Business venture idea

Isn’t this what the UPS Store, FedEx Kinko, Staples, and some licensee Post Office locations offer?

I have a friend who works at a UPS Store and says that they charge really good money for boxes, packing materials, and the “time” to pack items for customers and then get the store’s shipping commission on top.

I always thought, expanding on just the pack and ship, that a consignment shop that sells items on eBay would be interesting. Lots of people don’t want to take the time to list items, pack, ship, and deal with buyers – but may be willing to sell for less money for someone else to take a % or flat rate cut.

One local business that has a similar idea is a mid to high-end used clothing store that sells on various websites and in-store. When an item sells in-store, they just remove the listing from the various websites they have it on. They also do all their packing, shipping from the location, and run a pawn-shop type operation where they buy clothing and accessories or loan money against them. The women running it started 5 years ago and now has 3 locations in the area – so it may be a good business.

Running a pawn shop to me is a little sketchy – they get a lot of stolen items and I would be afraid that the police would take back stolen inventory. Doing it the consignment way would allow someone not to put any money out.

this is a cool idea. i would worry about someone blaming you if a shipper damaged the item in transit though, even if you packed it really well.

i guess you could have a disclaimer though, that you’re not responsible for a shipper’s damage and that the customer should always insure delicate items for shipment etc etc.

Actually this has dawned as me as well — and folks are doing it. Where i live there are stores that will take fed ex, ups or USPS (and other stuff) and they make like 50 cents per package to mail. They also offer packaging services, po boxes (i think their po box income pays their rent) and will coordinate freight, I actually will just send customers there for local pick up items who still want to ship and they will pack it for them etc… and i go there everyday because they will take any kind of package to mail.

Anyway — it makes a lot of sense especially if you want to get into real estate and live in an area where there are going to be a lot of sellers. In a similar vain i have been thinking about buying up on a bigger warehouse to rent to other sellers (turn a coast into an appreciating asset that hopefully would end up being free for me from a cash perspective)

Hoping to reach Steve via this line, I have a BUNCH of vintage manuals, a 1978 High School GED book, and other stuff not yet discovered, and was hoping for some advise on listing them.

Anyone else out there that is familiar with this type of item, I would be very grateful for any advice.

I have listed and sold car repair manuals, vintage electronics manuals, and so forth. I don’t list them much differently than books. Do you have a specific question?

I usually photograph the cover for the first photo, then the title page (with date shown), the table of contents, and then a page or two to show (generally) what the text looks like. If there is damage or wear, then a photo or two of that should be added.

The listing title should have the date of publication, manual title, model number if it’s an instruction book, etc.

Then look at solds for similar items to get an idea of pricing.

I don’t think that I have seen a definite answer on how category will affect searches and the ability to sell an item. You want to be in generally the right area because, if a buyer is surfing or searching within a category, you want your item to come up. We don’t know which category a buyer might be searching in, so we can’t do much except to find the best match.

For the vintage instruction manuals, I have listed them in the Vintage Manuals category you mentioned. I have some general information books on ham radio that aren’t necessarily manuals, so I put them under nonfiction books.

For the GED book you mentioned, you could put it under textbooks, but I don’t think that anyone studying for their GED would want one that old. So, Antiquarian & Collectible books might be the better option.

One method I use to determine the correct category is to check similar listings and see where other sellers put their items. Some items don’t have a clear category, and I will find them scattered in different areas. For other items better aligned with Ebay, all the sellers will have selected the same category.

The only other thing that might affect a category is the “Gallery Plus” option where your listing can come up in a larger box than others. In some categories, the option comes free, and, in others, you have to pay $1. Personally, I don’t see a reason to pay for it, and I’d rather not have my item in a category where someone else’s listing is going to be bigger.

Other than that, I don’t know how the category will or will not help.

I usually just follow the solds and list where they do. You are on the right track with the electronics manuals. I think the causal buyer will find it there. The determined buyer is going to run a search and find it wherever it is.

Good Luck.