thewillcustoms, Peru
William Rodríguez is a lawyer specializing in labor legislation, but he also has a passion for action figures. Thanks to eBay, he has turned his hobby into a business that helped him and his family get through the pandemic crisis. What started as a hobby in his early 20s, today is part of William's family's livelihood and his main occupation.
Before the pandemic, WIlliam was working as a full-time lawyer, and spent his free time customizing action figures. When the virus hit the world, William’s income reduced by 40%. To distract himself and put his worries aside, he began spending more time with action figures, detailing them and even adding features and interchangeable parts to them.
William noticed that his children did not play the same way with the new figures. His eldest son said that they were so artfully made that if he saw them in a store, he would ask William to buy them. This comment inspired William to list one of his figures on eBay.
The first figure he listed was Bane, the famous Batman villain from DC Comics. But William was not sure that it would be sold at the price he had set. To his surprise, in less than a week, the figure was already on its way to the buyer. The story of yet another eBay seller began.
Today, thanks to his talent, William also takes special orders and customizes action figures on demand. Once, a client from Australia asked him for an action figure of Phantom (from the 1996 movie The Phantom), a character he had never made. It was the first of eight Phantom figures he has sold since then. The United States is William’s biggest market, but he has also shipped action figures to clients in Hong Kong, China, Canada, and France.
The pandemic gave William the chance to further expand his catalog with more detailed figures ready to be put up for sale on eBay. The platform was the start of a personal adventure that helped an entire family.
“When there are fewer opportunities, one must understand it’s time to evolve.”