Jim Rodman calls his specialty “a dying art.” Though he says clock and clock repair shops are shrinking in number, Jim’s eBay business keeps growing. In fact, he’ll soon be opening a brick-and-mortar store to complement his online sales.
And Jim can be confident that the art of clock maintenance will live on, because his son Jeff is training to one day take over the business. For the Rodman family, the future of this “dying art” looks bright.
See Jim’s wide, wide range of clocks and clock parts at JRClocker.
7 Questions with Jim Rodman of JRClocker
- How did you start selling on eBay?
I've been on eBay since almost the beginning.
When my wife and I were first married, before kids, I had a friend who was a master clockmaker. His father was a master clockmaker, too. I was kind of into antiques at the time, trying to find my way. He took me on and started teaching me, and we went into a formal apprentice program.
I came out of it in 1992, and a year later we opened a clock shop. And it just took off.
I started selling on eBay in ‘98. In ‘99, my wife was offered a big promotion, but we had to move.
I thought, ”This is something I can sell on eBay while she's moving up the ladder.” I was ready to close the clock shop and take it on the road.
- What does a typical day look like for you?
First, my wife—who has retired from her career—goes through the packing slips for everything that's going to be shipped that day. We sign our slips and add our social media platforms.
Then, we pull the “pick sheet” and pick everything to ship that day. Either my wife or our son Jeff will pack. If it's delicate, like a vintage clock, they'll probably let me pack it or supervise.
Then I’m making sure there's enough stuff allotted for Jeff and our other person here to list. They'll start writing. They'll be taking pictures. And I'll be answering questions from buyers or sourcing.
Around noon, I’ll eat lunch at my desk and Jeff will start to hunt auction houses all over the country and make decisions on whether we're going there and what the logistics are.
In the afternoon, we start proofing the listings we’ve written that day and inspecting the pictures we’ve taken. We're very, very particular about pictures, especially detail. We sell items that are really small, that you could barely see in my hand, for $30 and more. The pictures have to show a lot of detail.
Then I make some time to look at our plans and developments for the next week or so. We have so much stuff that's in the building not ready to go up on eBay!
I'll try to do some pre-shipping at night for the next morning, because our first mail pickup is early.
It keeps us busy. It's always a full day. I don't turn off until the sun goes down.
- What’s your process for sourcing merchandise?
Our inventory comes from auctions, and I have pickers that bring stuff to me all the time.
People retiring from the clock business or people whose grandfather clocks and parts have been sitting in their basement will call and say, “Would you be interested in it? Otherwise we're going to throw it away.” Yeah, we're very interested in it!
In the last year and a half, we've bought three clock shops and a watch shop, which netted about 4,500 square feet of inventory.
- What eBay tool do you find most useful? Why?
You’ve got to remember that I've been on eBay since almost the beginning.
The tool I like best is probably one of the newest ones, where if somebody watches an item of mine, I can send an offer, saying “I'm having a flash sale. I'm taking 10% off if you're still interested.” Boom, there it is.
It’s really cool when you send out all your offers, and then an hour later you have 54 more to send. You're seeing that people are seeing your items. It's the fastest, easiest way to find out if people are actually interested in what you're doing.
- What’s your secret selling power?
When I first got married, I sold cars. I never want to do that again, but I did learn that the difference between a sale and no sale is normally price, but if you can prove that you're the absolute expert in what you're selling, then people will pay for your expertise.
The item is just a thing. If it's the right thing for what they need, that's what they really want to know.
- What does community mean to you and your business?
I teach eBay sellers, because I think people need to do it the right way. Teaching allows me to teach myself, because when I'm teaching I'm relearning. I have so much fun.
As far as the business goes, we’re opening up a clock shop in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. And we're meeting all the other neighbors. Nazareth is becoming this little, cool place where you can go and get antiques.
Globally, I'm selling clock movements to a guy in Jordan who's building clocks and selling them for his business. A really good client from Germany once came over with his wife, and they traveled to our office to say hello. We're shipping tons of stuff to Australia right now. I don't know why. All of a sudden we're really big in Australia.
- Where do you see your business in 1 year? 5 years? 10 years?
What's the future of the business look like? I'm going to be taking less and less of a role.
I'll be supervising and watching over quietly—sometimes vocally— but quietly more and more. I like watching what happens.
We were at an auction a couple of weeks ago, the first live auction that we've been to in a while, and I watched Jeff work, and it was a pleasure to sit there and watch him work. And so that’s the future. The future looks pretty good.
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This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.
