Top Pre-Loved Fashion Seller In Spotlight As eBay Media Strategy Ramps Up
Top pre-loved men's fashion reseller, Technsports, featured in CNBC Make It spotlight as eBay ramps up consumer to consumer initiatives and media strategy.
The article and accompanying YouTube video tell the story of how founder Rick Senko started selling used items on eBay when he was “flat broke” in 2008 and built it into a $6.5 Million a year business.
Tom Huddleston Jr.,Mickey Todiwala
What started as a way to make ends meet slowly grew into a reselling empire, bringing in millions of dollars a year in sales as one of eBay’s top sellers. In 2023, Senko started a wholesale business called Technsports that sells up to 5,000 items of used clothing per day to other professional resellers. Technsports brought in more than $6.5 million in 2024 revenue, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Technsports is profitable overall, with a profit margin of roughly 50% per item sold, Senko says.
“I have not taken a day off in almost 20 years,” says Senko. “It is not lost on me how fortunate I am. But it also took a tremendous amount of work, a tremendous amount of commitment, and a tremendous amount of sacrifice to get from where I came from to now selling millions of dollars per year and living a very, very fortunate life.”
While it's not entirely clear if eBay was involved in pitching or developing the story, it would certainly fit with recent efforts they've been making to boost pre-loved fashion reselling into mainstream awareness and elevate the company's media profile.
In fact, eBay currently has an open Lead Manager, Corporate Communications position geared specifically toward developing and executing communications strategies that "elevate eBay’s Recommerce leadership narrative" by building and maintaining "strong relationships with key media outlets, journalists, and influencers to secure high-impact earned coverage."
At least it appears eBay has finally learned an important lesson by only looking to "secure" high-impact coverage, rather than prevent it, like a previous crisis communications job ad said - a concerning prospect, considering what happened the last time eBay tried to prevent certain media coverage it didn't like.
Liz Morton
eBay also recently put out a call for private UK sellers to participate in a paid case study run by global PR giant Edelman and opportunities to share their selling journey through eBay’s marketing channels and media outlets.
Liz Morton
It's also probably worth noting that Edelman is infamous for their "astroturf" campaigns - which is a fancy name for creating fake "grassroots" organizations which are really frontgroups for industry/corporate clients.
For example, it was discovered the Working Families for Wal-Mart group, which purported to be an independent effort led by Wal-Mart employees and a blog called "Walmarting Across America" were actually campaigns created by Edelman on behalf of the corporate giant, not organic grassroots activity.
Guardian Staff
There's also the "Grossroots Multiplier" software Edelman has used for over a decade to "convert average citizens" into pro-oil "true champions" in perennial PR war between Big Oil and environmental groups like Greenpeace.
Brian MerchantGiven that history, sellers could be forgiven for being skeptical that Edelman and eBay really are just looking for grassroots seller stories and this won't just be another carefully manicured astroturf campaign.
The fact that this latest Edelman-led PR effort will place eBay seller stories "with media outlets who celebrate people successfully selling online" gives the impression the company already has friendly media lined up and waiting, again raising questions about whether any such coverage will disclose any investments or conflicts of interest they may have and/or that the sellers being featured are being paid to tell their stories.
In fact, eBay already has a history of blurring ethical lines with disclosure of paid promotions, especially in their relationship with Vogue parent company Condé Nast which just announced the marketplace has been named their "official pre-loved partner."
Liz Morton
Friendly media contacts have also been leveraged to elevate eBay’s brand and reputation...[by] placing executive profiles, bylines & speaking ops that further the company narrative" covering up chronic technical misexecution and serving up softball interviews that allow top executives to make demonstrably false claims about the business with little to no push back or scrutiny.
Liz Morton
And last year, eBay signed an exclusive deal with New York Times-owned The Athletic to provide sports trading card and memorabilia content, prompting reader skepticism and questions about journalistic integrity and ethics.
Liz Morton
Given the increasingly aggressive media strategy eBay Chief Communications Officer Gigi Ganatra Duff is pursuing with sometimes questionable regard for disclosure requirements, it's more important than ever for sellers, market analysts and investors interested in what's really going on at the company to seek out truly independent media sources, free of corporate influence and conflicts of interest.
And on that note: a reminder that Value Added Resource is 100% independent and reader supported - no sponsored content, no ads, and no compromises.
