Trong Nguyen’s boundless energy has served him well across varied careers like research scientist, French baker, and now an inventor whose homebrew tools have revolutionized how people around the world make beer.
Even though he says he’s “retired,” he never stops inventing and improving products. And you can find his inventions only on eBay.
7 Questions with Trong Nguyen
- How did you start selling on eBay?
I think I registered with eBay in 1998 or something like that, and in the early years, I would buy a lot! I would tell people, “Don't ask me how much money I spend on eBay. Ask me how much money I save on eBay.”
eBay has catered to people who were making and doing things, the makers. There's some sense of discovery, only on eBay.
I sell now only on eBay. It fits my business model, because I'm just a retired guy trying to make some cool things and move them out. I sell my floating draw tube, from two to ten a day. It's really fun.
- What does a typical day look like for you?
It’s been a lot of fun, kind of holed up in my house this last year. It’s perfect for me. I still deal with people around the world—engineers, designers, manufacturers from different parts of the world. I usually stay up late at night to communicate with those guys.
During the day, my wife and I package our products when orders come in and take them to the post office.
And then I have to continue improving and making new things. That's the fun part.
- Where do you see your business in 1 year? 5 years? 10 years?
In six months, we're probably going to move out of the house and go to a little shop to produce our things and ship them.
In five years? I think we will be very busy. I think we will be well known, because we’ve built a level of trust in the customer. It's really fun. People write me questions or give me a nice comment, like, “This is the best thing that I’ve ever used. “
And you learn from them too, because sometimes they say, “Hey, there's a problem,” and we need to fix it.
- What does community mean to you and your business?
There's a community of people that depend on eBay as a source of buying certain kinds of products. Like home-brew people know that they can buy my SPUNDit and FLOTits only on eBay. They tell their friends, “Oh, you should go and get it. Available only on eBay.”
On Reddit, some home-brew people were saying, “This guy is selling them only on eBay.” These people already know that this is the right product too, so they can buy two or three more.
- What’s your secret selling power?
My selling superpower is, first, having unique and the best products on eBay.
And lately, I’ve listened to eBay’s suggestion to offer a quantity discount. And now that my production is up, I can give a 10% discount when people can buy more than one. And that works!
- What eBay tool do you find most useful? Why?
Number one, the quantity discount.
Number two, the data on how well I’ve performed. Performance data and click rate—that kind of information. My volume is now at the point when that kind of data is beneficial for me.
- What’s your favorite quote— motivational or otherwise? Why?
“Make it the best.” Make the best thing. Make the best thing for humanity. Not just “Make the best in Sacramento, California.” Make the best for mankind. You can put that on my tombstone!
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This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.
