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For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about...
 

So I was reading the thread When are your days off, and I really enjoyed seeing how other stealthers and ebayers do their thing.

It really peaked my interest for the bigger operations and how the successful people of this thread went about doing it.

My questions are, what was it that helped you grow so big?
Any particular things that helped you get there?

Also when did you decide hiring someone was the best thing to do?
How did you find the right person to add to your team?

And my biggest concern, when you hired someone, how did the whole stealth idea go over with them? How did you find someone you trusted?
I guess what I am asking is not everyone views what we do nonchalant, did you explain or no?

When they started working they had to of noticed say 30 separate ebay and paypal accounts and the fact that they all had different names and information.

I appreciate the wisdom and tips from the successful people of the forum.
I realized I was kind of stagnant, you know just enough. I want OVER and ABOVE not just enough!

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Sorry for not getting to your PM. I will have time tonight or tomorrow morning. I will post something here as well.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

if you are stealth on ebay/az, you should have someone only manage 1 acc for you not multi. Mistakes happen that way with linking.

staff can pack you your stuff and ship it etc, that is a big job that can be outsourced. just download the orders to be picked on a daily doc.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

On most of my big accounts, they ship off of paypal notifications and work via Gmail only. They can click on the link to confirm an item etc... but have no access to the accounts.

They then forward the email once processed with tracking to another gmail, etc...

Some have shared docs and spreadsheets(I am very removed from this these days) with all details such as tracking etc..

Half of these tasks are handled by VA staff.

I pay my package stuffer s $2.00 per item typically. Most make a few hundred to $1000 a day. They pay for any and all mistakes they make. They make almost no mistakes at all.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

yeh I pay £1 per item to be packed and shipped here in UK.

I would not let them deal with multi gmails though, as the cookies from each other can contaminate.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

To clarify, this is for mega accounts. They are as a general rule only dealing with one account.
My big ebay businesses are a bit tricky to explain without writing a small book. There is a lot of parts and pieces and facilities etc... and partners and reverse hired old competitors(now partners).

Later I will try to give some ideas of how it works. Ideas that may be useful to someone else to brainstorm and modify.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

yankee, that would be awesome when you get a chance. I would like to get a better understanding.

Also what about if you do not have say one main account that is huge. But you have multiple small accounts.

Of course hiring someone to pack and ship the items would be helpful to me time wise. But once I get up to the number of accounts I am shooting for, it would be very beneficial to have someone help run the accounts. Again the whole VPN thing may help with anything getting crossed and linked (just a thought)

I am beginning to think that to get help with multiple stealth accounts I would either have to bring in a partner so to speak, or have a family member or friend work for me.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Working with competitors can double or 10x your business too. Not to get into many details but I worked directly with my biggest competitor in 2013 in one market January 15th-September 28th. Did 1.2 million dollars EXTRA in gross sales and used non of my own money and did zero servicing. Just focused on transactions.

Anyways, it will most likely be tomorrow morning.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Are you using a fulfilment centre for this or private individuals holding stock themselves?

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

S1000 dollars a day as a packing stuffer, Omg.
I am so in the wrong job. All you need is yankee. :thumb:

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Finding 25 hours in a day, and these forumsIt almost never is, unless it is for the most remedial of operations. Never hire anyone to work your accounts. Ever. Also never teach your best friend how to make accounts so he could eventually become your biggest competitor and then f you over. Experience speakingDon't. Ever. If you're going to do it - make up some retarded reason why and find someone who is both (A) dumb enough to believe your baloney and (B) street-wise enough to know when not to ask questions. The two best people I ever hired was a pregnant stripper with no high school diploma, and a homeless heroine addict with a "Will work for food" sign on the sidewalks of NYC. He later told me I was the best boss he never thought he'd have. Make. Stuff. Up. The ones who are good employees just say "Okay, but you pay cash, right?" and the ones who are too smart are.... well... just avoid them.

You want a work-horse, not a Clydesdale.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Yikes. We live in different worlds.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

You can sure say that again.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

I just do not believe those figures for packet stuffing per person, heck I would ask for a job at those rates.....

most packet stuffers make well under $100 a day, it is unskilled work. It also includes taking it to the shipper etc.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

private individuals, hard to find reliable trustworthy individuals, but they are like gold-dust if you do, so hang on to them.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

you can build your own CRM system or use some paid for system, all your emails go there from eb, az, website, play etc etc, your freelancer can monitor them there.

in terms of different usernames etc, filter messages, have it clear with the employee, the truth is you keep them seperate, as if there is a problem with one it can link the others and they can go down, they will understand as it is actually common sense, just alot of people do not know this til they hit issues and come to these types of forums. Alot of reasons why someone would do it, maybe the accs have different owners and you are just managing different ones and you require a freelancers help...etc

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

sell more items..... My Alabama facility will ship many thousands of items a week. The supply all hands, packing material, storage, inventory control and local pickup with USPS. The make almost no mistakes because they have to pay for all lost/missing and incorrect picked orders. Some items a $1000 a pop... This location ships almost exclusively small items under 7lbs.

Do I over pay? Of course! Who in this world wants to print and handle 300-500 items every single day at $10.00 an hour? You get horrible workers and huge turnovers.
I want my crew to WANT to work. Not dread it. I have them begging for more because they are making a slew of money. They are also ebay/amazon sellers themselves.

