This week we’re joined by Trish Glenn, SuperSaleTrish. Trish is not only a long-time online seller, but also List Perfectly Director of Operations. She’s also known for reselling, business, teaching, and shenanigan experience. She is also definitely Bostonianish, kind, and adventurous.
The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly is the ecommerce resource for the seller community across all platforms and a hub for information on growing your business. Find out more at thesellercommunitypodcast.com, leave a message or ask a question at anchor.fm/sellercommunitypodcast, or email us at podcast@listperfectly.com.
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SuperSaleTrish TikTok
Transcript
Doug
All right. I’m joined today by my very good friend, SuperSaleTrish, who’s been on the show before, but we haven’t documented her seller story. I met Trish at a Boston Meetup way back, and I always tease her because I’m from Southern California and she made me stand in the cold for a while and chat
Trish
“Made” is a little bit of an exaggeration…
Doug
We didn’t seem cold at all, but I don’t wanna reveal too much. I’m here. Trish is here. How’s it going, Trish?
Trish
Not bad. How about you, Doug?
Doug
I’m doing well. Thank you for coming on the show.
Trish
Anytime.
Doug
All right let’s get started. So you’re SuperSaleTrish, where did that come from and what’s that mean?
Trish
Where’d it come from? My name’s Trish. And I was gonna sell stuff and I thought I’d be good at it.
Doug
That makes sense.
Trish
Ingenious of me. That’s where it came from. I just put down names on a paper and I decided on that one.
Doug
Okay. For those that don’t know, how long have you been selling online and how did you get into selling online?
Trish
So now it’s probably about 10 years altogether, but I bought a..I worked in construction and there was a bubble and I lost my job. And I decided to go in a different route and I bought a women’s consignment store a couple of towns over from me that was for sale and on paper, it was great.
And I had been going there, I didn’t just do it willy-nilly. I went there for a while. And so I bought this and it was an unmitigated disaster, like bad, bad. And so after about a year, I moved the location to try to get cheaper rent to try to make it work. And at that point, I just started selling on eBay only to make the rent, to be honest with you. I always paid the customer, the client, so I never owed anybody any money. I was behind in everything–rent, electricity, all that kind of stuff. So I just started to pay the bills and I wouldn’t donate. So I don’t know what you know about consignment, but after so long it reverts back to the store and you can donate. It’s in the contract.
You can donate it, you can do whatever you want. Most people donate it. When you’re not making any freaking money, you don’t donate the stuff because you need every dollar. That you can do. So I would have a big tent sale and just sell everything for a buck.
And then I’m like that’s crazy. Some of this stuff is worth money. So I started putting it on eBay and by the time I closed the store, I was making a lot more money on eBay than I was in the store. I had very large storage units when I closed full of clothes, and I thought when I was done with those three storage units, I would never touch a piece of clothing again.
I was mortified. I hated it. I hated that I was a failure. I hated clothing. I hated women. I hated everything. I never wanted to see anybody again. But by the end of the third storage unit I was out buying clothes and here we are today.
Doug
And how long have you been selling on eBay?
Trish
So altogether, I think it’s about 10 years. Since then, since I still owned the store for a few years and then continued, so…
Doug
What was the name of the store?
Trish
A Passion for Fashion.
Doug
Oh, that’s cute.
Trish
That was the name it had. I did not. Yeah, so and I, you know what? That would’ve been my eBay name all across the board, but it was taken. So then that’s why I had to find a name that I could just use, and I decided to go with SuperSaleTrish. And that’s what…
Doug
Interesting. Okay. So you transitioned to fully online. So what was that transition like and what did you take from your brick-and-mortar experience into your online selling experience?
Trish
I went from trying very hard to sell anything any day because it would be very difficult to get people to even come into the store. So I did go to a high volume, low-cost model because of that, okay. I felt more secure as a seller selling multiple things every single day. I would rather sell something for 25 bucks every day, then wait for $50 a couple of times a day, especially because I could get the items so cheap if not free. So especially at the beginning, everything was free because it was left over from the consignment. So because of that, I got into a high-volume, low-cost model. And the other thing I took away from the brick-and-mortar is I didn’t want overhead.
