Never too late: Chi Swift on eBay as a second career

[podcast_team]

eBay seller Chi Swift of Chi Lin Gems worked at a Fortune 50 company for almost 30 years before diving full-time into her passion for selling jewelry. Join us for today’s episode where we’ll discuss how corporate experience shapes her business practices, why she strives to make every sale special, and her plans for growing her jewelry line.

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Chi’s eBay Store
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Georgea: Every seller has a story. I'm Georgea Mpampanis and welcome to our newest episode of the eBay Seller Spotlight podcast, where each month we spotlight sellers with a story to share with us. Our guest this episode works at a Fortune 50 company. After losing her job of 29 years, she decided to take her career and future in her own hands and started an eBay business selling what she loves. Jewelry. Welcome, Chi Swift.

Chi: Good morning. How are you? Thank you for having me.

Georgea: Let's get to know you better. What is the focus of your business on eBay?

Chi: It's jewelry and gifts.

Georgea: Jewelry and gifts. Okay. What kind of jewelry specifically?

Chi: Well, actually it's all kinds. I do antique things. I do modern things. I just love it all. I can't stay with one type of jewelry.

Georgea: Can you recall when you first started selling jewelry?

Chi: I first started, actually, I was 20 years old. I just finished college and I moved to California and back then it was like 5,000 new hires out of college. So there was a million guys getting engaged and a friend does not let a friend pay retail .

Georgea: I need more friends like you.

Chi: Yes. Because they're engineers. I taught them how to, they took graph paper and so they graphed all the diamonds they went to look at themselves and put the color and the clarity. And then once they were ready and felt good about their price range and that they know what they're doing, I took them to Los Angeles downtown and we went shopping there. And so we could beat the price of anybody that they hadn't seen at the mall or wherever else they choose to go.

Georgea: When was this?

Chi: This was in 1988.

Georgea: What were you doing before you started selling online?

Chi: I was in college then I started working at that Fortune 50 company and after 29 years and turning 50 and my first child going off to college, it was not the time to not have a second income. And I was very nervous, but I thought if I go get a job now, I will never follow my dreams and I should do it now. I was a little bit scared. My aunt started her own company at 50 and I just felt like that was the magic age, ever since I was a little girl, I thought, wow, I wanna do that. So I started selling on eBay in 99 when I was pregnant with my first one. And that was part-time, of course. And then I started full-time in 2016.

Georgea: Wow. And you decided to just jump right into your business without....you had like a really good career under your belt on your resume and you decided to just go forward with it. That's amazing.

Chi: Well, my husband said, you know, you should go and apply. You would get a job making a lot of money, and I'm like, but I wanna work for myself. I want to be able to stop when my kids call from college, and have an emergency. I work all the time, but I'm able to stop whenever my children need something. So that's important to me.

Georgea: And you're able to watch them grow and what are they up to now?

Chi: Goodness, the baby just turned 21, so he's a junior in college at Clemson. And my daughter, she's 24 and a half and she has her Bachelor's and Master's from Clemson University. And she's been working for Owens Corning for almost year and a half now in Atlanta, Georgia.

Georgea: So she's away from you?

Chi: Yes. She says she's never moving back to South Carolina. .

Georgea: I mean, listen, I'm a big fan of Atlanta, so I, I don't blame her , I wouldn't move home either.

Chi: You know how Pink Panther is the um, symbol that Owens Corning uses. When she first got the job, I bought myself a Pink Panther pendant and the next time I saw her, she's looking on my neck and she doesn't wanna say anything. And then she's looking on my neck and I'm like, yes honey, I did. I bought a Pink Panther.

Georgea: So you are representing her!

Chi: To me, all my pieces mean something.

Georgea: Yeah. Yeah. That's wonderful. You did mention you worked at a Fortune 50 company. Did you experience that that help you when you started your own jewelry business?

Chi: Sure, because it really helped me learn to be a team player and talk to different people with different backgrounds and work together. And when you're buying and selling, people have different backgrounds and it's just really helpful to know how to speak to everyone.

Georgea: A lot of people are passionate about jewelry, of course, myself included. I want to know when you know, this passion started and how it start.

Chi: I think I was three years old and I don't know, I keep asking my aunts, which one of you bought me this big beaded necklace I wear? They said, we don't, not us. So I can't believe my mother did. So probably my dad, I don't know. But I called them my Wilma beads because that's what they looked like to me.

Georgea: Wilma beads?

Chi: Wilma in Flintstone.

Georgea: Okay. The Wilma beads. Okay. Yes, yes. ,

Chi: You know those huge pearls that she wears?

Georgea: , we know the Willma beads now.

Chi: Okay. But that's why. And then my grandfather loved jewelry. He bought my grandmother so many things, but she only wore the tiny little band he bought her when he proposed, when he didn't have any money. Another beautiful ring he bought, she only wanted her original and then he started buying for my mom. So he would buy a bigger ruby for grandma, a little bit smaller one for my mother and then a little bit smaller one for the three of his girls. And I was the only one who wore the jewelry Grandpa gave me, especially when I traveled to China to see him. He was very happy. And of course I'm very happy when I see my daughter wear something I gave her.

Georgea: It's really sweet. So it's a family thing.

Chi: It's terrible. And my mother loves jewelry to me. Sometimes it's a curse.

Georgea: It's a little expensive, but I wouldn't call it a curse.

Chi: Exactly. It's very expensive.

Georgea: Aside from the Wilma beads, which were your favorite, you know, your first one, any other favorite pieces? So either for sale in your store or your personal collection?

