Made another dropshipping sale, and I'm building the web development business

Yesterday I made a dropshipping sale on Bonanza, a platform I totally forgot I signed up for. Just before ebay suspended my selling privileges, I started researching other platforms to sell on and had signed up for a Bonanza account. They offered to crosslist my ebay items for free so I did it and forgot all about Bonanza while in my feelings about not selling on ebay anymore.

Well wouldn't you know it, yesterday I got email and Paypal notifications, and when I logged in noticed it was a sale from Bonanza. So yay for that. I processed the order right away and will be listing new dropship items on there shortly. Just have to put that task on the schedule.

My ideas for growing my web development business include offering web development services, selling downloadable website templates and website graphics. I got the idea for selling downloads after watching some Youtube videos on how to make money on Etsy by selling digital downloads. I researched and saw many sellers offering website templates so I opened a new shop to do the same. I have a few likes already but no sales yet. I'll also be opening a shop to sell other downloads like invitations, resumes, flyers, etc. I have a lot of stuff I've created over the years as well as tools for creating new designs. And this all ties in with reducing physical inventory in our home. Its all coming together. Slowly but surely.

Got a rude awakening this week

I had two active ebay accounts. One that I'd had for about 10 years where I did all my reselling business (my "main" account). The other I just opened for the nails dropshipping business. The main account had been in "below standard seller" status because of some returns a few months back. The seller status is determined by a ratio of your "defects" (returns, cancellations, etc.) divided by the total number of sales over a certain period. So since I wasn't able to improve my ratio in a time period satisfactory to ebay, my selling privileges were suspended indefinitely on my main account. Here's the email (click to enlarge):

Now I've always read that one should never rely on a platform you can't control, because something like this can happen. I never thought it would happen to me. My feedback score was great (257 reviews with over 98% positive) and I always paid my invoices early so I figured I was fine. But I was very wrong.

Losing selling privileges on this account sucks because it was a good side income. But I'm not mad about it. This rude awakening is actually a good thing for me. It reminds me of a time in my life when I got laid off from several jobs in a row. I vowed to never be dependent on a job again. Here's what I'm realizing and focusing on now:


I should be focusing on being an awesome web developer, not an awesome reseller. Part of the reason I had to cancel orders was because my inventory was disorganized, or I had instances where I'd sold an item on one platform and forgot to delete it from another before it sold again. Having one less business to manage gives the time I need to study and get better at being a web developer anyway. To that end, I've deleted any Youtube channel subscriptions that aren't related to web development or my handmade business.

Keeping an email list and having my own website for any ecommerce venture is an absolute must. I already started to keep an email list for the nails dropshipping business, but I need to update it regularly and get that website finished so I can redirect customers to it. I'll save at least $1 in fees on every order, and no one can take that business away from me.

I have the skills to make my own ecommerce sites, so I have to do that immediately. Why hand't I done this yet? Maybe it was laziness. Maybe it was distraction. But what kind of web developer doesn't even make sites to give their own businesses a chance? Selling platforms are great, but I refuse to be at anyone's mercy. 

So my plans are to focus on web development by improving my skills and making websites for others. I will offer my services on selling platforms like Etsy and Flippa, but I will also continue to develop my portfolio and do freelance work. My handmade and dropshipping businesses will be secondary.