Galway eBay store opens its doors
Galway has become only the second European city to host a 'bricks and clicks' eBay store with the official opening of an iSold It franchise on Thursday.
iSold It's first European store was officially opened in Dublin in January 2006. At the time the firm said that it intends to open 40 stores in total in Ireland by 2010 leading to the creation of up to 200 new jobs. The California-based retail chain has over 600 stores franchised in the US where people can deposit goods they want to sell through the online auction site eBay.
Before being officially launched by Mayor of Galway Brian Walsh on Thursday, the new Galway depot has been operating for a week under father and son team Gerard and Kenneth Dooley.
"Over the past week we've seen that our service has been very well received by both consumers and businesses that wish to sell on eBay but don't want to invest the time or energy to do it themselves," said Kenneth Dooley, co-founder of iSold It in Galway, speaking with ENN.
There are around 200 million registered users on eBay, but only a small percentage actually sell online. The iSold It franchise is aimed at people who do not have the time or inclination to work out a price strategy on eBay, publish digital photographs, write in-depth product descriptions, assign an appropriate minimum bidding price, run a PayPal account, or field phone calls and e-mails from potential buyers.
The Galway iSold It team explained that they will photograph and describe goods, track auctions, and answer questions from prospective buyers, as well as process payment when the bidding closes. Once an item has been auctioned online, iSold It will ship it to the winner and send out a cheque to the seller. The iSold It store takes a third of the final price as a fee.
Kenneth and Gerard Dooley are hoping to attract customers from all over the West of Ireland to their warehouse in Galway's Briarhill Business Park where they store the goods that are to be auctioned. All goods are professionally photographed and copywriters label each item with a description for its listing on eBay.
"I think we'll see everything in this business," said Ken Dooley, "Already we've had antique golf clubs, a giant deep sea fishing reel, and an unwanted diamond engagement ring that must have a story behind it. Anything is possible in this business."
"So far its early days but we're averaging about five people a day who usually bring in three or four items each," Ken Dooley said.
Gerard Dooley is Director of Business to Consumer operations in Galway. He aims to make iSold It available to local businesses too. "iSold It is a perfect way for most businesses to reach a worldwide market at little cost," he said. "We offer a fully local e-commerce service. We can help liquidate excess stocks, sell new merchandise, sell bulk lots and even move on seasonal items."
iSold It was first established in the US as part of a fundraising effort to gain funds for a new school playground by selling unwanted items on eBay. The company, which operates on a franchise basis, opened its first store in Pasadena in 2003. It claims to be the biggest seller of goods on eBay in the US and aims to open at least one store per day around the world.
It is believed the typical cost of operating a franchise in Ireland ranges between EUR90,000 and EUR150,000, depending on factors such as rent, labour, size of the store etc.
eBay does not release country specific figures but industry insiders estimate there are around 225,000 registered Irish users. This figure does not include Irish people registered on eBay's UK site.