequin of cellphone on Craigslist for $35. It was a “lightbulb second” that appeared too good to be true, he says: “I’d double the cash. I’d get a cellphone at no cost, after which I’d get my unique $35 again.”
Senko purchased the Craigslist cellphone and offered it on eBay for $70, he says. He used the income to purchase one other cellphone on Craigslist, which he flipped on eBay to double his cash once more. “I have been doing that ever since, for nearly 20 years. Rinse and repeat,” says Senko, including: “You do not want some huge cash to start out. You do not want quite a lot of data to start out. You simply want to start out.”
He initially centered on electronics — from telephones to video video games, damaged or purposeful, any low-priced merchandise that he may resell inside days, he says. As he discovered extra about which objects offered higher than others — and the place to search out in-demand inventory — his earnings grew significantly, topping $100,000 in 2010, he says.
Round that point, he started shifting his focus to pre-owned clothes, which requires far much less “buyer help,” he says. “A T-shirt will not be going to interrupt within the mail.” Clothes required a degree of analysis that Senko was keen to do, he notes: Whereas most individuals perceive that electronics will be beneficial, “not everyone is aware of a selected Polo Ralph Lauren shirt might be value extra [than a gaming console] … Oftentimes these [clothes] are discarded in a pile on the ground on the flea market.”
Senko began leaving dwelling earlier than daybreak and spending most of every day selecting by piles of used clothes at South Florida thrift outlets, consignment outlets, flea markets and storage gross sales, he says. Reselling gave him freedom and management over his schedule, and tapped into his aggressive need to win in any respect prices, he provides.
‘I get after it each single day’
Over time, Senko constructed relationships with sellers at flea markets and thrift shops to make sure he bought the primary crack at selecting by new inventory. He listed and offered roughly 250 objects per day, or tens of hundreds of merchandise annually, and employed as much as 5 contract staff at a time to assist him {photograph} objects, record them on-line and deal with delivery.
In 2023, he introduced in additional than $2.5 million in eBay gross sales, paperwork present — up from $500,000 in 2017. However he had a sense that he’d hit a ceiling of what number of objects he may record and promote per day, he says.
So, that very same yr, Senko determined to change up his enterprise mannequin. Moderately than shopping for choose items and promoting them every individually on-line, he started shopping for garments in bulk and promoting them wholesale to different resellers keen to spend time rigorously sifting by every batch. Shoppers typically purchase as much as 1,000 objects per week, he says.
“They course of it, they fulfill it they usually promote it separately on eBay,” Senko explains, including: “Essentially the most beneficial asset for my enterprise grew to become the stock. I am extra worthwhile promoting extra objects at a smaller margin.”
The lesser time dedication additionally helped Senko fulfill a promise to his spouse, who he met throughout his transient time at Circuit Metropolis, he says: that they’d work as arduous as they might till his son graduated highschool, after which pursue an early retirement. “[We wanted to] be capable to take a 50-year trip,” says Senko.
He and his spouse lastly took day without work final yr to journey the nation, visiting locations like New York, California and Las Vegas. “We’re beginning to benefit from the fruits of the labor,” he says. However he is reluctant to truly retire, he notes: “To say that I’m mentally on the 50-year trip? Not even shut.”
Senko says it is tough for him to close off his aggressive drive, particularly when he is aware of there’s cash to be made and that he has the means and experience to do it. And if he retains engaged on Technsports, he may attempt to make sure that his present degree of monetary stability lasts for the remainder of his life, he says.
“I get after it each single day. As a result of once you unlock [that] means to multiply cash, to take $5, put it onto eBay and promote one thing and get $25 again, how on this planet are you able to relaxation?” he says. “Did I work quite a bit? Completely … I wanted to develop the enterprise. And, finally, I wanted to be the most effective.”
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