That overhead was killing me. The idea of having to pay $2,000 a month in rent and pray that someone would come in the door and then advertising and the phone and the electric and all those things. The month that I closed the store I had a lease and the boiler blew in the building. I have Facebook posts of me saying with all of these heaters facing, it’s 30 degrees outside, and there is frost on the windows. It’s 55 in here, I’ll take 55% off anything if you come in.
I would’ve done anything. to just make it work. And I just couldn’t, it was just awful. So I didn’t want overhead and I didn’t wanna be relying on somebody else. I was relying on my landlord to make sure it was a building that I could use and it wasn’t. So I was very determined to be in charge of it all because of that.
Doug
Okay. Interesting. Did you teach yourself eBay? How’d you learn to sell online?
Trish
The first time I sold online was in 1992, so I’ve been selling consistently for 10 years. My dad was a golfer and one time he went, I don’t know, Kmart. There were golf balls, the multi-packs. Yeah. In a big bin, and they were 10 cents per box, and so he bought two carriages, two buggies worth of balls. So he comes home with 300, 300 packs of golf balls. He couldn’t have used that many for the rest of his life if he went every day.
So he said to me “I think we should sell these on eBay.” And I was like, what’s eBay? Old man, you’re outta your mind. I sold golf balls for him in the early nineties and I can remember waiting. I used to get money orders, I used to get checks. I used to get cash in the mail.
So he would buy things every once in a while, and I would sell them for him. And most of the time he’d just let me have the money cuz I was young and yeah, divorced and had a baby and he was just being nice to me. And so if I did the work he would let me have the money. So I would do that for a while.
But then, I got a job in, life went on and I didn’t sell on eBay for a really long time. So when I had the store and I was failing miserably, where my mind went I’ll try eBay, which is what happened.
Doug
That’s interesting. And so you’re pretty business savvy. , did that come from your dad or where did that come from?
Trish
Yeah, both my parents were self-employed my whole life. So my dad was a lawyer, but he owned a law firm, a small one before he went into politics and then he became a judge. When I was a kid, he owned a carwash for a little while cuz some guy he represented couldn’t pay him.
We owned some other house where we would go in and he was very, even though he was a lawyer, he could do anything, build anything, do anything. He would flip houses when I was a kid. My grandfather owned a business. And my mother sold real estate, so being your own boss was always a thing that these people did.
So you just pick it up. And I never really worried about making money, to be honest with you. I figured one way or another I’d survive.
Doug
That’s interesting. And yeah, like you said, be your own boss. Self-starter, multiple streams of income. Very like modern thinking too.
Trish
Hey, who would’ve thought?
Doug
Exactly. So you’re very active and very well-known in the seller community. So tell us about that. Bring us back. How’d you get into the seller community? Maybe some highlights for you. What the community means.
Trish
So how I got into the community, I didn’t know there was a community. I went to a meet-up. Okay. And Diane Lassonde had just taken over Chris Green’s meetup. Yeah, he was the guy who did Amazon, and, okay. So she had taken over his meetup and I went in and I owned the consignment shop at the time and I went in and just said, I was just wondering how this works, what you do, blah, blah, blah.
I don’t know, but a week later she showed up at my store. She walks in, she’s “Hey, I’m Diane. You found me on Zoom. I think I have a meetup and I need someone to run it with me and you should come.”
And I was like no. And I said, no. I was drowning. I couldn’t even focus on anything other than getting myself out of this mess.
So maybe a year and a half later I showed up at a meetup. So I walk in and she goes, “You’re the girl who owned the consign store.” I was like, “Yeah, that’s me.” And so I was there for maybe three or four months and the eBay Open was happening and we’re in a restaurant and there’s like 25, 45 people there and we’re all doing our little eBay thing and she says, “I think I’m gonna go to eBay Open. Does anybody wanna go with me?”
Now I’ve only seen this woman twice or three times, and I go, “I’ll go.” And I go, “Where is it?” She goes, “Vegas.” I go, “Never been. I’ll go.” So Diane and I went to Vegas; we’ve been inseparable since.
Doug
And what year was that?
Trish
I wanna say 2017.
Doug
Okay. All right. Interesting.
