Marcus started selling toys and then moved into home appliances, desks and gym equipment. Photo / Supplied
Marcus started selling toys and then moved into home appliances, desks and gym equipment. Photo / Supplied
Still in high school, 16-year-old Marcus Pereira managed to make A$60,000 in just a month during a Covid lockdown.
He made the money by spotting popular household items online, marking them up and then reselling them on eBay.
Marcus did it all from his parents' house in Melbourne using just his computer and a small A$25 monthly investment to run the online shop on eBay.
What started out as selling a few household items from online retailers in August 2019 when he was just 15 turned into a thriving business raking in up to A$60,000-a-month just a year later.
Marcus started selling toys and then moved into home appliances, desks and gym equipment by buying from retailers or wholesalers, marking up the price and reselling the items on his eBay store.
Before Covid hit, Marcus was making around A$20,000 to A$30,000 in revenue a month, and sales unexpectedly increased exponentially during lockdown when he managed to triple his earnings.
"I was worried when Covid first hit. I thought it would result in sales losses but it was better for me, with people working from home and keeping their kids entertained at home," he said.
"When lockdown happened I noticed sales were creeping up and peaked at A$60,000-a-month with sales of desks and gym gear increasing," he said.
"The only issue was stock was going down; it was harder to get stock from overseas due to demand, there wasn't a lot of supply so that slowed me down," he added.
The teenager goes to school during the day and then works on his dropshipping business after school. Photo / Supplied
The Year 11 student uses the dropshipping method to make money online – a cost-free business model that allows people to sell items on behalf of suppliers for a profit.
The business model enables him to advertise and sell items like furniture and large appliances from department stores such as Kmart on his eBay account at an inflated price.
"I'd find a product like an oven from a retailer, put it on my store with a description and a picture, a buyer would find it on eBay and purchase it from me and give me money and I would give money to the retailer and would pocket the rest," he explained.
Still in high school, 16-year-old Marcus Pereira managed to make $60,000 in just a month.
The teenager learnt everything he knows about dropshipping from free resources online such as on YouTube.
He's also avoided the need to get an after-school casual job with his booming side business.
With the eBay marketplace selling more than two billion items a day, Marcus said it's a trusted place to sell which is why he believes he's had no issues getting sales.
"People are buying on eBay for a reason, there's brand and customer loyalty with eBay," he said. "People know it's going to arrive on time in perfect condition and they're covered if anything goes wrong."
His parents have been supportive of his side venture, even when he started stockpiling some of the items in the house when stock was running low.
Marcus is now considering growing the business even further and employing a virtual assistant to help with administrative tasks as he scales the business.
"I truly believe anyone can do it," he said. "Anything will sell. If there's a product available to be bought you can sell it. There are millions and millions of items to be sold."
He said dropshipping can definitely help pay the rent and living expenses without too much work.
"It's a simple and easy business model and a nice side business to have," he said.
Marcus has even started up his own online course teaching people how to dropship as another income stream and has started a YouTube channel and Instagram account to grow his profile.
