Selling on Amazon, eBay, and Mercari while living in an van, motorhome, or RV
RV living for someone who sells on eBay, Amazon FBA and Mercari.
Living out of a motor home, RV or van is definately not for everyone, but I have been seriously considering doing this full time. You can consider this brainstorm for bringing this idea into reality.
Boondocking, and full time RV living is already being done by thousands of individuals across the country. Just check youtube, and you will find many videos of individuals and families documenting their journeys and setups.
I have not come across many videos where the youtubers are actual online sellers that make income while traveling to different places so I want to put down a plan in this article to figure out how this can be acomplished. There are a few things to consider while doing this. I am going to be considering this for myself since I am the one that will be doing this, but hopefully some of the information will help you as well.
So first of all let's consider some of the issues that could come up with using any type of moving vehicle.
Choosing the right vehicle for your plan of action.
My idea is to be as incognito as possible, which means a large motor home or even a class B is out of the equation.
My best bet would be some sort of Sprinter van converted with storage space for inventory, but they are not cheap, and you call click on the above image to see what they are going for right now. This means that space would be extremely limited. Some sprinter vans come with built in storage racks so it may be possible to get something like that and install a living space, or these vans can come with a clean slate, and everything could be completed by myself with the help of a handy carpenter.
Why a sprinter van?
Sprinter vans are generally get better gas mileage than an RV which saves money. They are less conspicious so you can park in places where a normal motor home wouldn't be able to park without being bothered by employees. I need to be close to places where I can aquire inventory such as garage sales and thrift stores so I would have to park in town and spend the night.
Equipment that would be required to be able to be as self sustainable as possible.
Having to rely on plugins for electricity and water hoses for water would be a pain in the butt unless you go hook up at an RV park and pay their fees, which is definately an option, but I believe there are some equipment that I can use so I limit the need for these things such as.
Composting toilet
A composting toilet would minimize the need for water for using the bathroom. They are actually much cleaner than normal toilets, but do require some extra stuff to be usable.
Solar Panels
With enough solar panels, I could drasticaly decrease the need to hook into electrical outlets for power. It wouldn't solve the problem completely, but it would help out a ton.
Solar inverter
With the solar panels also comes the need for an inverter as well as enough batteries to hold a charge long enough to run everything you needed for as long as you needed.
Internet for running your online business.
Having smaller solar panels to power various equipment would also minimize the need to use extra power from the main solar panels on the top of the van. These would be primarily be used to charge, and power the 4G wifi hotspot by verizon which should give a solid internet connection with an external antenna.
Other places to find internet
The good news is with a sprinter, it would be very easy to find open wifi spots around towns near places like Star bucks, airports or Hotels, but hopefully with a 4G wifi hotspot, I wouldn't have to use these places.
Where would I be selling online?
This is the million dollar question, but luckily it is a fairly easy one to answer. With the limited space of a Sprinter van, the primary marketplace would be Amazon FBA since they will store and ship your products for your.
That being said, I would also be selling on eBay, and Mercari.
The best of the best finds would go on eBay, but I would have to focus on non fragile items suchs as metal pieces and other non breakables. I wouldn't have much storage so I would have to be extremely picky when it came to purchases.
Mercari on the other hand I would deal in small items, and clothing which wouldn't take up a lot of room so I could have more of that product to bring along with me.
Since Mercari is 100% free and has great traffic for sales, it is a pretty much a no brainer. If you are not on Mercari, check out my invite code page to receive $2.00 free for signing up, then stop by my Mercari setup page to learn how to get started. Once you are up and running, check out my Mercari tips and tricks page to learn how to sell even better.
I still have a lot of research to do to I don't run into any unexpected issues when I start out, but I think this is a good start so far. I will be adding to this article if I come across any more issues or ideas. If you have any experience, feel free to leave a comment in the comment section below.
