Using middlemen on eBay
Selling things on eBay is a great way to get rid of things that you don’t want but that have value for someone else. However, there’s a certain amount of effort and expertise involved and not everybody wants the hassle of handling a sale themselves. A number of services exist that will handle all the details of selling on eBay for you. They take a substantial cut but it’s better than just tossing things away. How good are these middlemen? The Wall Street Journal describes one person’s experiences with several of these services:
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.
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.
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