Jason, a toy store owner, is what eBay CEO Jamie Iannone calls an “accidental entrepreneur.” He never planned on owning a business but now has a storefront and a popular eBay store, where he’s sold nearly 150,000 action figures, dolls and more.

He was working full-time in disaster restoration, traveling around the country to storm-affected areas to rebuild. He had dabbled on eBay as a hobbyist but never considered launching a business. When a friend asked for help selling his toy store inventory, Jason jumped at the chance because it would let him spend less time on the road and more time with his son.

Roughly a decade later, he bought the business, channeling his lifelong love of toys into a full-time living.

Floods & a Pandemic

Immediately after taking over the store, it flooded twice within a year and half. Fixing the space required months-long closures when customers couldn’t come in to shop. eBay became his sole source of income during that time.

“eBay was a lifeline for us when we had nothing else,” Jason said. “My business should have been wiped out because we had no storefront, but we took the little inventory we had and were able to bring our employees back and keep things going.”

eBay played a similarly critical role in 2020 when the Covid-19 virus caused businesses nationwide to close their doors. He sold thousands of puzzles, packing them at his house, shipping them out and helping bored Americans stay occupied.

“I was still able to pay all my bills by selling jigsaw puzzles on eBay,” he said.

Passing it On 

Having weathered multiple storms, Jason is now committed to training the next generation of entrepreneurs. His company takes on interns each semester and teaches them how to run a business on eBay. No step in the selling process — including putting together Lego sets with hundreds of pieces to ensure their quality — can be skipped.

“It’s perfect for them to start at that point and go all the way through. We show them how to photograph and list an item,” he said. “Some of them have taken that skill and started their own eBay stores.”