Question
this was an article a relative sent me in their area newspaper about ebay auction drop off type stores. re: the college professor they quote, that college has around 800 students from what I remember so is a small town, private college. Thought it was interesting to see this from a small town perspective. of course, it's because of articles like this that I get relatives coming to me with broken 4 wheelers they want me to sell on ebay :
Some Americans are replacing garage-sale signs, cash boxes and flea markets with keyboards, eBay and Internet bill-pay service PayPal to unload excess possessions.
And businesses across the country are hoping to take advantage of the online-shopping trend. More than 20 companies have opened across the country this year to help customers auction off their products online.
A Greenwood store, Sellabrate, will do all the legwork to get an item sold online: register the item on an online auction site, post a picture of the item on the Web site and package and ship the item to the auction winner.
Auction drop-off companies charge customers commission in order to make a profit. For auctions with a final selling price below $500, Sellabrate charges 35 percent of the final auction value, with a minimum charge of $15. The percentage decreases as the item’s price increases, down to 10 percent for items over $2,500.
Drop-off stores attract online auction users who may not have time to hassle with payments, answer questions from potential buyers and ship the item, said Jim Williams, a Franklin College business professor.
“My guess is the stores won’t be for professional eBayers,” he said. “(Drop-off stores are) more for casual users with a few items to sell, or their Uncle Zeke dies and his doll collection appears on their doorstep.”
For example, New Whiteland resident Dale Houshour recently used Sellabrate to help sell a wheelchair on eBay for $552. Houshour had tried to sell the wheelchair for two weeks through a classified ad but didn’t get any takers for the chair, which he was advertising for $400.
Sellabrate’s general manager, Sean Beikman, contacted Houshour and offered to sell the chair. Beikman said he often browses through classifieds for potential customers. Beikman and his 4-month-old store organize about 300 auctions a week.
The company, which is looking to move from its location at 1163 N. Bluff Road to a new spot in Greenwood soon, has sold cars, a limousine, jewelry, handmade tribal masks and movie posters.
Sellabrate has another branch in Terre Haute, and company officials are planning to expand to Bloomington and other Hoosier cities.
Convenience draws customers to Sellabrate and other drop-off stores, Williams said.
When Sellabrate opened in April, Beikman assumed most of his customers would be those who don’t own computers or aren’t computer literate. But the bulk of his customers simply don’t want to take the time, Beikman said.
As more drop-off companies form and start to compete with one another, the companies will have to ensure profit for their customers at little risk if they want to survive, Williams said. Risks include high shipping costs, low auction sales and defective items, he said.
For example, the top drop-off company, AuctionDrop, enjoys a large financial backing out of California and a partnership with UPS to reduce its shipping costs, he said. The company also auctions items that are guaranteed to sell. AuctionDrop’s standards prevent it from selling computers past a certain date or out-of-style jewelry.
“They’ve done this right,” Williams said.
AuctionDrop will likely remain if other drop-off companies fail, he said.
When eBay started to move from a place to buy novelty nostalgia, such as old Pez dispensers, to an online resource for anything and everything, other online companies tried to make their own auctioning sites and failed, Williams said.
“I can’t even remember what they were called,” Williams said. “That really says something.”
At least one company is marketing auction drop-off services to other businesses.
United Auction Brokers is the world leader in online auctions for companies and businesses, and the company is less than 2 months old.
“It’s amazing that nobody has gone after this market,” said Ray Whitmer, the company’s CEO.
With locations in more than 11 states, the Kentucky-based company handles 200 to 300 calls a day and organizes 5,000 online auction sales a week, Whitmer said. The auction broker’s customers cover a broad range, including car dealerships and furniture companies having liquidation sales. They serve casual eBay users as well.
Besides operating stores, the brokers will arrange face-to-face meetings with company officials. For example, Whitmer said the company is working on a partnership with a worldwide computer company.
Sellabrate is trying to work with businesses, too, Beikman said. The Terre Haute store deals with local antique shops and vendors, and Sellabrate’s Greenwood location works with a golf company at Stop 11 Road and Meridian Street in Indianapolis.
The more partnerships drop-off stores forge, the more likely they are to succeed, Williams said.
“It’s good-old American capitalism at work,” he said.
mel-
edited to delete an errant smiley
Answer
has anyone heard of this United Auction Brokers?
mel-
Answer
The company also auctions items that are guaranteed to sell. AuctionDrop’s standards prevent it from selling computers past a certain date or out-of-style jewelry.
What errant nonsense. It's totally untrue. All you have to do is watch AD's auctions to see their "standards" in action. This year they have accepted many computer parts that are obsolete and worthless or nearly so.
