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How I learned the highs and lows of entrepreneurship by selling Funko Pops

Updated: May 5

By Jason Perloff

Youthcast Media Group®


I bought Funko Pops — and turned it into a business.

It didn’t start out that way. At first I bought the vinyl pop-culture collectibles for the same reason other kids do: I liked them. But one day I looked at my figurine of Odell Beckham Jr. and I figured: Why not sell it?


High school student Jason Perloff poses with Funko Pops from Space Jam, Marvel, Candyman and more. (Photo courtesy of Jason Perloff)
High school student Jason Perloff poses with Funko Pops from Space Jam, Marvel, Candyman and more. (Photo courtesy of Jason Perloff)

So, I offered it on Mercari, the Japanese e-commerce company. Soon a buyer messaged me on the decluttering app and asked, “Is this still available?” I said yes. He made the purchase. And a business was born.


You can buy and sell on Mercari. Many people use it to sell things around the house they don’t need. I wondered if I could use the app to generate income by using the motto: “Buy low, sell high.”


My older brother was making money by investing in the stock market. I was a bit envious, so I began learning about the market, too. But I had little money to invest. That’s when I learned about Mercari from the ads on TikTok, and I wondered if I could generate enough income selling on the app to make some investments in the market.


I set up my Mercari account. It asked if I was 18. I said yes. (This was a fib.) My Odell Beckham Jr. figurine sold within two days. I honestly never thought it would be that easy. It seemed too simple. A few photos, a brief description — and just like that, money? No way.


So, I began posting other items I found around my house that I didn’t use anymore. I had two more sales my first week. (One was a regulation-size football, the other a mini-basketball hoop for hanging on doors.) Then it was just a matter of shipping the items.


The mail companies — FedEx, UPS, USPS — offered to come pick up the items, but I feared the packages might get stolen on my doorstep, so I decided to take them to the post office. I didn’t have a driver’s license at the time, only a learner’s permit, so I got my mother to drive me.


“I was glad he found something to do with his time,” my mother says, “so I rolled with it.”


The secret to my success was buying Funko Pops on Mercari and then selling them for more than I paid. For example, I bought a Bugs Bunny Funko Pop for $9, and then sold it for $15. Funko Pops are light — four inches high and four ounces — so they were cheap to send. That proved to be my advantage: I could offer the fastest and cheapest shipping, which made buyers willing to spend a little more to get it quickly.


My business was rolling. I began buying dozens of Funko Pops with money saved from Christmas and birthdays. I had football players, movie characters, cartoon characters. I would take photos of them, post them for sale, and I had a profit margin of $5 to $10 on each one after shipping. This went on for a few months and worked quite well.


Then I started selling my Nerf gun collection, until I got an email that said “immediate action required.” Mercari thought I was selling real guns. I had to confirm these were toys before I could reopen my account.


A few more weeks went by and all was going fine. But when my sales exceeded $600, Mercari notified me that I had to fill out a W-9 tax form. This required me to give my Social Security number. That revealed my age. And then I got an email that said my account was on hold until I turned 18. I was in shock. Months of work came to a halt. But I had to accept it, realizing there isn’t much I could do.


I still have plenty of money to contribute to my stock investments. I am putting around $20 a month into my portfolio. There is no doubt I have learned so much from just selling stuff online, and learning about the stock market.


When I turn 18, in a year and a half, I may start selling on Mercari again, if college does not interfere. If you are looking to get rid of some items, I totally recommend using Mercari.


It helped me earn, and learn, so much.



Jason Perloff is a 10th grade student at Annandale High School in Annandale, Va. He wrote this story in collaboration with Youthcast Media Group’s team of mentoring journalists.



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