赢在eBay上是这些年轻创业者的完美之处

亚当-津克尔是The Perfect Part的创始人兼首席执行官，他在初中和高中期间一直在修理同学的手机和游戏设备，这为他的创业成功奠定了基础。这种激情--以及家庭借给他的4000美元种子资金--推动他的技术物流公司在过去9年里成为北美第六大eBay公司。

这位28岁的企业家与他的同卵双胞胎兄弟Cory一起获得了电子商务经验。他们一起在前五年将自己的移动零件店发展到需要更多工人的业务。

他们一开始卖的是储存在铅笔盒内的四种产品。花了六到七年的时间才收获了巨大的效益。如今，二人拥有30名员工，仅靠eBay维持公司每月150多万美元的总收入。

该企业在2019年Inc. 5000美国发展最快的私营企业名单中。去年它被列为675位。

"我们平均每个月的毛收入超过120万美元，最高的一个月毛收入超过220万美元。成为北美第六大eBay公司不是计划，而是副作用。"Zinker告诉《电子商务时代》。

亚当感叹道，也许与他的同卵双胞胎一起创办移动零件业务是The Perfect Part在eBay上取得成功的驱动因素之一。它让他同时身处两个地方。

他和Cory在第一年的时候就发现，他们需要各自做完全不同的事情。Cory控制着一切订单后的工作，而Adam则做着一切订单前的工作，比如维护eBay平台。

eBay业务基础知识

决定在eBay.com而不是亚马逊网站上开展业务，这又是一个偶然的决定，其结果远超预期。早在2012年，Adam Zinker就研究过哪些平台的受众最多。当时，是eBay胜过亚马逊。

"亚马逊没有大量的内部电信组件和配件的受众。当时，eBay是在线上最大的电商平台，它有内部电信组件和配件的市场。"他解释说。

对Zinker兄弟来说，最重要的任务也许是从头开始学习在eBay上销售。如今的eBay大多数都是卖二手货的小卖家。在eBay上有竞争力的销售需要大量的关于他们政策的知识，The Perfect Part CEO指出。

"我喜欢把eBay平台看作是一种编程语言。他说："我喜欢把eBay平台看成是一种编程语言，作为卖家，你需要对一些政策了如指掌才能成功，而这需要时间来学习。

在eBay上进行了近10年的竞争性销售后，这位CEO认为自己对eBay的每一项政策都了如指掌。这个过程导致公司从家里的卧室办公室扩张到两次仓库搬迁。

Zinkers夫妇把The Perfect Part搬进了一个4000平方英尺的仓库，并聘请他们的姐姐来管理履行工作。随后，她雇佣了一个樱桃采摘员团队、一个履行员团队和其他团队成员，使公司得以高效发展。

"从那时起，有了足够的空间，让我们发展得更快。一年后，我们搬进了一个1万平方英尺的仓库，如今我们有超过5000种独特的产品，每天至少销售一次，由30多人的团队履行。"亚当指出。

激烈的竞争

当Zinkers开始在eBay上销售时，市场竞争更加激烈。亚当指出，任何人都可以采购零件并销售，但不是任何人都能长期有效地销售。

他补充说，有很多卖家在竞争，但没有多少人会长期保持竞争。出现这种情况的原因很多。其中一个主要原因是，eBay的平台并不迎合eBay上的小型零售店，而是迎合小型壁橱卖家，即那些销售在车库里发现的二手物品的卖家。

"所以，作为一个小卖家，你必须真正知道自己在做什么，才能度过难关，成为一个可持续发展的大卖家。例如，当我刚开始的时候，当时我最大的一个竞争对手试图通过按小时计算低价出售我的物品来使我破产。"他回忆说。

Zinker双胞胎通过低价打击竞争对手，甚至有时还赔钱。竞争对手的目标不是为了赚钱，而是通过以几乎不卖钱的价格出售同样的商品，让The Perfect Part赔钱，基本上是努力让兄弟俩破产。

"今天，那个竞争对手的规模只有我们的四分之一，不可能和我们竞争。"亚当说。

eBay的时代变迁

自2012年以来，易趣网已经发生了100%的变化。他补充说，为了适应市场需求，它不断改变政策。作为一个大型卖家，你需要确保你能预测到这些变化，以及准备好枢轴，以便取得成功。

"另外，市场变得饱和，中国卖家试图低价收购美国eBay账户。他们确实成功了，但只是在短期内--因为美国买家想要高质量的商品，他们希望[交付]在几天内，"Zinker解释说。

市场在全球方面也发生了变化。买家现在可以在亚马逊上找到一个巨大的电信配件市场，但仍然没有内部组件。

"我喜欢这样说：当你的电视坏了，你可以在亚马逊上找到一个新的电视，但你可以在eBay上找到修复电视的部件，"他提出。

成功的关键

The Perfect Part在eBay上的发展很大程度上是因为Zinker兄弟将他们对技术的热情和对组织的关注结合起来。他们并不局限于在eBay上销售。尽管eBay仍然是他们的主要关注点。

