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http://www.fltimes.com/Main.asp?Sect...ticleID=9 192
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How unfortunate any idiot can use the eBay name and poison the water for all of us. eBay should have taken this consignment store idea and capitalized it, set high standards, and then franchised it. That way the incompetent, unknowing and outright fraudulent could have been screened out. eBay could collect franchising fees, and when problems arose, eBay could reach into an earmarked reserve to make things right.
Of course, that is only a suggestion I found laying by the wayside.
Larry
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Thanks for posting that, Joanne. Gave me the shivers.
fLufF
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These peeps did not do their homework when they opened the store. It takes a long time before these drop off places make a profit, a lonnng time!
The advantages of going with one of the big boys, even though it is more expensive, is that they help you set everything up and constantly give you help in getting the store going and having more sales, making the stores more profitable by cutting expenses, etc. The big boys also cut deals with shipping services like UPS, Fedex, or DHL, and/or shipping supplies, etc. so that you get deep discounts. Someone starting one on his/her own has to have deep pockets to start this type of store and won't have the kind of clout with the shippers to cut a deal as good as one of the big boys.
Even though I took a job as a manager of one of the big boys franchises, I never believed these could make a profit. Now I see they can, but it is a lot of work and knowlege of both business and eBay, and good people skills, that can make it work. They can be very very profitable!
This concept became the new investment rage and many without any business and/or eBay knowlege invested in these. These are the ones that fail unless they have the right staff with the dedication to make the store a sucess.
Apparently, this store did not have deep enough pockets if the first rent check bounced!
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Originally Posted by Jasmine
This concept became the new investment rage and many without any business and/or eBay knowlege invested in these.
Too true. I drove down Ventura Blvd in L.A. a month ago a distance of maybe 3 or 4 miles. There was an eBay dropoff store on nearly every block.
The older I get the more I think the way to make money is invest in commercial property and rent it out to fools. But get a cashier's check first.
fLufF
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Sounds to me like the person who will suffer most is the owner of the Drop it Off eBay store in the same town.
What a serious bummer!