Meet a Seller: Mark Rau is a record-breaking racer and eBay Motors seller

In a small Midwestern town, where high-performance cars were rare and racing was a teenage dream, Mark Rau built one of eBay Motors' most successful auto salvage businesses. What started in a two-car garage as a side hustle to fund his racing hobby has evolved into a 40,000-square-foot operation in Arizona stocked with parts for luxury vehicles.

Now a world record-holding race car driver, Mark has established a brand and a reputation both on and off the track that set him apart in the high-end salvage industry. Today, he brings hard-to-find parts to car enthusiasts around the world, exclusively on eBay.

We spoke with Mark of AZ Cycle Partsto hear how he turned his racing dream into a multimillion-dollar eBay business, in his own words:

Racing into the record books

I'm an entrepreneur at heart and I love business, but racing is my passion. My brother was into Volkswagen Beetles back when I was five years old, so that's when I caught the bug. I got into racing when I was 15, and ever since then, I've been hooked. It's become a never-ending pursuit to go faster.

After drag racing for almost 20 years, I moved into half-mile racing on airport runways, where you go from a standing stop to covering a half-mile distance as fast as you can. Just this year, I was able to set the world record for the fastest on earth in half mile racing with my Underground Racing Lamborghini STO at 260.72 miles an hour.

From race car driver to reseller with a 40,000-square-foot warehouse

My eBay journey began as a way to fund my racing pursuits. When I was a teenager in Wisconsin, I used eBay to make money to buy and race cars. I'm from very humble beginnings. Having an eBay side hustle made racing possible, and allowed me to grow into what I am today - one of the top high-end auto salvage sellers on eBay.

Back in the early days of the business, I'd go to auto swap meets to find items I could sell and flip. I figured out really quickly that if I bought a vehicle and took it apart, I could make three, four, or five times as much money.

I made the leap to selling full-time on eBay when the economy crashed in 2008. I had been working in the aerospace industry and was let go, so I decided to take the plunge. I cashed out everything I had and started selling out of a two-car garage at my house. Now we've grown into a 40,000-square-foot, all-indoors, climate-controlled warehouse.

Sourcing high-end inventory from coast to coast

We carry parts for exotic cars such as Ferrari and McLaren, but also muscle cars, enthusiast cars, motorcycles, UTVs, and more. We're always looking for niche, unique products and we source vehicles from insurance salvage auctions and dealer networks, all across the United States. I'm buying online all the time, and we process two vehicles every day.

We set ourselves apart from the competition by carrying a vast product line on eBay that no one else in the industry can match. Our high inventory allows us to have smaller margins, and our cash reserves allow us to invest more in products and sell them for more.

Staying up on the trends is what differentiates us as well. When a new model comes out, we get it, part it out, and take it to market with a product offering.

A commitment to quality and customer service

We have a staff of ten, and we're committed to quality. Every part we sell is inspected and tested to make sure it's in good working order. We take a lot of care - from the photography team, who take excellent photos, to the shipping team, who package the items when they go out the door so they're not damaged in transit.

All of our products ship out with FedEx. It costs us a bit more, but it gets the product to the customer around two days faster than any other service. And that's why our buyer feedback is so strong. The number one thing we hear from our customers is, "Wow, I can't believe how fast I got the part. I ordered it two days ago, and it's already at my doorstep."

Keeping his business on track with eBay tools

There are a few eBay tools that have been absolutely crucial to our business. We use myFitment heavily on most of our listings to expand our reach and show compatibility with various years, makes, and models. It provides missing fitment information on new listings we post.

eBay International Shipping has been a godsend for us. It's eliminated a lot of the headaches and paperwork that come with selling to customers around the world. It's a simple process: we put the product in a box and ship it to the terminal - and from there, we know we're covered 100%. We probably sell 15 to 20% of all our products through eIS, and it's been a game changer.

Also, the new Seller Dashboard and Seller Hub have had huge returns for our business. We experiment with different styles of promoting, sales, and offsite advertising. These advantages are relatively new to sellers, and it's great to be able to put a few marketing dollars here and a few ad dollars there and see results. It's been a big success for us.

His advice for aspiring sellers

To turn your side hustle into a thriving business, you have to outwork everyone else. You gotta put in the time and the grind, and it's not gonna happen overnight. If you're just out to make a buck, you'll fail. But if your focus is on taking care of your client and your customer and building a solid reputation, that's how you'll last. It took me 15 years of grind to build a brand that I could leverage to become what we are now - a multimillion dollar business.

As a high-end seller, you have to have an excellent reputation. A buyer isn't going to spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on a part for a Lamborghini or a McLaren or a Ferrari from somebody unknown. So you need to build your brand before jumping into that market. And you'll need some pretty deep pockets to allow yourself to sit on that product because it doesn't sell overnight.

Turning his American Dream into reality

I'm as loyal of an eBay seller as you'll ever find. I'm just so thankful that there's a platform that allows an average person like me to succeed as an entrepreneur. I didn't come from any great beginnings. I'm just a regular dude. And the fact that I can reach such a broad range of customers around the world is incredible.

It's pretty surreal to feel like I've made it. I'm from a small town in the Midwest and I've basically achieved the American Dream. The eBay platform has allowed me to create my dream and turn my success story into a reality. Without eBay and eBay Motors, I wouldn't be where I am today.

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