Business
Helps Customers Sell Their Items on eBay
StopnDrop
places value, takes photos, posts items,
all for percentage of sale
By: Kate
Miller
People who have items
worth selling but don’t have the
energy, ambition or inclination to sell
them on their own have a commission-based
service available to them in Creve Coeur.
StopnDrop Auctions opened
at 12362 Olive Blvd. in the Westgate Centre
June 5. Customers can drop off just about
anything to be sold on eBay, an auction
service on the Internet. StopnDrop employees
place a value on the goods and post the
items on eBay with photographs and descriptions.
The items are posted
online for a seven-day, worldwide auction.
Customers can watch the bidding online.
The highest bidder purchases
the item. StopnDrop and eBay take their
commission fees, and the customer receives
a check for the balance of the sale. StopnDrop
handles the shipping, which the buyer
pays.
Maryville University
student Jake Holschen of Florissant sold
a guitar effects processor at StopnDrop.
“I used it for
about a year, and it sat in my basement
for about two years,” he said. “I
thought it’s not anything that means
anything to me, so I might as well make
some money off it.”
The musical gadget sold
for $152. Holschen pocketed $100. He said
paying the service fees was worth it.
“I had thought
about putting stuff on eBay, but I didn’t
want to do it myself,” Holschen
said. “There’s a strategy
to it. I didn’t know. They took
an approach I wouldn’t have taken
and maybe would not have made as much
money. They know what they’re doing;
they took pictures, described it, shipped
it. All I had to do was drop it off.”
Dee Spooner of Ballwin
is selling so many items she keeps a running
tab at StopnDrop. With auctions on five
items closed, she had sold $467 in merchandise.
Her take is $285.
She sold bronze figures that she was using
as doorstops, antique china that was taking
up space, and an antique camera. She was
planning to drop off two Civil War swords.
“These are things
I’m not in need of,” Spooner
said. “If my daughter doesn’t
want them, I might as well sell them.”
Spooner said she wouldn’t
have posted things on eBay because she
isn’t a computer person. When she
heard about StopnDrop, she saw an opportunity
to effortlessly sell belongings that would
mean more to someone else and put a little
cash in her pocket.
“I like the idea that you can go
in with your item and have an idea of
what it’s worth and what it might
sell for,” she said. “They
do all the research. I don’t have
to.”
Appraisals are based
on items – or similar items –
that have previously sold on eBay. The
store requires that items have a minimum
selling value of $30 because the store’s
minimum commission is $10. Items that
have to be shipped need to weigh less
than 150 pounds.
StopnDrop’s commission
is 35 percent for us to $500, 25 percent
up to $2,000, and 15 percent for more
than $2,000.
For a basic listing,
regardless of its appraised value, the
starting bid is $5, which Darren Eilers,
chief executive officer and store co-owner,
said is meant to excite the auction.
“People go to eBay to find a bargain,
so initially they need to see that low
price,” said Eilers, who lives in
St. Charles. The low price often triggers
a bidding war. “We’ve seen
it time and time again,” he said.
For a custom listing,
customers can set their own opening bid
price or set a price for “Buy it
Now”, in which case there is no
auction. There is a $15 pre-pay for a
custom listing that is credited toward
the store’s commission if the item
sells.
If an item doesn’t
sell, it will be run a second time. If
it doesn’t sell after the second
auction, customers can pick it up or the
store will donate it to charity. Eilers
said it is rare for an item not to sell.
Spooner said she might
consider hosting a garage sale to rid
her home of the things she doesn’t
want. In the meantime, however, she is
sticking with StopnDrop.
“It takes a load
off my mind,” Spooner said. “Now
I just wish someone would go through my
boxes for me.”
For more information
on StopnDrop, call the store at (314)
469-3767 or visit www.stopndrop.com.
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