By the year 2001, selling on eBay had grown from a short-term solution into a reliable business. The early online marketplace had proven that the internet could connect buyers and sellers in ways traditional retail never could.
But relying entirely on an auction platform was never the long-term plan.
My next goal was to build a dedicated online store for automotive accessories a site where customers could browse products directly and purchase them without going through an auction listing. I already had the inventory, the supplier relationships, and the technical curiosity to figure out how to build it.
The result was CarTunesShop.com.
By the summer of 2001, the site was nearly ready to launch. The plan was straightforward: prepare the catalog, finish the website, and promote it leading into the 2001 Christmas shopping season. Online retail was still young, and the opportunity to reach customers nationwide seemed enormous.
Then, on September 11, 2001, everything changed.
In the weeks and months that followed, the economy slowed dramatically. People were focused on far more important things than upgrading car stereos or buying automotive accessories online. Sales of non-essential products nearly disappeared.
For the first time since discovering eBay, it felt like the ground had shifted again.
During that uncertain period, a friend whose business was suffering as well knew I had experience selling on eBay and asked if I could help him list a car from his personal collection. I created the listing and handled the details the same way I had handled other online sales.
The listing worked.
Soon after, I showed the listing to the general manager of a dealership I still did business with, though not nearly at the volume of earlier years. He studied the advertisement for a moment, then looked up at me and said:
“You did this?”
I nodded.
“We need this.”
In that instant the idea clicked. What had started as a single vehicle listing suddenly looked like something much bigger. Dealerships were no longer limited to the buyers who walked onto their lots. The internet had opened a doorway to customers anywhere.
That moment opened another unexpected door.
What began as a single vehicle listing quickly evolved into helping dealers create online advertisements and promotional pages for their inventory. Building those listings required graphics, HTML pages, and the kind of early web design tools that were becoming available at the time.
Those projects eventually became the foundation of a new venture.
WebGraphicsRus.
The internet was still changing rapidly, and once again the direction of my work was changing with it.