Thawanporn Areechitranusorn gains Titanium ranking with gemandgem.com.

Among successful sellers is a Chanthaburi-based company called gemandgem.com, which has earned the Titanium Powerseller title on eBay. It makes more than Bt100 million annually with two dozen employees, and no shop.

To qualify as a Titanium Powerseller, the seller has to make at least US$150,000 [Bt5.9 million] a month.

"We're the first Thai firm to get Titanium ranking," said Thawanporn Areechitranusorn, general manager of gemandgem.com, at a seminar hosted by Thaiventure.com recently.

Thawanporn, who had been an aircraft dealer for the Thai armed forces, registered gemandgem.com in August, 2003. She had been asked by her brother Nattanan to start a business with him after he was laid off from Thaigem.com.

Thawanporn had little knowledge of e-commerce but learned quickly after many sleepless nights. She had been snubbed by foreign friends who told her: "It's in your dreams. It's impossible".

She tried everything. When she failed to take a nice photograph of the stones for the website, she simply photocopied them.

"I keep copies to this day," she said with a grin. Thawanporn made the first listing of her stones on eBay on October 29, starting with four stones. No one bid for them during the first three days. But she was finally able to sell three.

"In the first month we invested Bt200,000 in a computer and office facilities.

"In the first year we made a loss, but after that the profits went up and up. This is a good business, but you need to be patient," she said.

"It's like opening a 7-Eleven shop except the customers come from all over the world, bidding for products every minute."

In starting gemandgem, Thawanporn said, she learned from top retailers. She recalled that Wal-Mart's founder Sam Walton once said he had succeeded by copying his rivals and then doing better.

"We studied two companies, the best and the worst performers," she said. "The best was Bluenite, which sells diamonds; the worst we prefer not to name. From them we found what to do and what to avoid."

Thiparat Laisringern, marketing officer of gemandgem, said people who wanted to sell on eBay should consider building brands and logos to get customers to remember their products.

"To buy cloth, you have to touch it again and again. Some may wonder how we can sell gems on line. It's because of the photos and descriptions. Don't be afraid customers won't read it. Provide all the information, as it could boost the price," she said.

Gemandgem uses a software called turbolister for its website.

"Saturday and Sunday are the days most people shop on eBay, but we post 20-30 pieces a day, and we sell them all," said Thiparat.

"Since 90 per cent of our customers are from America, we go by US time.

Thiparat said many people thought they could "catch a tiger with their bare hands" on eBay. "The truth is one needs to invest money and effort."

"Regardless of whether it sells or not, the cost to us of listing one item on eBay is Bt100," she said.

No less than 10 new sellers appear every day on eBay to compete with gemandgem. Many quit, but some manage to survive.

"Competition is fierce. The key is knowing the business," said Thiparat.

"Our managing director Khun Nattanan has been in this business for 20 years. He started before he was 20 years old, and he has worked in many fields in the industry."

An important item for newbies is the feedback from customers. To be a Powerseller, the feedback must be 98 per cent favourable.

"You must know your business well and know real gems from fake ones," she said.

Using the right "keywords" is also important to get to buyers on eBay.

"If you list the gem as 'blue sapphire', there may be as many as 8,000 competitors on the Web, but if you list it as "Ceylon blue sapphire" that narrows it down to 3,000 competitors. That's one way to beat the competition. But never cheat your customer," said Thiparat The company has also hired a research firm called Andale.com to study its competitors.

There is also a listing technique by category. "To differentiate our gems, we qualifying them as 'star' and 'second-star' products, she said.

"As my brother says, every day we need to have a Beckham," she said.

Thank to connections in the US, Thawanporn was able to open an account in her name at a US bank, allowing customers there to make swift payment leading to speedy delivery.

Thawanporn said her next step would be to sell other things on eBay such as fashion garments and gifts and list the firm on the stock market, but as not everyone uses the Internet, the company also aims to sell products through direct TV channels in the UK.

Pichaya Changsorn

The Nation