I was stunned that they wouldn't accept a silk sari I wanted to consign (because their "research" told them they might not get an end price of $50 or more) but have accepted old Sun computer parts that, believe me, no one wants. I'm intimately familiar with this equipment. I know what it goes for.
No mention at all in the article that, in addition to the commission, the consignor must pay the eBay fees.
AuctionDrop will likely remain if other drop-off companies fail, he said.
Not unless they start turning a profit. Vulture capitalists like to see some return on their investment.
Floof
--
Answer
With locations in more than 11 states, the Kentucky-based company handles 200 to 300 calls a day and organizes 5,000 online auction sales a week, Whitmer said.
Riiiiiight. That must be why eBay id unitedauctionbrokers is running a grand total of 4 (count 'em, four) auctions.
Sigh. The days of reporters actually reporting are long gone. Today they digest puff-piece press releases whole and spit out error-ridden copy. But who cares? It fills column inches, doesn't it?
fluFf
--
Answer
this is a county paper for a county of less than 150,000. I hadn't checked that id but also wondered why I had not heard of them if they were running that many auctions.
the readers will take this as gospel though, and the writer may honestly believe everything they wrote as well. They did a story a year or so ago about a relative of mine who has a birth defect. Came out and interviewed her mother and hardly anything in the article was correct from what caused the birth defect to how often it happened in the population to the effects, side effects and treatment of it. You'd think before they put their name to an article they'd double check their notes from the interview and double check their facts (there are dozens if not hundreds of websites by doctors and hospitals that have the basic facts spelled out in fairly small words).
on the other hand, this paper could be small enough that it's not even a full time job with qualified journalists (I don't know).
but my relative sent it to me because they thought this was something I should look into. Like I said, lots if not most reading this will consider this as gospel on the subject.
mel-
Answer
I wonder what id that sellabrate store is using. the eday id sellabrate looks like just a buyer and has only received 9 positives in 12 months (and has a hollywood pic on their me page).
mel-
Answer
found them, they are using sellabrate-com:
http://stores.ebay.com/Sellabrate-com
Answer
Originally Posted by mel-
Like I said, lots if not most reading this will consider this as gospel on the subject.
That's why press releases are so darned effective. Anyone can write one and odds are, it'll make it into print somewhere. Maybe many somewheres if the hook is big enough.
Hey, maybe I should write one puffing my eBay auctions. Yeah, that's the ticket.
--
Answer
I came across this ebay seller a couple of weeks ago, and they have a really nice setup for a dropoff store and even offer owning a branch, but at a price of course... catbecca.com or catbecca ebay ID
Believe it or not I had been pandering this idea for a couple of years now, just don't have the capital to start one yet...
I am located in a place where things come about here in ND like 3-5 years later... I really should jump on this...just wish I could afford the overhead, but since I just bought a new car, there goes a big chunk of my payouts...
Answer
My opinion is born out of my own experiences and limitations so others may find a profitable process that would not work for me.
I've moved away from preowned items as inventory because they require more buying time, specific research, individual descriptions, lower average prices and potential for damage or wear causing buyer dissatisfaction.
Now there are clearly many items and whole categories where the above comments don't cause negative results but ongoing sources and in-depth knowledge is often required.
Preowned items do often offer the opportunity for greater markups.
I can't process all the stuff I can buy everyday of the week locally for a low price.
My worst nightmare would be having a high overhead storefront where 10 or, even worst, 100 people brought me their stuff to sell for a lower share of the selling price.
I struggle to keep eBay and my customers happy. Add being nice to consignors to the mix and I'm sure it would be shortly followed by a story in the local newspapers about "Merchant Breaks Mirror Over the Head of Elderly Lady".
None of the above is meant to suggest that this business approach will not work for some people.
I could see many situations where it might be a supplement to an existing business. Or if the owner could offer this service to other businesses who have a high value selection of preowned or liquidation inventory, then automating the listing and delivering functions could lead to big income.
That one mistake or misunderstanding and some undertrained eBay robot can click a mouse and put you out of business is always in the back of my mind.
For every story a year from now of great success in these ventures, and they will exist, I believe there will be a hundred people asking "How the h*ll did I ever get into this mess? What was I ever thinking?"
I really feel sorry for the people who, without much actual eBay experience, start a business and then come to learn what living in eBay Nation is really all about.
Nothing new, as history is filled with examples of promoters getting people to pay upfront to move elsewhere in the world where "The streets are paved with gold."
Some find the gold but many become roadkill.