Odds & Ends Frank Ross on 24 Aug 2007 10:08 pm
Furniture and eBay Consignment
I’ve been exploring the consignment selling aspect of eBay (called ‘Trading Assisant on eBay) for some time now and can’t say that I’ve very successful at it. This is really no surprise, but it seems the thing that people MOST want to get rid of is furniture.When people contact me about helping to get rid of their stuff, almost without fail one or more pieces of furniture is going to be on the list. Part of the consignment process dictates that the Trading Assistant takes temporary possession of the merchandise. This is common practice across all consignment models that I know of.
So furniture presents a problem for this, at least for me. My eBay business is one that I largely work myself and since I am not Hercules, I can’t haul sofas, love-seats, desks and so on by myself. I can sometimes arrange for help, but even then, my 50 plus body doesn’t like hauling furniture. So my only choice is to hire someone to do it for me. This eats into what I can make on the deal.
In addition, there is the storage issue. I have rented storage for the purpose of my eBay business, but one furniture load can easily fill it up. So if you are planning to be part of the eBay consignment gig, make sure you have a way to deal with furniture!
Tags: eBay Consignment, Trading Assistant, Trading Assistant Challenges, eBay Consignment Challenges