Mainland Chinese are moving to home employment by the score thanks to the Internet and a growing internet auction access.
From Fast Company
Mchael Cai grunts as he rummages through a pile of 500 stuffed animals in his Shanghai storage locker. “It’s in the back here!” he says, pushing through a stack of plush Winnie the Pooh and Tigger dolls. Finally, he locates what he’s looking for: a pink pillow in the form of a pop-eyed pig. He unfolds it–and it turns into a blanket. “It’s the best-selling item we have abroad!” he beams. “Foreigners love it!”
Two years ago, the 24-year-old Cai was a brand-new college graduate just hoping to eke out a living. Now he runs a tiny international business, buying toys from local factories at ultracheap prices and hawking them on an eBay store (51Toy.com). Last winter, he was pulling down $6,000 in monthly sales, with a profit margin as high as 40%, which puts him in the top fifth of earners in China–better than most white- collar workers. Almost 90% of his customers send their payments to him online. “The Internet,” he says through a translator, “is how I reach the world.”
Another merchant, who had quit his job as a marketing rep for a medical supplies firm, says he had been auctioning part-time, “but I was making as much money as my salary, sometimes even more. So I decided to do it full-time.” He says it seemed weird at first not to have an employer, but points out that “more and more people in China work from home– it’s considered normal now.“
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