Selling Other People's Stuff Have a knack for selling on eBay? Then you may have what it takes to open an eBay drop-off franchise.

Ah, the wonders of eBay. Millions of auctions, buyers and sellers attestto its allure. Whether it's a vintage Star Trek lunch paildiscovery for one diehard Trekkie or a mother's way todeclutter her house, many have found eBay to be the answer forbuying or selling something. In fact, eBay addicts search for justabout anything and everything their hearts desire, and sellers canturn a little side income into a full-blown business. But for thecrop of eBay fulfillment franchises popping up, the realopportunity is found in the untapped numbers of people whowouldn't mind someone else doing the selling for them.

While eBay's Trading Assistants Program, launched in February 2002,enables individuals to assist others in selling items on eBay,franchises such as iSold It, Snappy Auctions and QuikDrop executethat concept on a grander scale. They actually have locations,sometimes called eBay dropoff or consignment stores, wherecustomers can bring in their items for the businesses to sell. HaniDurzy, senior manager of corporate communications at eBay, saysthese fulfillment franchises hit critical mass around nine to 12months ago. "We're definitely seeing a trend of theseretail storefronts opening up," says Durzy.

Murray Meade and Jack Reynolds' first indication of anopportunity for their QuikDrop International franchise came withthe decline of their other business. As co-owners of Quik Internet,which hosts 40,000 e-commerce sites, they grew concerned whenbusiness fell 10 percent in 2003 from the previous year. Theproblem, they discovered, was many of their customers had suchphenomenal success selling just a few items on eBay that theydecided to just close their e-commerce Web site and move it allover to eBay. The partners knew they had to do something. Ratherthan trying to beat eBay, they decided to join them, or at leasthelp others join them.

Says Reynolds of their push for QuikDrop, "We realizedright away nobody was in the space. A dominant player would have toexpand very quickly." Indeed, competition is already at itsheels. Another eBay fulfillment business, AuctionDrop, has chosennot to franchise, but instead to partner with The UPS Store, whichwill act as the dropoff location for AuctionDrop's customers.With 10 stores in six states so far, QuikDrop is already fieldingfranchising contracts for hundreds more. But for now, the 3,400locations of The UPS Store in the continental United States is thefarthest reaching arm of eBay fulfillment businesses.

Marsha Collier, author of eBay for Dummies, knows what ittakes to sell successfully-she's an eBay PowerSeller. She saysprospective eBay fulfillment franchisees should consider whetherthey can generate enough product flow to cover the overhead costsof a storefront. "The key is low overhead, especially withsomething like this," she explains. "You've gotnothing to sell, and you have to wait for people to bring youstuff."

Snappy Auction's founder Debbie Gordon is nonethelessconfident. "Getting inventory should not be a problem-it'smore about how to be creative and motivate people to bring it toyou," she says. Gordon also believes her franchise has the keyrequirements Collier mentions: low overhead and high demand."Our model is self-contained, to minimize additionaloverhead," says Gordon, who adds that Snappy Auction storesholds on to the merchandise rather than sending it to a centrallocation.

While Gordon says ideal franchisee candidates are those withbroad business experience, you don't have to be an eBayaficionado to buy this type of franchise. "People can learnthe ins and outs of eBay," Gordon. Since starting this year,Snappy Auction has two franchisees and will add 36 more thisquarter.

Wave of the Future?

iSold It area developer Rick Morris is familiar with eBay bothas a seller and a buyer, and that background has come in handysince he and his two partners bought the rights to the San Antonio,Houston and Dallas/Ft. Worth metro area in February 2004. In fact,Collier highly recommends gaining similar experience before buyingan eBay fulfillment franchise, and suggests starting with the eBayTrading Assistants Program, which is free to join. "Why notget on-the-job training before you put out any money?" asksCollier. When customers are unhappy with what their item sold for,you have to be ready to deal with that. Warns Collier,"There's a lot of emotion to dealing with people incustomer service, and it's not always easy."

Providing excellent customer service is key for Morris, whohopes his first location in San Antonio is a precursor to futuresuccess, as he and his partners have five more in development and acommitment to opening and owning a minimum of 45 locations."We've received a phenomenal response. I'm the guy inthe trenches every day at the store, and our volume is over doublewhat I had projected," says Morris, who posted sales of$50,000 first month, and projects about $900,000 for the firstyear. He adds that local media coverage has definitely caused abuzz, as has the eBay sign on the storefront, which brings in atleast half the traffic.

eBay fulfillment franchisors and franchisees are optimisticabout the growth of this service industry. Durzy remarks,"We're excited by the possibility. Anything that extendsthe eBay marketplace, that promises to bring more people and moreitems into the eBay marketplace and expose eBay to the largersegment of society is a good thing. We know some people are notlisting on eBay and probably never will list on eBay themselves.They have stuff to sell, too-maybe this is an opportunity for themto do so."

In fact, the challenge for these franchises "will to be asexcited as the customers," says Collier. "What makes abusiness succeed more than anything is excitement and understandingof what they're doing."

And since the industry is in its infancy, no one really doesknow what will happen. "It's way too soon to tell if theywill be successful across the board or whether only certain oneswill succeed. If so, which business models will perform better thanothers, and will the eBay community as a whole take to these ornot?" says Durzy. Pleasing the community-online and off-willbe the ultimate test.