EBay : 7 Questions with Sandra Gustard of Fountain Pimento Oil

Following a car accident, Sandra Gustard discovered that a traditional Jamaican remedy was the best treatment for her injured arm-so she started making it herself.

When her friends raved about their own results with what Sandra made, a business was born.

Now Sandra's products boost health and beauty around the world. Shop from Sandra atFountain Pimento Oil.

7 Questions with Sandra Gustard of Fountain Pimento Oil

1. How did you start selling on eBay?

I'd already been selling my products for a few years before I went on eBay. I didn't think online was a viable thing. At the time, I was more about getting out there and selling to stores. But my oldest daughter, Robin, was having success selling sneakers right on eBay.

I realized eBay had a whole beauty section and a health section. I only put one product on, and it wasn't selling well. I wasn't doing enough. I didn't do enough research on how to be found. I wasn't paying much attention to keywords.There are millions of products selling similar things, but it's all about your description and how it speaks to consumers.

My breakthrough product in that regard was Fountain Mighty Roots. It addresses people with receding hairlines. Women call it missing edges- where you braid your hair too tight and your hair pulls out from the root. But me, in my descriptions on eBay, I would be putting in the proper medical term- traction alopecia. But in real life, people don't speak like that. They'll say, 'I've lost my edges.' Or 'I've got no hairline.' Or 'I'm bald at my temples.' So I changed my descriptions. It took me a while to do that.

1. What does a typical day look like for you?

First of all, I check my orders, then print my shipping labels so the customer knows that their product is on the way.

I have the oils in big buckets and I try to keep the products fresh, so I tend to bottle as I'm shipping so customers get a fresh product.

A listing for Sandra's 'breakthrough product,' Mighty Root.

1. What's your process for sourcing merchandise?

Pimento comes from Jamaica. I go to Jamaica usually three to four times a year. I always pick up leaves. I always pick up leaves. I always get pimento, fever grass, Jamaican peppermint leaves, pimento berries. I have freezers of leaves all over. I have a freezer in the basement and I have my regular freezer and I have leaves in other people's fridges too.

1. What's your top productivity hack?

It's the customers-the repeat customers and referrals. I have to be there for my people. People call from Antigua or Barbados saying, 'My sister sent me a bottle of your product last year, and my hair has grown back so much.' Or someone who can't get up the stairs. Those are the things that keep you going.

1. What's your secret selling power?

I know that the best way to sell something to somebody is use it yourself to show what it's done for you.

People ask me if I use the products I sell, and I do. I'm in my fifties. I have good clean skin. I don't have wrinkles or saggy skin, because I use Moroccan argan oil that I sell. That is the best way to convey your message. It's my superpower. Because the proof is always in the pudding.

1. What eBay tool do you find most useful? Why?

What I've learned over the past year is to use the listing optimization tool. That's my number one because it advises you on the categories you should be selling in so you get seen and get the most exposure.

And it tells me the amount of people searching for certain terms-for instance, vegan or organic or non-GMO or paraben-free.

1. Where do you see your business in 1 year? 5 years? 10 years?

In five or ten years, I think I will be in a proper business space. I do everything by hand right now. I label bottles. I'm quickly running out of space. But based on my experience of having a clothing store, I don't want the overhead to take away from the business, and that's what that would do. That's why I continue to use my basement. In five years time, I expect to have a full team of employees. I expect to have six to ten employees.

And I feel like I'm going to be shipping on a big container ship. That's where I see myself realistically in five years- shipping-container loads of product going to different countries.

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This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.