这对双胞胎很有创业精神。就在去年，他们考虑了10个新的品牌创意。有些他们执行了。亚当指出，另一些则很荒唐。例如，他们目前在亚马逊上有一家名为ShaiLi的维生素注入式淋浴头公司。

"在我们了解了eBay之后，我们雇佣并培训了员工，创建了运输物流和履行等。我们创造了一个机器，我们引进新产品越多，我们雇佣的员工就越多。亚当-津克说："我们只是引进了越来越多的产品，这些产品很有趣，而且我们知道我们可以比别人卖得更好。

另一个关键事件是确保你的账目有条不紊，他继续说道。这意味着P&Ls，资产负债表等。如果没有数据支持，你不知道自己做得有多好或多差。

"如果不知道你在数字上做了什么，你就无法扩大和经营一个高效的企业。对我们来说，最大的转折点之一就是搬进了一个大仓库，给我们提供了所需的空间。在一百万年里，我从来没有想过我可以用5000种独特的产品填满10000平方英尺的仓库空间，"他分享道。

这使得库存管理成为巨大的成功关键。拥有数千种小产品，事情可能会变得一团糟。

信用也能创造增长

同样重要的是，在任何企业中，拥有一个了解信用以及信用价值的人，根据首席执行官的说法。

"科里是一个信用账户的天才。时至今日，The Perfect Part Inc.从未发生过任何外部借贷，也没有支付过任何数额的利息。这一切都要归功于Cory和他的信用账户专长。"Adam谈到他的同卵双胞胎时指出。

Cory让他们的业务得以蓬勃发展，用商业信用卡进行扩张，实现快速有效的增长。这也迫使供应商接受信用卡付款，因为他们希望从The Perfect Part获得更多的业务。"科里总是说，'我们可以免费使用别人的钱，为什么要用我们的钱'。"亚当指出。

亚当还学会了给工人以精神上的信任，相信他们的表现。他欣然承认，他在企业发展过程中最大的关键事件之一，就是学会把重要的工作交给别人，相信他们会做得很好。

在最初几年，他绝不允许任何人进入eBay电子商务平台。现在，他在任何时候都至少有10个人连接到这个平台上--无论是客户服务、库存管理，还是运输。

eBay的替代产品

人们总是问Adam如何在eBay上销售，是否可以成为一种职业，甚至是退休的终极目标。事实是，它是，他回答说。不过，还有其他选择更容易。

虽然他在eBay上确实取得了巨大的成功，但eBay上只有少数卖家像The Perfect Part一样，他补充道。他已经扩展到其他销售选择，包括亚马逊。

"如果你想在网上全职销售并以此为职业，我最好的建议是亚马逊。然而，我并不是说不去eBay.eBay也是必须的，但应该在亚马逊上获得成功后再引入。"eBay价值350亿美元，而亚马逊价值1万亿美元。这告诉你，亚马逊与eBay的客户多了无数。"他建议。

原文题目：Winning on eBay the Perfect Part for These Young Entrepreneurs

原文：An intense knack for technology throughout middle school and high school where he repaired classmates' phones and gaming devices set the stage for entrepreneurial success for Adam Zinker, founder and CEO of The Perfect Part. That passion -- and a family loan of $4,000 seed money -- drove his technology logistics company over the last nine years to become the sixth-largest eBay company in North America.

The 28-year-old entrepreneur gained his e-commerce experience alongside his identical twin brother, Cory. Together they grew their mobile parts shop for the first five years to a business that needed more workers.

They started out selling four products stored inside pencil boxes. It took six-to-seven years to reap massive benefits. Today, the duo has 30 employees who maintain the company's gross revenue of over US$1.5M per month solely on eBay.

The business ranked 203 on the 2019 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in America. It was listed as 675 last year.

"We do an average over $1.2M per month in gross revenue with our highest grossing month of over $2.2M. Becoming the sixth-largest eBay company in North America was not the plan; it was the side effect," Zinker told the E-Commerce Times.

Perhaps starting the mobile parts business with his identical twin was one of the driving components to the success of The Perfect Part on eBay, quipped Adam. It let him be in two places at once.

He and Cory figured out during that first year that they each needed to be doing completely different things for the business. Cory controlled everything post-order, and Adam did everything pre-order such as maintaining the eBay platform.

eBay Business Basics

Deciding to go into business on eBay.com instead of Amazon.com was another fortuitous decision that panned out well beyond expectations. Back in 2012, Adam Zinker researched which platforms had the largest audiences. At that point, it was eBay over Amazon.

"Amazon did not have a large audience for internal telecom components and accessories. Back then, eBay was the largest e-commerce platform online that had a market for internal telecom components and accessories," he explained.

Perhaps the most important task for the Zinker brothers was to learn about selling on eBay from scratch. Most of eBay today is small sellers who sell used goods. Selling competitively on eBay takes a tremendous amount of knowledge regarding their policies, noted The Perfect Part CEO.

