Sharon's Collectibles
& MoreSharon's Collectibles
& More
411 S. 18th St., Bismarck, ND 58504
(701)223-6579
Publication: The Bismarck Tribune
Article Title: Big Pay from eBay
Date: Sunday, December 14, 2003
By: Mark Hanson
The name of the company reflects the type of business
it did when it started five years ago. Sharon's Collectibles was a small home
business in Bismarck where Sharon Balkowitsch and her son, Shane, sold items on
eBay, an online auction house.
At the time, they mainly sold antiques and collectibles. Quite a few of them,
actually. They sold more than 2,000 items online in the first year.
The business has grown and evolved since. Instead of just a room at Sharon
Balkowitsch's house, the business now occupies the entire basement. And more
than 21,000 items have been shipped to all 50 states and numerous countries
around the world. Sharon's Collectibles & More was honored with the eBay
Platinum Level Powerseller designation, which requires a business to do at least
$25,000 in sales a month.
There have been months with quite a bit more than that amount.
Shane Balkowitsch said he and his mother could make a comfortable living with
just the online business, especially since it runs at a profit level in the low
20-percent range. But Sharon Balkowitsch has just a year and a half before retiring
from her job with the Bureau of Reclamation. And Shane Balkowitsch still enjoys
working weekends as an oncology registered nurse at Medcenter One Health
Systems.
Shane Balkowitsch's nursing background, in fact, has been a big factor in the
growth of the online business. They now sell medical equipment, such as
stethoscopes, otoscopes and other medical devices. A number of customers have
said they're more comfortable buying that type of equipment from someone who
knows the business, Shane Balkowitsch said.
The local company is an authorized distributor for Philips, Doctors Research
Group and Healthometer, to name a few.
What also helps is the 10,000 positive feedbacks Sharon's Collectibles has
received from its eBay customers. Shane Balkowitsch said that large a number
plays a huge role in gaining consumer confidence as well as working out deals to
become a product distributor for companies.
Another popular product it carries is the Harmony Ball collection.
And because the Bismarck company can sell those types of items with a nice
profit margin, the Balkowitsches have gotten completely away from selling
antiques and collectibles.
"It's been a process. It didn't happen overnight. This is from five years
of doing this," Shane Balkowitsch said.
When Sharon's Collectibles started, there were half a million items on eBay;
today there are 80 million.
Separating themselves from the competition has been a challenge, but the
positive feedbacks have been the biggest boost, Shane Balkowitsch said.
The reputation and name recognition also have led customers to the Sharon's
Collectibles Web site. About 25 percent of the company's sales now come from the
Web site.
"For someone just starting out ... it would be smothering," Shane
Balkowitsch said.
The Balkowitsches know the eBay business and offer help to others. They
developed what they call an eBay Success Document, which they've sold on their
Web site and on eBay for two years. The mother-son team put all they know about
the online auction business onto paper and sell it to those who want to learn
the business. The document contains tips and hints on the types of items to
sell, where to find items to sell, how to list multiple items, shipping and
keeping track of auction items, to name a few.
That document caught the eye of a Utah company, which is turning it into an
interactive CD-ROM.
Kyle Maxwell of IWorks said he reads half a dozen success documents each month
regarding eBay, and the company has promoted about six or so. But the
Balkowitsch document stood out.
"When I read theirs, it made me excited to go on eBay," he said.
"It's very clear, clean advice. We'll stop pushing all the others and just
do theirs."
IWorks is a systems integration, multi-media and information technology company.
It provides electronic business and Internet-based solutions and consulting
services to the corporate and government sectors.
Maxwell said the goal is to have the Balkowitsch CD-ROM on the market by the
first of the year.
"It wouldn't surprise me to see 100,000 copies out in the next year to year
and an half," Maxwell said.
While the Balkowitsches know a lot about doing business on eBay -- they've been
featured in Time magazine and Reader's Digest -- they don't claim to know how
long their business can remain strong. They said they don't count on the money
they earn from their part-time business for their day-to-day living expenses,
mainly because they don't know how long it will last.
"We don't know. But it's been a helluva ride so far," Sharon
Balkowitsch said.
Publication: The Bismarck Tribune
Article Title: Find Holiday Treasures Online
Date: Tuesday, November 23, 1999
By: Joe Gardyasz
The first time Sharon Balkowitsch put a collectible up for auction on eBay, she got a bid within 20 minutes. That was a year ago, and she was hooked. Since then she's put some pretty interesting items up for sale online, including two antique tractors and a 7 1/2-foot-tall stained glass window. And people from all over the world are bidding and buying.
"We've sold to Australia, Japan, Finland, Sweden, England," she said. "We've sold all over the world."
Balkowitsch, who operates Sharon's Collectibles with her son, Shane, estimates she's sold more than 2,000 items online. They keep an average of more than 150 items up for bid at any one time.
Balkowitsch says she's so busy selling that she doesn't have time to buy on the Internet. She buys nearly all of her items she sells at auctions. But she wouldn't be afraid of buying through eBay, which she regards as the premiere site for finding items.
Hearing comments of "I'm buying this for Mom," or "I'm buying this for my aunt," Balkowitsch can tell Christmas buying has already begun.
Some of the most popular items for gifts include Dakota pottery and UND pottery, she said. Out-of-state buyers also love collectibles from the state's pioneer days. "Anything old from North Dakota, they love it," she said. "I sell a lot of porcelain figures, old photo albums and silhouettes."
One particular coup was finding a G.M.B. vase for $5 at an auction in Minnesota and selling it to a man in California for $585, she said.
Her largest item yet is a stained-glass window she bought at an estate auction from Richardton. It was once part of the Golva Catholic Church south of Beach. She put it up for auction starting at $499, and in less than a week she sold it to a New York couple, who plan to have it built into their new house.
She also put a couple of tractors for sale for friends, one of which was bought by a priest in New York. "He said he rode one when he was a little boy, and it was an identical tractor and he wanted one," Balkowitsch said.