Marc Pitts: Building a Vaping Business from a Single eBay Listing

Marc Pitts didn't start his career with a trust fund or venture capital backing. The co-founder of Discount Vape Pen built his New Jersey-based vaping supplies business from a bedroom hustle, teaching himself web development from an HTML book and testing his first product on eBay.

Growing up in the suburbs of New Jersey, Pitts didn't own a computer until after high school graduation. When he enrolled in college in 2007 to study marketing, he expected to learn about the digital revolution transforming commerce. Instead, he found outdated curriculum that barely mentioned internet marketing or mobile apps. By his third year, he'd had enough and dropped out.

"The college program felt stuck in the past," Pitts explained in a recent interview. "There was very little about internet marketing or even mobile apps, which were exploding. I dropped out because I knew I could learn faster on my own."

In 2010, Pitts picked up an HTML book and built his first website. He experimented with affiliate marketing, learning through trial and error how e-commerce actually worked. The hands-on experience proved more valuable than any classroom lecture.

By 2014, Pitts and his business partner spotted an opportunity in the emerging vaping industry. People wanted affordable, discreet devices that didn't look like traditional vaporizers. The USB thumb drive-style Ego CE-4 pen caught their attention, but they weren't going to invest heavily without proof of demand.

Their approach was lean and smart. They listed a single product on their personal eBay account. Orders came flooding in immediately. Those first sales funded their inventory expansion and eventually their first retail location. What started as weekend tinkering became a full-time operation almost overnight.

"People wanted discreet, affordable vapes that didn't scream 'vape,'" Pitts said. "But we weren't about to sink cash without proof."

Discount Vape Pen has grown from that single eBay listing into a full-scale online and retail operation serving hundreds of thousands of customers across the United States. The company's catalog now includes batteries, cartridges, wax pens, dry herb vaporizers, Delta 8 products, and over 50 e-liquid brands before the company pivoted away from nicotine sales in 2024.

Pitts credits customer feedback for driving product expansion. The team listens on Reddit forums, attends industry expos, and reads customer reviews. Growth came organically, not through aggressive market forecasting.

The company keeps prices low by maintaining direct relationships with manufacturers, cutting out middlemen who inflate costs. They offer same-day shipping on qualifying orders and free shipping over $40.

Discount Vape Pen has built its reputation partly through community engagement. The company's Head of Community, James Smith, actively answers questions on Reddit and other forums, providing information about device safety, regulations, and product functionality.

"People need to know its safety profile, how devices work, and what's changing with regs," Pitts said. "Reddit's huge for us."

This focus on education has helped build customer loyalty in an industry often criticized for opacity. By providing clear information about products and regulatory changes, the company has differentiated itself from competitors who focus solely on sales.

When asked what advice he'd give to someone starting an e-commerce business today, Pitts is direct: keep it lean and customer-focused. Don't overbuild before validating demand. Hire people who care about the work. Accept that the grind is real.

He's less enthusiastic about new entrants to the vaping industry specifically. The regulatory barriers have grown too high, and the competitive landscape has shifted dramatically since 2014. Chinese manufacturers have opened stateside warehouses and begun selling directly to consumers, compressing margins for established retailers.

The story of Discount Vape Pen is one of spotting opportunities early, validating ideas cheaply, and adapting to rapidly changing market conditions. Pitts built his business without formal education in either technology or business, relying instead on self-teaching and direct customer feedback to guide decisions.