My location in NH gets $10.00 per box, but that requires a technical skill as well and all items are over $400.00 and much smaller volume.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

I will be your UK facility at those rates....

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

And I'll be your NYC facility when you're looking to expand.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Not packet stuffing, container stuffing lol

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

I have a small office space for my business. I currently have 12 active ebay accounts with high limits and 4 AZ accounts.

There is only 2 people working there for me as I myself work full time for another e-retailer.

The way I manage the orders is by ShipStation. Every ebay account has 1 shipstation. So they cant really mess up the orders.

I personally have to answer all the emails and stuff but its okay for me.

hope this helps

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

I had no success bringing folks in to help, got absolutely destroyed by one deceitful person, lesson learned! Hired to help and they stabbed me in the back. Do not give away your secrets. I am too trusting. Only immediate family works for me from now on and I pay them well. Luckily I have a big family and we all live in the same general area.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

I did 200k turnover for the first year, considering I have had a lot of accounts go down, and my items are (5-20$) it was very decent. I managed about 15-20k transactions myself throughout the year and only in the recent months about 4-5k in 1 month. It was tough but 1-2 people for this amount would be enough. I always handle customer support myself, so only the packaging part is paid for. Shipstation is very nice for this matter. Currently I am controlling this process from another country and this works well.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

How was it accomplished ? Did you monopolize together to control prices ? Can you explain this please

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

It is hard and it takes time and it has not always worked out, but when it does, it works out very well.

Never control a price and never own more than 20% of all sales in a nitch category. Ebay will close you and very quickly today.

I will send you a PM later but basically make your competitor money and have them do all the busy work they do everyday anyways.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Ok I see alot of you mentioning SHIP STATION.
I am going to look into this. As of right now I print all my postage from ebay or paypal directly so I have to log in with a new ip address every time to do the emails the listings and the shipping.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

You need to be the brains of the operation! The "staff" (family, friends) only need to know basics. How to pack, organize, inventory things like that. Anything else is hush hush....

I do have a right hand man.... Gets paid best by the work he does and the more he does the more he gets paid.... So simple where im going with this.... Sometimes he outsources some of his work, pick-ups or whatnot....

It really just gets too complicated for some people to comprehend.....

Right now my thing is a new westore. Sure I could make it, but my time is worth more in other areas.... That is easily outsourced.....

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

I always hire people smarter than me. I want people with bigger and better idea.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Can work for some... These days though there are too many smart people with low morals... Its a quick way to get burned.... I mean sure you want a smart IT guy, or smart cashier, etc... :deadhorse:

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

I want BRILLIANT PEOPLE with BRILLIANT IDEAS! I don't want to have to do anything myself. If I feel like, per say, taking 15 months off and not getting a phone call or txt or even an email, then I want to be able to do it.
If I want to SELL my business, I want my buyers to be able to look at a turnkey cash cow WITHOUT me being a piece of the puzzle so that they can pay me 3-4x NET value etc....

Basically, I don't own jobs anymore and hopefully never will again. If I am needed at all, I don't want anything to do with it. That means hiring and hiring damb good and smart people and paying them far and away more than I could get away with. I want everyone to get a little rich, not just me.

Number one question I ask business owners is this, "Would you give away half your company if you made 5x as much?"

:thumb:

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Reverse Hire and Leverage Hire are my favorite types of hiring.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Saw a few commercials for some hiring/recruitment services too - look interesting

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

For the people who have tried to hire and it did not work out and then gave up, I compare hiring to dating. If you dated and it did not work out or was a bad experience, are you never going to date again?

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

thats what i tell my single friends.....keep going.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

I like to keep things simple, I feel employees would just complicate things. I cannot teach anyone to properly do what I do. If you want things done right, you have to do it yourself.

Im certain with employees I could pull seven however, I'm comfortable at six figures. Kudos to those that can handle the stress, it's not for me.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

I agree, I do not have employees for good reason. Maybe some close family in certain situations if needed. This is why I have a book of people that I resell items to that I don't have time for myself. They make money, I make money and we are good. I don't pull six figures I make about what the above average American does. If I don't have to go sell my soul every day and hate my job and my life like so many. Then we are golden. It sucks not really being able to take a vacation but the flexibility of my days is super awesome.

Especially with the nature of my AZ/EB business I can't have people who don't know what they are doing. Half of my business is quality control when it comes to products. I sell lots of clothing and over 10 years I have an eye for everything. I could easily be inspector #XXX on your underwear.

It has honestly been so much easier for me for everything I don't want to sell myself to just become middle man. I have helped build several people up from nothing into solid assets over the years.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Thanks for referring me to this thread @yankee.

For those people who do not support hiring then you are not speaking volume of your business. How could you handle a business turnover $1M/annum on your own, how could you handle shipping 300 items/wkly on your own.

The next thing on your mind if you shipping in excess of 80 items a week would be hiring some smart pple to help you grow your business.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

I could not do what I do/did without hiring. Not even 1% without staff.

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

Could you please expantiate on this. Do I need to contact the competitor or just dropship them without informing them? Just wondering how many competitor on ebay would be open to the idea of working with another seller.

Thanks

Re: For the Big Time Guys & Gals Do you have employees and if so how did you go about
 

I will write something up in the next few days.

I like position access if possible for contacting. I have a lot of questions from this thread and all are tricky to answer without writing a book. And then you have people on this forum who find everything some of us say(me this week) as so unbelievable it is a lie and impossible, LOL so I share less and less.