proebayer

eBay is a two-syllable word that has become apart of modern lexicon. For example ...
Question: “Where did you find that complete set of Louis L’Amour paperback novels?’
Answer: “I found it on eBay.”
Another ...
“Hey, I sold my autographed Packer football for $100 on eBay.”
Yet another ...
“I know what you can do with that stuff you did not sell at the garage sale. Sell it on eBay!”
eBay is an online auction site for buyers and sellers, or the unofficial garage sale for millions of Americans and people around the world.
A visit to eBay’s Web site (www.ebay.com) offers the equivalent of 100,000 Stone Lake garage sales/auctions at one point of entry. Everything from antiques to video games, with 35 major categories in between (for example, cell phones, crafts, home and garden, real estate, toys).
Like all online phenomena, eBay is evolving. One recent evolution of eBay is brick-and-mortar stores selling items for individuals who would rather not open an individual online account and sell items themselves.
Recently, an eBay store and Internet Cafe opened in Spooner called Spooner Online Auction. The store is south of the post office on Front Street. Just look for a car in the parking lot with a big posterboard wedged under the car’s hood with a sign that says “Sell it on eBay.”
David Hanson is the entrepreneur who has started a walk-in-point-of-entry to the virtual world of eBay.
He drummed up business by going to garage sales and handed out a flyer to the sellers telling them whatever they did not sell, he could list for sale on the eBay.
One garage sale seller and several other clients later called, and Hanson’s virtual store (www.spoonerebay.com) went from listing nine items to more than 90 – everything from hand-painted saws, an autographed Viking Daunte Culpepper helmet, and comic books to a reproduction of a medieval weapon, with starting prices that range from 99 cents for candleholders to $400 for a 1993 Pontiac Bonneville.

Here is how the store works:
Step 1. Anyone (the client) with a small item to sell takes the item to Hanson’s store.
Step 2. The customer decides to either place the item just on Hanson’s eBay store site for 30 days or list the item in a timed auction on a general eBay listing for one, three, five, seven or 10 days (timed auction items are also posted in Hanson’s store).
The 30-day listing is cheaper than the timed auctions, but timed auctions are more effective in selling, said Hanson, because timed-auction items on regular eBay listings offer more exposure to buyers, whereas items listed only in his store will just be viewed when buyers enter his individual, online store.
Step 3. If requested, Hanson takes a photo of the item and posts the photo with a description of the item.
Step 4. A starting price is set for the product, selling details are negotiated with the client, and the item is posted online, along with the amount to be charged for shipping.
Step 4. If the item sells, Hanson will ship the product for the buyer. Being footsteps away from the post office makes the shipping part that much easier.
Step 5. Selling and posting fees are taken from the sale price (5 percent to 10 percent), and the customer is paid.
For those with items too large to take to Hanson’s brick-and-mortar store, they also have the option of selling under 30-day or timed auctions, but they must sign an “out-of-store contract” guaranteeing they have the item and are providing an accurate description, and they must also post a small up-front fee.

Hanson and Ebay.
Hanson got his start on eBay by fixing up broken laptop computers and selling them online. When he surpassed 100 sales, with a status of excellent feedback from buyers, he was given the option of becoming a trading assistant, meaning he could sell items online for others.
He had heard of brick-and-mortar stores that took in products from people and sold them on eBay and began to talk to friends and family about starting his own store.
“Everyone was telling me it was such a good idea that I thought I might as well go through with it,” said Hanson.
He talked to Washburn County Economic Development and Tourism Director Lou Schneider about the idea.
“I saw this gleam in his eye when I talked of the possibilities of anyone selling to others and about the Internet cafe,” said Hanson
“I think it is a great idea,” said Schneider. “I think he will have a neat market. He has a nice location. I think he will do quite well.
“It is about getting millions to look at your product as opposed to 10,000 in the area,” he said.
Schneider said he has talked with three businesses in the county about using Hanson’s online store to sell slow-moving inventory.
Hanson said he already established direct point of sales agreement with a Shell Lake manufacturer who makes the Aqua-tiller, a device that removes lake weeds.

Client base
“It’s about 50/50,” Hanson said about the composition of his clients: 50 percent who have never used eBay and 50 percent who have.
According to Hanson, most of his eBay-using clients have used the site only for buying and are not interested in selling directly.
However, one of Hanson’s clients, who did not want to be identified, said he has sold on eBay before but liked the idea of someone else managing the sale and shipping the product without the hassle of daily monitoring his individual account.

Internet Cafe
Beside offering an easy access to sell on eBay, Hanson provides an easy way to gain access to the Internet itself through his Internet cafe.
With six computer terminals available, clients can use high-speed access to the Internet for e-mailing, blogging, chatting, and Web surfing.
The fee charged for gaining access to the Internet is based on time – the more time purchased, the less per-minute time charged. Time can be booked by the minute, hour, day, week, month and even the year.
“I got the idea when I was in Europe [Latvia],” said Hanson. “Internet cafes are all over the place, even in rural areas.”

Hours/contact
Spooner Online Auction opens at 9 a.m. on Monday through Saturday. On Monday it closes at 5 p.m. Each following day, it closes one hour later: Tuesday, 6 p.m.; Wednesday: 7 p.m. ...
The store is located on the Web at www.spoonerebay.com and in Spooner at 702 North Front St., #7. The phone number is 635-4333; e-mail, info@spoonerebay.com.

http://www.spooneradvocate.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=5&story_id=221184