This story appears in the
September 2004 issue of
Startups.
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What:
professional broker listing service that deals through eBay
Who: Perry Dodd
of AuctionMeThis
Where: Vancouver,
Washington
When: started in
1997
Seven years ago, Perry Dodd won the jackpot. But his jackpot
came in the form of a dilapidated, wooden jack-in-the-box hidden
amidst a box of goods he bought at an auction for $10. Dodd had
slim hopes for the toy when he posted it on eBay, but cashed in big
when bidders raised the final price to more than $700. He later
discovered that the run-down toy was a German-made original from
the late 1800s.
Fascinated by eBay, Dodd was inspired to assist others who
didn't have the time or the know-how to benefit from the online
auction. Advertising in local newspapers, he started collecting
other people's items to sell on eBay. In exchange for a
percentage of the final selling price, Dodd completes the entire
process, which includes photographing, listing and shipping the
merchandise.
The light bulb had gone on, but he didn't invest fully in
the idea until 2003, when he moved his homebased business into a
Vancouver, Washington, storefront. Initially, the idea was novel
and therefore confusing, so in addition to the $15,000 startup cost
for the store, advertising was necessary to educate customers.
"People would come in because they saw the name, and they
would think 'Where's the auction?'" he says.
In April, Dodd, 43, opened a second location, in Las Vegas, and
now boasts an overall success sell rate of 99 percent. Before
posting merchandise, Dodd researches the value of each item.
Sometimes, he leaves it up to the bidders to decide: Says Dodd,
"Vintage African masks or a vintage African child's
coffin-you have no idea who in the world would want to buy these
things, but they do, and you have no value to really be able to
assess."