Trish
Yeah. And so I went to eBay Open. And then the next year I joined the seller diversity team with Dominique. And I did that for a couple of years and I would do anything anybody asked me, just cuz you know, and I’m loud and I’m from Boston and, it just happens I yell “Do you wanna go to the bar? Who wants a beer?”
And, so, my first eBay open, I was coming up the ramp at Mandalay Bay. And I yell from the bar, Diane’s like ahead of me and I yell, “Diane, we’re ya going?” And all of a sudden, this girl with bright pink hair whips around and goes, “Where are you from?” I go, ”where are YOU from?”
She’s “Rhode Island.” I’m like “Massachusetts.” And so that was LVPinkPeacock. And so Vikki and I became friends and then so we introduced ourselves and. Later that night, I’m in the Open where they give you the drinks the first night, you know the social part. And I yell to Diane, “Diane, you wanna beer from the bar?”
And after that, I could not get rid of Vikki. Vikki was like “Talk again. Talk again.” No one talks like that here. Cause she’d been living in Vegas for seven years or something. Vikki said, “When I first met Trish, it was like going home because like I would say this crap.”
I’ve tried to tone it down since then, but you never know. It still happens.
Doug
You do stand out in a room. . You are known for your bubbly personality and your hu-mah.
Trish
Humah.
Doug
Where did that happen, where did that come from?
Trish
Which one?
Doug
Both.
I don’t know. Like bubbly? I was just born like this. Okay. I have energy till I go until I drop, and I don’t think I’m funny. Yes, I don’t. I think everyone else is funny. I laugh all the time. I think everyone’s funny, but I don’t think I’m particularly funny. But…
Doug
That’s what crazy people say. They think everybody else is crazy and they’re sane.
Trish
Okay. I know I’m not sane. Let’s be serious, Doug. No, but I think I’ll go anywhere. I’ll do anything. I’ll talk to anybody. I think, cuz I’m an only child. I have no problem going anywhere by myself. I’ll introduce myself. I’ll find somebody to talk to. I think a lot of people get nervous or intimidated by going to these events.
And I could say honestly, it’s helped. eBay business more than I can explain. And also, you never know who you’re gonna meet and who you’re gonna become friends with right Doug?
Doug
Exactly. Look at us. Okay, so how’d you get connected with List Perfectly?
Trish
So in 2018 at eBay Open, they were there with Theresa.
I didn’t know any of them, but they were passing out stuff and I don’t think they both had a ticket. I think that they had to switch off. I never saw them together. I never saw Clara and Amanda together, so I didn’t know that they owned this company. I didn’t really know anything.
I didn’t really know Theresa, but Vikki and Katy did. And Theresa owned an Airbnb in Phoenix, and in 2019 my father had been diagnosed with cancer and he wanted to go to the Grand Canyon. And so there was gonna be PoshFest before we were gonna go to the Grand Canyon.
And I said to my husband, I don’t sell on Posh, but I think maybe I should go and check it out. And so evidently, I wrote on Facebook that I was thinking about going to PoshFest and coming to Phoenix and Theresa said, “Come and stay at my Airbnb.” I dunno if I would’ve known the woman, honest to God.
I dunno if I would’ve known her. And so then she calls me and says, “No, really come. It’s great. If you want, I’ll go to Posh. We’ll both go to PoshFest.” She said, “I’m gonna go for List Perfectly.” So I said, “I’ll go,” and she goes, “All right, would you mind wearing a t-shirt and stuff?” I said, “No if I’m fine.”
Clara and Amanda had come to Diane’s in the meantime, so I knew who they were. Enough to say, “Yeah, sure. They’re sweet. I’ll come.” So, she comes and picks us up at the airport and brings us to her Airbnb.
Theresa and I went to PoshFest for two or three days, wore List Perfectly shirts every day, walked around, talked to everybody, and by the end, she and I were friends.
Doug
There you go. So now you work for List Perfectly. So tell us what you do for those that don’t know.
Trish
I am the Director of Operations.
Doug
All right.
