New Company Will Sell Stuff For You On eBay

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the derivative-business-models dept

As easy as eBay is, there are still some people who don’t want to go through the hassle of setting up an eBay auction. For those people, there’s a new company, founded by the people who created the Internet Shopping Network nearly a decade ago. The way it works is you drop off the item you want to sell, and they auction it off on eBay for you – while keeping a hefty commission. Clearly, this is a local business opportunity, though, they see themselves opening up nationwide outlets. I wonder how big they can get. Basically, it’s a pawnshop of sorts, selling things on consignment online. While there are still some people who don’t know how to use eBay, that number should decrease over time. There will still be a market for people who simply don’t want to spend the time to put up their own eBay auctions, but they’ll still have to drive to the local “AuctionDrop” center and fill out whatever paperwork there – so the time savings seems small, especially when you’re giving up 20 to 40% of the proceeds. About the only other market I can think of, are people who have bad eBay feedback rankings, and need to hide that under some other seller’s – but those people probably just register new identities.