Chi: In my personal collection would be my pear shaped diamond. It was actually the bottom of a antique pendant. So it's a pear shaped haloed by baguettes going around. They had taken that off and just made it into a ring. That's my favorite thing that I love. I never had a ring that could wear all the time that was comfortable. I wear that all the time and I just love it.

Georgea: Are you wearing it right now?

Chi: Yes, I am.

Georgea: Oh you are, of course.

Chi: Sorry. Can't help myself.

Georgea: It's great. So I did mention, I did creep your store and you do have some really unique pieces. One thing that like stood out to me that I really loved and thought was kind of random was the signet ring. So like five questions to you is, where do you find these? Like where'd you find that?

Chi: I buy little antique pins or earrings and then I have the back clipped and soldered onto a ring.

Georgea: So it's like a one of one you created it kind of.

Chi: Yes. So I have my bench jeweler make it for me. But you know, it started with colleges besides my children's college, you know, my alma mater and you know, it just grew bigger. Every time one of my nephews and nieces went to college, I had to go buy some things from their school. And then all of a sudden I thought, you know, people are proud of working for their companies. And so the college thing went to a corporation thing. So I just like different unique items. Maybe somebody couldn't afford to buy a college ring when they were in college. I have several Clemson things, one with little paw and one with little tiger. So it's just something different. Like just yesterday I sold a Harvard ring and a Princeton ring.

Georgea: So Chi, you're creative, you should make your own jewelry line.

Chi: Actually I do have my own line, I just have not publicized it. But if you go into my store and you type in Moi et Toi. It's the old French word for me and you. So there are two stones in each ring. I usually use a gemstone and then a diamond. And I don't just buy any gemstone and put them together. I have collected them from years of searching. So I have the best color spinel, the best color ruby, the best color sapphires. And depending on the cut, I match the shape of a diamond to it. And I like the satin finish. So I, I always satin finish. I just haven't figured out how to go about it, I've sold a couple on eBay,

Georgea: I'm not a business person, but I will say from experience and I am a millennial, start with social, make your own social channel. Hello.

Chi: A son who's 21 says, mom, please don't.

Georgea: Nevermind that. Don't take my advice. What do I know?

Chi: Yeah, I think I would embarrass him because during Covid people were selling on Instagram and on Facebook and I told him, I'm gonna buy some equipment, I'm gonna start doing that. And he said, mom, really? No, you can't .

Georgea: Well I really need you to get out there because you know, you have like a talent. So I can't wait to follow up with you in a few years and I hope you make it big.

Chi: Thank You. But you know what? I don't need to be big. I just wanna spread joy by one gem at a time. And I want people to feel good about themselves, feel pretty. It's not about making money, it's about sharing my gift.

Georgea: Your passion. And that's amazing. And I can tell just by like the way you speak. So do you have a memorable sale?

Chi: Oh yes. One time, someone messaged me on eBay and said, I've been watching that al ring. And I said, oh, I really love that. I think it was the really old vintage Tiffany one. It, the stone was small, but it was really different and beautiful. And he said, I know my girlfriend wants this for her engagement ring, but I just can't afford it and I've been watching you for a year. And I said, what's your budget? And he gave me a number and I said, you know what? I don't mind taking a loss if you know this is the ring for her. People should not my, in my feelings that people should not keep money from getting engaged. You know, I don't have the money saved up. We could say that about, I don't have the money to have children. I don't have the money to, you know, you can't, I can find you something beautiful at any price point too. And I love to help my children's friends when they buy their engagement rings or Christmas gifts. And I love that. 'cause the kids, they don't know how to shop and be able to, they would spend more on costume jewelry than what I would charge for something lovely and real.

Georgea: Well, I'm gonna send my future husbands to you to buy an engagement ring whenever that time comes.

Chi: I get that a lot.

Georgea: Coming your way.

Chi: Okay.

Georgea: What would be your advice for someone who wants to turn their hobby into a business?

Chi: Well, the hobby is the passion part. But then you absolutely need to have an aspiration of why you want to do it. When I started it was to pay for my children's tuition and then it became spreading joy. It has to be something greater than that person. And it can't be just money. Nothing is successful if you're chasing the dollar. You have to actually believe in what you do, whatever that may be.

Georgea: That is a great piece of advice. Chi, tell us, where can listeners find you and your store online?

Chi: Only on eBay. .

Georgea: Yay. I love that. Only on eBay.

Chi: Yes. And you're gonna die laughing. I actually have a chilingems.com but when you click shop it directs you to eBay.

Georgea: Oh my goodness. This is great. I love that you are a diehard fan and we appreciate you.

Chi: Yes, I only sell on eBay.

Georgea: And it's chillingems?

Chi: It's my maiden name. So it's Chi Lin and then gems, GEMS.

Georgea: Beautiful. So users can, or listeners can come find your store and shop some of your amazing jewelry.

Chi: Thank you.

Georgea: Well, thank you so much for being here today. This is awesome experience.

Chi: Well, I had so much fun. Thank you guys for inviting me.

Georgea: Chi Swift sells on eBay under the store name chilingems. Looking for a gift for that special someone or something nice for yourself. Then shop her store for unique jewelry pieces today. We hope you'll join us on our next episode, where we will shine the spotlight on another seller with an amazing story to share. I'm your host, Georgea Mpampanis. Jim Griffith is our Editor in Chief. The eBay Seller Spotlight podcast is produced by Libsyn and podCast411.