BRING IN THE MIDDLEMAN ONLINE AUCTION STORES HELP PEOPLE SELL ON EBAY.Byline: Candice Choi Staff Writer A vintage amplifier lying around Peter Katz's home recently fetched him a pretty penny on eBay - and he hardly lifted a finger. Instead he just dropped the amplifier off at The Garage Seller, a vendor that sells other people's wares People's War (Chinese language: 人民战争), also called protracted people's war, is a military-political strategy invented by Mao Zedong. The basic concept behind People's War is to maintain the support of the population and draw the enemy deep into on Internet auction site eBay for a cut of the profit. EBay drop-off stores like The Garage Seller, Quik Drop and The Web Corner are turning the discarded dis·card v. dis·card·ed, dis·card·ing, dis·cards v.tr. 1. To throw away; reject. 2. a. To throw out (a playing card) from one's hand. b. wares We love "wares" in this industry as noted below. See also warez. abandonware adware annoyware badware beltware betaware bloatware boardware brochureware bridgeware censorware cloudware courseware crapware crimeware crippleware crossware crudware demoware donateware dribbleware of technophobes across the region into a brick-and-mortar goldmine. The Garage Seller expanded to four locations after opening a shop in Studio City just eight months ago, and owner Peter Mehrian said two more are on the way. The Web Corner in Woodland Hills and a Quik Drop location in Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. also recently opened for business. Fueling the growth of such storefronts is the seemingly worthless artifacts artifacts see specimen artifacts. collecting dust in homes across America. ``Everything has a value,'' said Mehrian. Apparently so: Sales at the Garage Seller have been escalating between 30 percent and 40 percent every month since it opened. AuctionDrop, a nationwide drop-off site that partners with UPS, estimates there is $20 billion in discarded merchandise lying around in the nation's homes. So what are people digging up from the dark recesses of their garages and attics attics (aˑ·tiks), n the sinus passages connected to the nose where cool air is warmed and filtered. ? It ranges from beat-up Winnie the Pooh dolls to sparkling scooters List of scooter models per manufacturer Aprilia
Weinstein completed his Ph.D. at Berkeley in 1967 under the direction of Shiing-Shen Chern. said he recently got a car transmission. And Weinstein thinks he can sell it. The Garage Seller even hocks cars, boats and real estate. Here's how it works. A customer brings in the item they want to sell. To pass muster to pass through a muster or inspection without censure. See also: Muster , the item typically needs to have a minimum value of about $50. The vendor will then research, photograph and write up the product on eBay. Once the item is sold, the cusomter is mailed a check. The vendor keeps a commission ranging between 20 percent and 80 percent, depending on how much is made. Selling on eBay can be a cumbersome, time-consuming process, Weinstein said. ``You have to know how to load the digital pictures and know how to do the write-up.'' Places like AuctionDrop also have the savvy to dry-clean a wedding dress and put it on a mannequin before posting it online, said Kathy Wilson, spokeswoman for the chain. A regular seller might fetch less for the same dress by just snapping a picture of it lying around their apartment. Katz uses the Internet to read, research and write but selling is slightly beyond his comfort. ``I'm somewhere between tech-savvy and a Luddite,'' he said. Drop-off auction stores can bring people like Katz and a ``whole new segment of sellers to the eBay community,'' said Hani Durzy, spokesman for eBay. There are about 1,000 drop-off locations listed on eBay, which created a ``trading post'' in July listing drop-off locations. Those places alone garnered sales of at least $25,000 a month. San Carlos-based AuctionDrop recently partnered with UPS. Now people can drop off their wares at any UPS location to be sent to AuctionDrop free of charge. If the item isn't worth anything, AuctionDrop will send it back - again, free of charge. AuctionDrop has sold about 40,000 items and mailed out $2 million in checks since it was established in March 2003. It's essentially the modern-day consignment The delivery of goods to a carrier to be shipped to a designated person for sale. A Bailment of goods for sale. A consignment is an arrangement resulting from a contract in which one person, the consignor, either ships or entrusts goods to another, the shop, Wilson said. Unlike a consignment shop, however, Wilson said AuctionDrop has the entire online community as potential buyers. Recently, someone brought a vintage stereo to the Garage Seller that fetched $2,220, Mehrian said. Another person brought in a high-end amplifier that sold for $900 and yet another person brought in a comic book comic book Bound collection of comic strips, usually in chronological sequence, typically telling a single story or a series of different stories. The first true comic books were marketed in 1933 as giveaway advertising premiums. collection that sold for $2,300. ``We get a lot of sports memorabilia The term sports memorabilia usually refers to anything that can be directly connected to a sports event or personality. These items are generally gathered by fans of the particular sport, athlete or team that the item signifies or by collectors who find value in the rarity - that sells well,'' Mehrian said. Candice Choi, (818) 713-3634 candice.choi(at)dailynews.com EBAY DROPOFF STORES The Garage Seller www.thegarageseller.com 15719 Ventura Blvd., Encino (Also in Studio City, Woodland Hills and Brentwood) (818) 784-5005 Quik Drop www.quikdrop.com 1782 Erringer Road, Simi Valley (805)583-5544 The Web Corner www.thewebcorner.com 19509 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana (818) 345-7443 CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) Quick Drop store manager Connie Wate holds a guitar for sale online as owner Alan Weinstein looks on. John Lazar/Staff Photographer (2 -- color) Peter Mehrian holds a set of golf clubs in a storage room packed with eBay inventory at The Garage Seller in Encino. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer Box: EBAY DROPOFF STORES (see text) |
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