Trish
So right now I’m planning to have a tour across the United States. So we’re gonna do our own small events and we’re actually gonna do a big event, which we haven’t really announced yet, but that’s coming. So it’s what I’m doing right now. And that came about because I went to FlipCon with Theresa and she was coming to the East Coast and she’s somebody who I’d, I rarely, probably only seen once since I went and stayed at her Airbnb. She lives in Phoenix. I live in Boston, and she said, “Hey, I’m gonna be on the East Coast. Why don’t you come?”
I said, “Okay.” She said, “If you buy a ticket, you can share my hotel room.” I said, “Okay, great.” So I buy a ticket, and I get myself flown down there. I go, Clara, and you were there. And by the end, Clara had offered me a job.
Doug
All right. There you go. And you and I knew each other obviously.
Trish
Yeah. You had been up to Boston a couple of times. I met you at eBay Open. So you and I already knew each other.
Doug
Yeah, that’s right. Two peas in a pod.
Trish
In a pod.
Doug
Yes. So you have this mantra. So tell us your mantra and what it means to you.
Trish
My mantra always was I wanted to build myself a business. I didn’t wanna build myself a job. I hated the fact that I had to go to that damn consignment store every single day.
I hated the fact that I had to do that. There was no one else, if I got sick or if something happened to me, the store would close. My daughter had a full-time job. Maybe I could get my mom to go for a few hours, but she still works. She’s not gonna go over there all day.
And so when I closed the store and started the eBay business, I worked very hard at building myself a business. I wanted to have listers. I wanted to have a system. I wanted things to go on every day. I wanted to be able to go on vacation. I wanted to have a listing bank, so I would have 200 items in there. So if I went on vacation, I could extend the handling time.
But things continued to roll. I didn’t wanna be in the position where I felt like I was for a very long time, where I was the only one. Even if I was the only one. If you build in the right processes, you can have a business and not just a job.
And now since I started to work for List Perfectly, my daughter who’s 30, she now, she and I both own it now. And all I really do is some sourcing. She takes care of everything else like I want her to be able to not be a slave to what’s happening, that if you are not there every day, everything stops.
Doug
So this kind of goes back to your parents and being a self-starter, being your own boss, having those multiple streams of income, multiple options.
Trish
Yeah. I never really thought about it, but you’re right, therapy with Doug.
Doug
That’s right. The doctor’s in.
Trish
The doctor is in.
Doug
I have an online doctorate.
Trish
In what?
Doug
Comedic science. It’s true.
And so she comes up, she always comes up in conversations with you, and you two are inseparable. I’ve seen you attached at the hip. I’ve seen you in matching costumes, and I’ve seen you in complimentary costumes. I’ve seen you in many situations. Tell us about Diane, the relationship, and what she means to you.
Trish
Okay, so Di really, I think cuz I’m an only child, I never had a sister and at this point in my life, I understood. In a small way. She’s my person. I could call her in the middle of the night, she would come to get me.
She gives me tough love when I need it. She says things to me I really don’t wanna hear sometimes.
Doug
I’ve seen that too.
Trish
Yeah. She’s also my best friend and more, she goes out of her way to help me. She’ll do anything. And it’s mutual, and her family has taken my daughter and me and some to an extent my husband. He’s not the most social dude. Only one of us can be like this. If there were two of us, you’re in trouble.
Doug
Yeah. It’ll be too much. You guys cancel each other out.
Trish
Exactly. But even he, we all went to Las Vegas. We just all went to Katy and Vikki’s wedding and unfortunately, she has terminal cancer and that has made a whole new layer to this whole thing that’s hard.
But. As usual. She’s still saying whatever she wishes and she says stuff and I just shake my head. And God bless her. She and I were out the other night with Julie and Chris Brown who are Ohio Tiki Nuts. I almost said that wrong. And we were in the parking lot, Julie and Chris, or maybe Julie, my daughter.
So it was just, she and I were in the parking lot of the Paki and we were waiting for them to come out and she said to me, she’s mad cuz we don’t have enough time. We should have met earlier. I’m a little mad at myself for the year and a half when she came into the store that I just didn’t go to then.
But I didn’t. It’s one of those things, it’s a beautiful thing and it’s bittersweet at this moment, but I’m thankful that I have it.
