CNN Article on Ebay business- doctor made $120K a year

[pigalle74]

I wanted to post this article since I find it interesting- First of all, I don't believe that in this economy you can make $120K a year by selling clothes on ebay. From my experience, clothes are really really hard to sell. And no offense to any doctors, buy I find her comment ""I tell doctors they can pretty much do whatever they want," Priddy said. "They're enormously driven, intelligent and fast learners." very arrogant. Basically she is saying she is successful at her ebay business because she is a doctor? And all doctors would be successful at everything they do even though it has nothing to with medicine? I thought it was funny, because I read here that many problematic buyers/sellers claim they're doctors??? Anyway, I am not a doctor but still consider myself driven, intelligent and a fast learner as well- and I really haven't made any $$ by selling on ebay- I'll be lucky if I ever break even, so there you go!

Here's the article:

By Allan Chernoff
CNN Senior Correspondent


HIAWATHA, Iowa (CNN) -- As Dr. Jennifer Lickteig examines patients at the Linn Community Care Health Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, she's also earning money from a second career that has nothing to do with medicine.


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Lickteig runs a clothing store on eBay, where she's a "Gold PowerSeller," ranking among the top 1½ percent of merchants on the online marketplace.
The 35-year-old family practitioner says she earned $120,000 last year on eBay, more than she did practicing medicine.
"It's just kind of this thrill," she said. "It think it's the thrill of having built up this business and just done it myself. I don't have to get an MBA. I don't have to have a storefront."


As health care reform threatens to shake up the business of medicine, recruiting firms promote alternatives for doctors at pharmaceutical, biotechnology, insurance and investment banking firms. But eBay?
Lickteig was juggling medicine with mothering her two boys when she became pregnant with twin girls. Once Natalie and Melanie arrived, Lickteig had to take time out from her practice.


Between feeding and changing her genetically identical daughters, Lickteig was online, discovering that she had the genes of a businesswoman -- a trait that had been hiding behind her medical degree.
Pursuing alternatives beyond medicine is a growing trend among doctors, according to Robert Priddy, president of Third Evolution, which helps physicians find careers outside traditional medical practice.
"I tell doctors they can pretty much do whatever they want," Priddy said. "They're enormously driven, intelligent and fast learners."
Lickteig orders merchandise from apparel wholesalers and uses much of her home as a warehouse. The floor of an entire bedroom is covered with inventory, and boxes are piled in her garage.
While at home with the girls, Lickteig regularly checks her laptop to mind the store and answer questions from consumers. She packs and labels shipments at night once the kids are asleep.


The twins are now 3, and her sons, Tim, 9, and Matt, 7, are in school, allowing Lickteig to practice medicine part time. But she won't give up eBay, though she admits that a doctor selling clothing online seems unusual, even crazy.
"It sort of is. But it's a business, a successful business," she said.
Her husband, Larry, has a good job as an actuary, so it's not as if she needs a second career. But even as a doctor, she feels, it's a good idea to have a Plan B.
"I think it's really important. You look at the recession and people losing their job; if you have something to fall back on, it's your insurance," she said.
Medicine still has its rewards for Lickteig. But like many doctors, she's frustrated that insurance companies and malpractice lawyers have so much influence on the practice of medicine.
"If you had looked into a crystal ball and someone told you that you were going to have four children someday, and given all the hassles of medicine, would you have done it? Then I would have said, 'Heck, no,' " she admitted.
Even so, super-mom Jennifer Lickteig is trying to do it all: juggling two sons, twin girls and twin careers, the ultimate balancing act for a doctor who believes in having a little money-making fun on the side.

[AmourCouture]

Interesting...

[karmenzsofia]

Based on this article, the reporter didn't do much reporting. Did he look at the transactions, add them up, get some data about what she spent, some paperwork that would prove her claims? Apparently not. Anyone can make up a story like this one and get their name out there. And where are the other two or three examples of people doing well and not so well to balance the piece? This is a "puff" piece, and they're usually done as a way to return favors. As it is, it's meaningless, IMO.

Thanks for posting it pigalle!

[kristie]

So in one sentence she said she has earned $120,000 and in another sentence she says she has not made any money on Ebay and is lucky to break even??

Yeah........sounds super intelligent......

[karmenzsofia]

^ yup....sounds supA true...

[Ellie Mae]

Originally Posted by kristie

So in one sentence she said she has earned $120,000 and in another sentence she says she has not made any money on Ebay and is lucky to break even?? Yeah........sounds super intelligent......

LOL Kristie! Sounds like your DR! I did ask my BIL who is a surgeon in a city of 100k if $120k a year on eBay was more profitable than his medical practice and he said $120k would not even cover the medical malpractice INS for his firm.

[Cyndee]

Originally Posted by kristie

So in one sentence she said she has earned $120,000 and in another sentence she says she has not made any money on Ebay and is lucky to break even?? Yeah........sounds super intelligent......

I'm trying to find where in the article she said she is lucky to break even?

[KittyKat65]

It must be nice to be able to have the means to buy the wholesale clothes in the first place. Most of us are struggling to sell our items just to help pay for bills. But then, I must not be driven, intelligent and a fast learner.

