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eBay Drop Off Stores Not Doing So Well
from the so-much-for-that-plan... dept
Two years ago, we noted one of the first companies that was built around the idea of setting up a storefront to sell your crap on eBay for you, named AuctionDrop. While the concept makes some amount of sense (a good seller can command at least a slight premium, and many people don't want to deal with the hassle of selling stuff themselves), it still seemed like a very tough business. AuctionDrop wanted to charge 40% commissions, which could scare off quite a few people -- and it seemed like a very difficult business to successfully scale to any reasonable degree. One other problem was insanely low barriers to entry, as seen in the fact that a ton of copycats quickly flooded the market. Now, AuctionDrop is admitting that the business model hasn't quite worked out the way it expected. Instead of working towards opening up 1,000 stores (the original claim), they've now shut down all but one. Instead, they're trying to run similar offerings for UPS and Best Buy. Of course, it's not clear how well those are really doing either. Best Buy competitor Circuit City tried to offer their own eBay auctioning service, but quietly shut it down saying that they weren't getting much return on the investment. It certainly might be a small niche business, but it's hard to see how it's possible to turn this into a big business, as many of the original companies positioned themselves to be.
Reader Comments
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We've got quite a few
If I climb on the roof of my office building, I can see at least one (in this case it's called "I Sold It On Ebay!").
They charge obscenely high commission rates (30-50% depending on the final value of the item).
Last I checked it takes less than 10 minutes to put together a snappy ebay auction, including digital photographs, plus another 10 minutes to wrap, pack and ship an item. In my opinion, 30% is about the MAX it should be, not the minimum.
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Re: We've got quite a few
What if you don't have an ebay account and never used it before, though? It will take way more than 10 minutes to set up an account, go through all the tedious confirmation procedures. What if you don't have a digital camera? Then you might have to drive across town to your friend's house to borrow one. But then your friend screws up putting the picture online, so you have to go back again. What if the nearest post office is 20 minutes away? What if your item is undesirable, so it takes weeks or months to find anyone interested?
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Re: We've got quite a few
Damn, if a person has that much difficulty as you suggest...then give it away.
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Re: We've got quite a few
Even that can be hard, if not many people in your community use the net. It may be easier to just throw it away.
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Re: We've got quite a few
Judging from most of the auctions on EBay, you aren't far off. :)
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Re: We've got quite a few
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I thinks the success of a drop off store totally depends on the entrepreneurs willingness and skill to sell. Face it, if you dont know know to sell, this business isnt for you. And to the big dog who was saying it takes 10 minutes to list on eBay? Obviously u dont know the science behind eBay...
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eBay drop off stores
Please check out the URL above. It says it all!
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Here's the URL
www.amitheonlyone.org
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http://fixyourthinking.com/2005/12/special-report-you-gotta-b_113606486308815485.html
Read this guy's experience with an eBay dropoff
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