One of eBay seller Zach Gosciminski’s favorite childhood memories is from Halloween night in the late 1990s.
His father had painted a cardboard refrigerator box black so it looked like a coffin. It stood out on the sidewalk in front of his house in Granby, a small town in Massachusetts. Zach, then four, hid inside. Wearing a “Scream” mask, he would jump out to scare visiting trick-or-treaters. It was a ghoulishly fun time.
The mask Zach wore, from the iconic 1996 movie, is today a best seller at his eBay store, Creepy Twists Productions. Zach receives pallets of the mask from the manufacturer each year and sells out quickly.
“eBay is the powerhouse of my business,” Zach said. “I can count on eBay day after day to make sales. I’ve been here for over 10 years, and it’s been great!”
Zach as the killer from “Scream” circa 1997. Credit: Zach Gosciminski.
Halloween is a year round holiday for Zach whose home office is spooky every day. “My parents had the ‘Halloween house’ known as the one to check out in October. Now that I have my own home, I have carried that tradition.”
Each January, he attends Halloween trade shows to see the latest costumes and decor he expects to sell. He orders the new products early, factoring in supply chain issues and delays. The masks and freakish merchandise arrive at his warehouse in August. By the time pumpkin latte and apple picking season arrives, Zach is already shipping nearly 100 orders each day.
For seller Cherie Harrison, a Northern California resident, focusing on Halloween also proved to be a winning strategy for her eBay store, wildmodel — but not at first.
“In 2009, I was earning money searching for titles on homes,” Cherie said. But when the economy and her business slowed down, she looked for something else to do.
Cherie Harrison, at her home in California, found selling Halloween costumes and decor oneBay as a consistent niche for her business. Credit: Cherie Harrison.
After she read a book on e-commerce with a chapter about eBay, the self-described introvert realized selling on eBay fit her personality. Deciding the marketplace was the place for her, like many new sellers, Cherie sourced her first products from what she already owned, mostly anti-aging and beauty products.
She began watching videos of tips and tricks for selling and stumbled upon a YouTuber who said Halloween costumes sold well on the marketplace. She developed a relationship with a distributor of Halloween products and began selling the spooky inventory. Her eBay income doubled. That was 2012.
“It was a big distributor and it worked out well for a season,” she said. “But they didn’t have the level of customer service I wanted for my customers.”
After that experience, she quit selling Halloween costumes for a couple of years until she found better product sources. The second time around, Cherie found a manufacturer that delivered great customer service. Now she sources from two manufacturers.
“One manufacturer sends the ugly, gory, bloody costumes and the other offers the super-sexy, hot costumes,” she said. “I sell year round now, not only during the Halloween season.”
Cherie sells about 300 Halloween costumes each year, which perfectly fits her lifestyle. As a top rated eBay seller, she loves knowing her store is working for her day and night so she can manage her other businesses, and still have time to go out and enjoy life.
“I love going to live theater or happy hour with my friends,” said Cherie. “And I get a rush of excitement whenever I sell a costume and I hear that little ‘ka-ching’ sound from the eBay app!”