Greedy E-bay idiots!

From: Curt Vendel <curt_at_atarimuseum.com>
Date: Mon Feb 23 08:52:10 2004

Actually there is a new phenomenon happening now and anyone interested
in jumping onboard should move now.... Ebay is organizing all around the
country "Drop Off Centers" Where the non-technical, non-interested can
just pull up with their stuff, drop it off, give their prices and the
drop off company will photograph and post auctions/sales onto Ebay and
charge a commission for the sale of the items.

This is an opportunity everyone could take advantage of and if you're
willing to setup an asset manage system, tags, have a small warehouse
space, setup a photography area and spend the time putting some nice
html templates together this could turn into a full time business.


Curt


John Foust wrote:

>At 10:23 PM 2/5/2004, Teo Zenios wrote:
>
>
>>He might have no idea what he has, but he knows you will pony up $2,500 for
>>it so maybe $4,000 might be reasonable to somebody else. You might call him
>>greedy, but I don't see why he would be stupid? eBay has been around for
>>quite a few years and more people are listing items (and selling them) now
>>then every year before so somebody is making some cash (besides UPS, USPS,
>>and Fedex anyway).
>>
>>
>
>eBay's short-term auction model works well for all parties if
>the items sell quickly. They're missing an opportunity for items
>that don't sell quickly, but that people want to sell.
>
>Based on my proven inability to come up with an idea that someone
>else isn't already milking, there must be an auction site like that.
>
>It would be more like Sanford & Son - a digital junkyard - than an
>auction house. Give an easy Access / SQL / XML interface for uploading,
>and let the parts warehouses list what they have. Let the items sit
>there until sold, and only then would I pay the listing fee. Encourage
>junkyards of whatever type to list their inventory and keep it current.
>Heavens, let me search reliably by barcode or parts number.
>
>Maybe this isn't even a centralized service like eBay. Maybe it's a
>distributed service, spidering a database that my web site advertises.
>Maybe this is the pot of gold pitched by all the XML evangelists.
>
>You ask who'd pay stupid amounts for a manual or some other small item?
>Well, I have. If I'm in a pinch, and the client is footing the bill,
>I've paid the stupid price for all sorts of replacement items.
>Recent stupid purchases: 6 gig IDE drives for $100+ because I needed
>the exact model to attempt a brain-transplant to rescue the data.
>
>Another reason for the stupid fixed price shipping model: many of
>these operations have employees. They're not just one person sitting
>at home selling items in their spare time. Selling one item does
>have a fixed cost in time and trouble.
>
>Then there's my maxim regarding any mail order sales: The cost
>of goods should be covered by the shipping and handling charge.
>All else is gravy. :-)
>
>- John
>
>
>
>

-- 
Curt Vendel & Karl Morris
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http://www.atarimuseum.com
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Received on Mon Feb 23 2004 - 08:52:10 GMT

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