The eBay millionaires: Meet Cindy Kent from Art Shed Online

IT’S not just for selling your old crap. Meet the people who started with practically nothing but are now raking in millions from eBay.

WHEN you think of eBay, you think of flogging off clothes that no longer fit you or buying random stuff you can’t find elsewhere.

But eBay has been a goldmine for those with the ingenuity to take full advantage.

Ten years ago, Cindy Kent was pregnant with her second child and was looking for a second income for her family. A relative of hers had a wholesale art supplies company and Ms Kent used her connection to buy 10 pieces of art accessories at wholesale price to list on eBay.

“It was just a fluke,” she told news.com.au. “I started out with about 10 items, the majority were canvases, and they were snapped up for about $500. After about six weeks, people couldn’t get enough of it so I started putting more items on eBay and it clicked for me that there was something in this.

Cindy Kent has turned a few hundred dollars into a multi-million dollar business.

“The downstairs of my house started to look like a mini warehouse.”

Ms Kent said that in the first month she made $2000 after paying out $700 for stock. Within six to 12 months she was making $20,000 a month in sales — $9000 of which was profit. It also took about that long to give up her full-time job in accounts.

Art supplies on its way out to customers.

After eight years running an online business from home, Ms Kent and her husband sold their property and used the money to buy an existing art store in Victoria, Art Shed. They incorporated the art store, the size of a warehouse, into the online business and the merged entity became Art Shed Online.

Ten years after she sold her first item on eBay, Ms Kent now has four kids and a business that pulls in between $1.8 million to $2 million a year.

Sixty per cent of sales are generated online with about 40 per cent of online sales still coming through eBay. She has sent her stock to places as far-flung as Iceland and Saudi Arabia.

“For the first eight years it was organic growth — there weren’t much in the way of art supplies on eBay. We did things like free returns and satisfaction guarantees,” she said.

“It’s an achievement. I’ve done this as a young mum of four. Yes, we’ve put in the hard work but the rewards far outweigh the effort.”

Ms Kent said the only regrets she has is that at the beginning, she may not have taken it seriously enough and didn’t post items until three or four days after she received the payment. With a team behind her to take care of the day-to-day, she’s now teaching online seminars on how to get the most out of an online business.

“I don’t have to do everything anymore,” she said. “Now, I work on the business instead of in the business.”

Ms Kent isn’t the only one who has made a fortune from eBay. Over 10 years ago, Jethro Marks and his two partners were sitting around a living room trying to think of a business idea. Out of that meeting TheNile.com.au was born. Originally an online bookstore it has since expanded to take in other categories such as fashion, games and toys.

TheNile.com.au spent the first six months on eBay but pulled out after six months as the platform was more of a consumer-to-consumer than a business-to-consumer set-up. TheNile.com.au flourished elsewhere online but returned to eBay about five years later. The company is now fulfilling between 2000 and 4000 sales every day and ships to more than 50 countries on a typical day.

Not bad for a business that launched with four computers and $5000 initial outlay.

Originally published as The eBay millionaires: Meet Cindy Kent from Art Shed Online