[northerndancer]

Originally Posted by Cyndee

I'm trying to find where in the article she said she is lucky to break even?

It was OP who said she is lucky to break even.

[Cyndee]

Originally Posted by KittyKat65

It must be nice to be able to have the means to buy the wholesale clothes in the first place. Most of us are struggling to sell our items just to help pay for bills. But then, I must not be driven, intelligent and a fast learner.

I have been running a clothing business on ebay for 12 years now. We buy the clothing wholesale - actually well below wholesale. When they described this woman's house in the article, it could have been my house. It's a full time endeavor with several people helping me. I have over 20,000 positive feedbacks. Our handbags are a separate biz over and above that. The clothing is quite successful and profitable but even our best year has never produced a profit anywhere near $120k, let alone running a business in my 'spare' time while my twins nap. Perhaps her gross sales are $120k per year, but that's a far cry from net profit. Typical net profit margins in retail are net 30 or less. Based on that, perhaps a much more realistic 'profit' that this woman is making is closer to $30-36,000 annually.

On the other hand...since I am driven, intelligent and a fast learner, it's good to know that I could have been a doctor.

[denimbarks]

This seller has been the topic of discussion on a few eBay threads recently. A few weeks ago it was uncovered that she wins auctions on her buying IDs at very low prices, complains about nonexistent flaws and threatens negative feedback, often receives refunds without returning the items, negs the sellers anyway, then lists the items for 10 times as much on her selling IDs with no mention of the "flaws." It wasn't just a couple of cases, but was discovered to be a recurring theme in how she does business. She went NARU for a short time, but is back now.

I, too, suspect the $120k is her gross. But when you're getting some of your stock for free...

She sells VS on at least one ID.

[pigalle74]

Originally Posted by denimbarks

This seller has been the topic of discussion on a few eBay threads recently. A few weeks ago it was uncovered that she wins auctions on her buying IDs at very low prices, complains about nonexistent flaws and threatens negative feedback, often receives refunds without returning the items, negs the sellers anyway, then lists the items for 10 times as much on her selling IDs with no mention of the "flaws." It wasn't just a couple of cases, but was discovered to be a recurring theme in how she does business. She went NARU for a short time, but is back now. I, too, suspect the $120k is her gross. But when you're getting some of your stock for free... She sells VS on at least one ID.

Wow, that is really shady...

The article said she made $120K on ebay a year- I assumed that was her net profit- since she said it was more than what she would have made on her medical practice.....If it was her gross, the article is flat out wrong.

[lovelygarments]

Originally Posted by karmenzsofia

Based on this article, the reporter didn't do much reporting. Did he look at the transactions, add them up, get some data about what she spent, some paperwork that would prove her claims? Apparently not. Anyone can make up a story like this one and get their name out there. And where are the other two or three examples of people doing well and not so well to balance the piece? This is a "puff" piece, and they're usually done as a way to return favors. As it is, it's meaningless, IMO. Thanks for posting it pigalle!

I agree with you, Karmen - puff piece by a so-called reporter. Did the reporter inquire into her net profit??? Or does the reporter even know what net profit is? I hope she has let the IRS know that she is making $120K a year - right - I bet those numbers would really change if she was being interviewed by an IRS agent - and the true numbers would be told!

And how can someone run that kind of operation from their home, raise twins, and occasionally practice medicine??? As someone who does sell on Ebay, it is a lot of work, and I can't even imagine doing it with infant twins/toddlers, etc., managing a household, and dabbling in my medical practice. Give me a F***ing break!

[lovelygarments]

Originally Posted by Cyndee

I have been running a clothing business on ebay for 12 years now. We buy the clothing wholesale - actually well below wholesale. When they described this woman's house in the article, it could have been my house. It's a full time endeavor with several people helping me. I have over 20,000 positive feedbacks. Our handbags are a separate biz over and above that. The clothing is quite successful and profitable but even our best year has never produced a profit anywhere near $120k, let alone running a business in my 'spare' time while my twins nap. Perhaps her gross sales are $120k per year, but that's a far cry from net profit. Typical net profit margins in retail are net 30 or less. Based on that, perhaps a much more realistic 'profit' that this woman is making is closer to $30-36,000 annually. On the other hand...since I am driven, intelligent and a fast learner, it's good to know that I could have been a doctor.

^^^Hahaha! Let's all be doctors!

[lovelygarments]

Originally Posted by denimbarks

This seller has been the topic of discussion on a few eBay threads recently. A few weeks ago it was uncovered that she wins auctions on her buying IDs at very low prices, complains about nonexistent flaws and threatens negative feedback, often receives refunds without returning the items, negs the sellers anyway, then lists the items for 10 times as much on her selling IDs with no mention of the "flaws." It wasn't just a couple of cases, but was discovered to be a recurring theme in how she does business. She went NARU for a short time, but is back now. I, too, suspect the $120k is her gross. But when you're getting some of your stock for free... She sells VS on at least one ID.

Can you PM me her ID so I can block her on my auctions? Thank you so much!