posted on March 14, 2002 02:41:31 AM new
Recently I've decided extend my business. I will sell not only my items but the items of other people on special terms.
I would like to propose to the sellers with a low experience to sell under my nick. The main idea is that sellers would pay me my fee, that will be higher than Ebay's fee only if the item has been sold. No deal - no any fees.
How do you think is it a good idea? May be I can't see any disadvantages of it.
posted on March 14, 2002 03:07:23 AM new
what if they sell the item but never send it or send shoddy merchandise? it would be your reputation on the line.
i have thought about this myself and have gotten some very good advice here.
posted on March 14, 2002 07:42:03 AM new
Hi Kortos,
have you seen the new eay feature called
"Seller assistant"?. It's basically what you are talking about. You register with ebay to become one of these assistants ( just about anyone can do it). They ask where you are , etc. When someone is looking for this service i.e looking to sell merchandise, they are led to the S.A page and asked some basic info, like where THEY are, then they are provided with a list of pre-registered S.E in their area and they make contact from there. You charge what you want, have your own system. Check it out.
It is a "new" feature, I think you'll find it on the " site map".
posted on March 14, 2002 07:46:11 AM new
The going rate is about 30% of the final price. It is very important to be sure that you have the merchandise in hand before you list and dutring the listing process as well as you taking care of the shipping of the product. If you sell merchandise without having it in hand it is a potential HUGE problem.
posted on March 14, 2002 10:43:30 AM new
My 2 cents worth.
I have given a lot of thought to this idea. I decided that the time involved in reasearch for client, talking / explaining to the client, the actual listing, pictures, mailing, email would probably be about 15 minutes. Then on top of the time there is the equipment use. So I thought a $10 flat fee would be good, then charge a selling fee similar to what ebay charges.
Well... it sounded good, but really a customer would need to have a higher value item to really make it worth their while. What I found was any of my friends who talked to me about listing an item really had an unrealistic idea of how much their item was worth.
One example was a friend who picked up a Scottie Dog cookie jar for a buck at a Goodwill store. She wanted to sell it on Ebay and put a $60 reserve on it. After finding similar jars selling for a little over $20 she decided not to go with ebay. It turned out that for this item it was more trouble than it was worth and she would sell it in her shop. Well, that was after I spent a few minutes several times researching. So basically... I did the work for free. In this case I don't mind, its a friend, but I don't think I would be so happy if this were just a client.
I have noticed that a lot of the sellers assistants on ebay have very unrealistic terms unless you are selling a lot of items for you client. (e.g. sellers matching ebay FVF). Some people are more realistic charging a flat fee up front for their time/energy. Good luck to you, I am still debating if I want to make this move or not.
Here is the link to my site where I wrote down some of my ideas. http://www.orygungal.com/services/auctionhome.html
[ edited by orygungal on Mar 14, 2002 10:55 AM ]
posted on March 14, 2002 10:54:41 AM new
I've thought about consignments on ebay, but have not pursued it yet. Seems like a lot of hassle, but it could be financially rewarding if done correctly.
I have to agree that would be a big problem, people overestimating the value of their item. If they paid $30 for that Joe Montana collector limited edition plate 10 years ago, why he is a hall of famer now, it must be worth about $100 (It would be lucky to sell for $10 in reality)
I've done consignments in non ebay auctions, and I found myself doing a lot of work without much profit. After many years of not accepting consignments in that format, I have begun again, but I require an upfront listing fee for each lot whether it sells or not, a percentage of the sold price, a minimum value that each lot must be listed for, the right to reject any lot, must have merchandise in my possession, and an extra charge to cover sending back any merchandise that does not sell.
posted on March 14, 2002 11:00:30 AM new
I find that the time to research, photograph, list, track the auction, emails at end of auction, collections, packing, mailing, tracking the mailing and finally checking off as done; is at least an hour. My minimum just to photo and list is 15 min. but usually more.
posted on March 14, 2002 07:37:30 PM new
I have been doing what you are thinking about for a while, after a friend asked me to help him sell some collectable toys.. I looked into the Ebay seller's assistant program and have just about decided not to do it. I really don't think I want to deal with people cold calling me, deciding at the last minute to back out, wanting too much for their stuff, trying to get rid of stolen stuff etc...(seems like that program is a perfect way to get rid of stolen merchandise without giving yourself away)...I work thru word of mouth only, and as I don't do this for a living it's easy to take it slow and get to know your owner before you agree to sell for them. I'm only interested in doing this for relatively high end collectibles, where my 10 percent plus fees will add up pretty well. Right now I've been listing for a client who collects Indian war and civil war militaria and who is paring down his collection. We have sold 2 dozen items in the last 2 months and are going to do a bunch more lots of a dozen each. This is perfect for me. In the meantime, he has a neighbor whose husband died and who wants to get rid of dad's 50 year collection of fishing lures ($$$$$$!!!), I'm getting to know her as I do the militaria stuff and when I'm ready she will be too. I think if you can work it like that you'll be on to something, seems like there has got to be good profit potential in the items if you are going to get repeat business. Slim margin-dollar store- distressed type merchandise doesnt give a third party any margin to make a buck. My thoughts anyhow
profe
posted on March 14, 2002 07:39:11 PM new
I have been doing what you are thinking about for a while, after a friend asked me to help him sell some collectable toys.. I looked into the Ebay seller's assistant program and have just about decided not to do it. I really don't think I want to deal with people cold calling me, deciding at the last minute to back out, wanting too much for their stuff, trying to get rid of stolen stuff etc...(seems like that program is a perfect way to get rid of stolen merchandise without giving yourself away)...I work thru word of mouth only, and as I don't do this for a living it's easy to take it slow and get to know your owner before you agree to sell for them. I'm only interested in doing this for relatively high end collectibles, where my 10 percent plus fees will add up pretty well. Right now I've been listing for a client who collects Indian war and civil war militaria and who is paring down his collection. We have sold 2 dozen items in the last 2 months and are going to do a bunch more lots of a dozen each. This is perfect for me. In the meantime, he has a neighbor whose husband died and who wants to get rid of dad's 50 year collection of fishing lures ($$$$$$!!!), I'm getting to know her as I do the militaria stuff and when I'm ready she will be too. I think if you can work it like that you'll be on to something, seems like there has got to be good profit potential in the items if you are going to get repeat business. Slim margin-dollar store- distressed type merchandise doesnt give a third party any margin to make a buck. My thoughts anyhow
profe
posted on March 14, 2002 08:54:22 PM new
I have been selling for others for over a year now. I operate almost identically to AHC3. I have established a seperate Ebay account solely for these consignment sales. I list primarily for small dealers who have a good idea of which items are suitable for listing and which are best for their local b&m. They don't want to hassle with low dollar items and the fee for photographing and listing, whether it sells or not, encourages them to do a lot of the research before even contacting me. The key to success in this type of arrangement is for YOU to pick YOUR clients. If you hang out a shingle, you'll have every clueless thrift store junkie in town lined up at your front door wasting your time with junk that wouldn't bring a bid if you started it for a penny and offered free shipping.
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
