• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

eBay the Easy Way

Posted on: Thursday, 1 December 2005, 21:00 CST

By Rebecca Dellagloria, The Miami Herald

Dec. 1--It's the latest trend in Internet shopping: Set up a store, people drop off their goods. Then sell them online on eBay.

These so-called eBay drop-off stores have been popping up everywhere -- from Hollywood hit film The 40-year-old Virgin to Entrepreneur magazine's hot list of small businesses. And, now, Doral.

eWay Auction Drop, one of many such drop-off stores to sprout up in South Florida over recent months, opened in a Doral shopping center in September. Manny Sarmiento had been selling merchandise on eBay for years, when the idea came to him and his wife, Connie: Open and they will come.

And they have.

In only two months, the Sarmientos have gone from selling their own merchandise -- cell phone cases and accessories, along with low-cut Brazilian Jeans -- to auctioning off other people's stuff.

"We kept seeing articles about how it's been growing, growing, growing," Manny Sarmiento said. "We were hoping to capitalize on a trend."

And their storefront off Northwest 36th Street and 82nd Avenue is now filled with assorted oddities: from a used child car seat to a putting green to a miniature West Coast Chopper bike. Just last week a woman dropped off a pair of used Ralph Lauren men's sandals. Before that, a man brought in a Tommy Bahama suit he had worn just once. He expected to get maybe $25, but the Sarmientos sold it for twice that much.

"You never know what people are looking for," Connie Sarmiento said.

For those unfamiliar with eBay and those who don't have the time to sell their goods online, drop-off stores like eWay are a welcome alternative. You bring in your stuff and someone else will do the rest.

The Sarmientos will research the item to see what it should sell for, suggest a starting price, write the listing and post it for seven days. They'll also answer questions from potential buyers and handle the payment and delivery.

And, unlike many of the chain drop-off stores that charge a commission of between 20 and 38 percent, eWay will not charge more than 29 percent -- often less than that. Prices are set based on the item. And, if you don't have the time to drop it off, they will come pick it up for you, also for a price.

After four years of selling merchandise on eBay, the Sarmientos have learned some tricks that beginners may not know, such as the best days and times to list an item and how high to start the bidding.

For instance, a customer came to them with a computer to sell. Manny Sarmiento suggested selling the hard drive and monitor separately from the software in order to get more money for each.

"He had no idea about doing that," Sarmiento said.

They also know how to price an item. An average seller, who may want top dollar for whatever it is they are selling, will often start the bidding too high, Sarmiento said. But, if they set a more reasonable price to begin the auction, they could end up getting more.

According to Manny Sarmiento, eBay is "very psychological."

"If you put it in for $500, no one will buy it," he said.

"We know exactly what to do to keep our customers coming back and to keep the buyers coming to our site," Connie Sarmiento said.

-----

To see more of The Miami Herald -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Miami Herald

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

EBAY,

Source: The Miami Herald

More News in this Category