Doug
Yeah. And it is a beautiful thing. You’re beautiful together and she’s a lovely, classy lady. And I wouldn’t expect anything else like I know she’s gonna take anything head on. And she’s got you.
Trish
She just, she’s doing whatever she wants to do. And I said to her yesterday if you don’t, if you’re tired, we can just stay home. She’s always tired. We’re going. I was like, okay…
Doug
Yeah, there you go. It’s a lovely friendship and it really shows.
Trish
And she is an entrepreneur to the bottom nth degree. She has done multiple things. She’s owned brick-and-mortar multiple, she’s, sold through different things. She really is, and even now, she has no hair. She’s going through chemo. She’s still on, still selling on eBay. I gotta be honest, I think I’d stop, but she’s still going.
Doug
Yeah. Yeah. So what is one single top piece of advice for new sellers?
Trish
Find yourself, and your people. It is a tough thing to get into and your friends are gonna come to your house and see piles of stuff and they’re gonna see baskets full of numbers.
And they’re gonna be like, what in God’s name are you doing? Why are you going to those yard sales or those thrift stores? But you have to find, and there are pockets. eBay now has its own meetup kind of thing. , you can go on Meetup, you can go online, you can find them virtually.
List Perfectly has our own platform called Listing Party where you can meet other people who think like you. I have a Mastermind class every day at 9:00 AM Eastern Time on Listing Party. And it’s one of those things that you need to find other people. There is no reason for you to reinvent the wheel.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do your own research, but if you are somewhere and you’re like, is this really worth it? How do I send this? What’s the cheapest way to send out a pair of jeans, so that you’re not spending as much in shipping or you’re not charging as much as shipping?
Yeah. There are a lot of things that you don’t need to reinvent. And so my biggest piece of advice would be to come to find us cuz we wanna help you. Clara, the woman who is one of the co-founders of List Perfectly always says that there is enough room for everybody in e-commerce. And I couldn’t agree with that more.
And I also think that the better we are as a group selling that the sea rises, we will, all the boats will be brought up. If we get rid of the bad sellers, the sellers who don’t really, and we all bring our own standards up, that just helps everybody. So I really do think that’s my best piece of advice.
Doug
Alright. That’s great. That’s great. Three words to describe yourself.
Trish
Oh, this is hard.
I think I’m Bostonianish. I think I have that kind of edge. I try to be kind.
Doug
You’re very kind. You’re also very Bostonianish.
Trish
Sometimes those things don’t go together. Which is why I laughed. And my last one is I think that I’m I’ll, I wanna use the word fearless, but that isn’t really what I meant. I’ll do anything once. I’ll do anything. You wanna go somewhere? You wanna try a food? You wanna drink a beverage? You wanna do whatever? I’ll do it with you. You wanna go watch the ants have a race? I’m going too.
Doug
Adventurous?
Trish
Adventurous. That’s good.
Doug
Yeah. You’re adventurous.
Trish
Yeah. That’s good, I am.
Doug
There you go. All right. Anything to add before I let you go?
Trish
I think that everybody should resell. Honestly, I think you should all be on the lookout. Even if you’re not, you come across stuff that can be worth it, you just don’t wanna walk away, so just keep your eyes open, even if you’re not gonna do this for a living. You wanna dabble a little? I think it’s a great side hustle. And the other thing I would like to say is I’m very happy to be at List Perfectly, actually. It’s been really fun. This is the first time in a long time that I’ve used some skills that I forgot about, so I’m glad to be here.
Doug
We’re glad to have you and…
Trish
Oh, thank you.
Doug
We’ve only just begun.
Trish
Exactly.
Doug
All right. I always love talking to you and love working with you, and thanks for coming on the show.
Trish
You’re welcome. And right back at you. You are a very fun guy, and I do thoroughly enjoy your company.
Doug
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Trish
You’re welcome.
Doug
Alright. I’m sure we will talk again soon. And we’ve been joined by the fabulous SuperSaleTrish, who is Bostonianish, kind, and adventurous
Trish
Thanks, everybody…
Doug
Adventure Trish!
Tris
Adventure Trish!
Doug
Bostonian Trish.
Trish
Doesn’t Adventure Trish sound like a cartoon? Adventure Trish!
Doug
It does.
Trish
Yeah.