"I like to think of the eBay platform as a programming language. There are policies that as a seller you need to know like the back of your hand in order to succeed, and that takes time to learn," he remarked.

After selling on eBay competitively for almost 10 years, the CEO feels he knows every policy thoroughly that eBay has to offer. That process led to the company's expansion from bedroom offices at home to two warehouse relocations.

The Zinkers moved The Perfect Part into a 4,000-square-foot warehouse and hired their sister to run fulfillment. She then hired a team of cherry pickers, a team of fulfillers, and other team members that allowed the company to grow efficiently.

"Since then, having enough space allowed us to grow even faster. A year later, we moved into a 10,000 square-foot warehouse, and today we have over 5,000 unique products that sell at least once a day fulfilled by a team of over 30 people," noted Adam.

Cut-Throat Competition

When the Zinkers started selling on eBay, the market was more competitive. Anyone can source parts and sell them, but not anyone can sell efficiently over a long period of time, Adam noted.

There were a lot of sellers competing, but not many who would stay competing for the long run, he added. That occurs for many reasons. One major reason is that eBay's platform does not cater to small retail stores on eBay, but rather small closet sellers, those who sell used items found in their garage.

"So as a small seller you have to really know what you are doing in order to get past the hump to become a large sustainable seller. For example, when I first started, one of my largest competitors back then tried to run me out of business by undercutting my items on an hourly basis," he recalled.

The Zinker twins combated this by undercutting the competitor and even sometimes losing money. The goal of the competitor was not to make money, but to make The Perfect Part lose money by selling the same items for barely anything, basically efforting to run the brothers out of business.

"Today, that competitor is one-quarter of our size and cannot possibly compete with us," Adam said.

Changing Times on eBay

Ebay has changed 100 percent since 2012. It constantly changes policies in order to adapt to market needs, he added. As a large seller, you need to make sure you anticipate these changes as well as prepare to pivot in order to succeed.

"Also, the market became saturated with Chinese sellers trying to undercut American eBay accounts. They do succeed, but only in the short term -- because American buyers want quality items, and they want [delivery] within a couple days," Zinker explained.

The market has changed on a global aspect as well. Buyers can find a huge market for telecom accessories on Amazon now but still not internal components.

"I like to put it this way: when your TV breaks, you can find a new TV on Amazon, but you can find the part that will fix the TV on eBay," he offered.

Keys to Success

The Perfect Part grew on eBay to a large degree because the Zinker brothers combined their passion for technology with a focus on organization. They have not limited themselves to selling on eBay. Though eBay remains their primary focus.

The twins are very entrepreneurial. Just in the last year, they considered 10 new brand ideas. Some they executed. Others are ridiculous, noted Adam. For instance, they currently have a vitamin-infused shower head company called ShaiLi on Amazon.

"After we understood eBay, we hired and trained employees, created shipping logistics, fulfillment, etc. We created a machine that the more we introduced new products to, the more employees we hired. We just introduced more and more products that were interesting and that we knew we could sell better than others," said Adam Zinker.

Another key event was making sure your books are organized, he continued. This means P&Ls, Balance Sheets, etc. You do not know how well or poorly you are doing without data to back it up.

"You cannot expand and run an efficient business without knowing what you are doing number wise. One of the largest turning points for us was moving into a large warehouse giving us the space we need. Never in a million years did I think I could fill up 10,000 square feet of warehouse space with 5,000 unique products," he shared.

That makes inventory management a huge success key. Having thousands of small products, things can get messy.

Credit Creates Growth Too

Equally important in any business is having someone who understands credit and how valuable that is, according to the CEO.

"Cory is a credit account genius. To this day, The Perfect Part Inc. has never had any outside lending, or any amount of interest paid. This is all thanks to Cory and his credit account expertise," noted Adam about his identical twin.

Cory allowed their business to flourish by expanding it on commercial credit cards for fast and efficient growth. It also forced vendors to take credit card payments because they wanted more business from The Perfect Part. "Cory always said, 'Why use our money when we can use someone else's for free'," noted Adam.

Adam also learned to give moral credit to his workers and trust their performance. He readily admitted that one of his largest key events in growing his business was learning to put important work in the hands of others and trusting that they will do a great job.

In the first years, he would never allow anyone to be on the eBay e-commerce platform. Now he has at least 10 people connected to the platform at any given time -- be it customer service, inventory management, or shipping.

Alternatives to eBay

People always ask Adam how to sell on eBay and if it can be a career or even an end goal to retirement. The truth is that it is, he replied. However, there are other options that are easier.

Although he does have great success on eBay, there are only a few sellers on eBay that are like The Perfect Part, he added. He has branched out to other selling options, including Amazon.

"If you are looking to sell online full time and make a career out of it, my best advice is Amazon. However, I'm not saying no to eBay. eBay is also a must but should be introduced after gaining success on Amazon. eBay is worth $35 billion while Amazon is worth $1 trillion dollars. This tells you that there are countless more customers on Amazon versus eBay," he advised.