iSold It on eBay

Wall Street Journal
By PEGGY EDERSHEIM KALB

In this era of downsizing, we decided we need to do some of our own by getting rid of some household stuff via eBay -- and snaring some needed cash in return. But since we're online-auction neophytes, we turned to so-called trading assistants -- firms that will list and manage sales on eBay for a fee.

First we had to find one. There's been a lot of consolidation in the trading-assistant industry. And the ones that are left have gotten a lot choosier about what they'll try to sell. Items that won't garner much cash just aren't worth it for firms to try to unload -- the seller-for-hire companies have to put in the same amount time, effort and expense whether the item sells for $75 or $1,000.

Hal Mayforth

The services take your item and do all the legwork: research the price, write the description, post it on eBay, field the email responses, monitor the auction, ship the items and collect the checks. They take a hefty commission, ranging from 23% to 45%, depending on the company and the price range.

We enlisted trading assistants to help us sell a range of items, including a couple of unopened iPods, a set of plates, an elephant tea set and a couple of toaster ovens sitting in our basement. We got mixed results. On average, it took a month, start to finish, to get any cash for our stuff; commissions ate significantly into whatever money we did get. New electronics sold, but our other stuff didn't. That said, when it worked, it was nice to get cash for things without going through any hassle ourselves.

With three of the four companies we tried, the process itself ran smoothly, if slower than we expected. We started with an iSold It franchisee in Norwalk, Conn., part of a nationwide franchise with 86 stores in 48 states. This iSold It doesn't pick up and will take only items they believe will bring in more than $75 (when items don't sell, the franchisee eats the initial eBay listing fee). They rejected the plates and the elephant tea set, but said they'd try to sell our slightly used Sanyo toaster oven. It went up on eBay but did not sell. Then we tried a one-year-old, never-used iPod Nano lying around our house. A month and a week later we had a check for $78.86 (the Nano 8GB fourth generation sells new for $149). Ken Sully, iSold It's president and chief executive, says that in the current economic crisis, the volume of the company's sales has gone up, but "the average selling price has gone down a little, from $125 to closer to $100."

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Despite nationwide sales being down over the holidays more than 30 percent, local iSold It stores are seeing a business boom.

"There are people who say eBay is recession proof. When times are good, people buy more stuff and they have more to sell. On the other hand, when the economy is worse, people want more money," Jacobs says.  She expects business to pick up even more in the next couple of weeks when spring cleaning begins. 

Individuals, businesses putting more merchandise on auction Web site, and quality, value still sell in down times.  The stock market may have plunged 15 percent in October. Housing prices may be 26 percent below a year ago. And economists at Cal State Fullerton and UCLA may use words like "grim" in describing Orange County's economy in the near future.  But not every business is down.

"August was my best month ever. September was up 60 percent over a year earlier and October was up 30 percent," said Scott Brown.  Wow! Get me into whatever Brown is doing.  He owns an iSold It franchise in Fullerton that sells on eBay auction Web site items brought in by individuals and businesses.