Circuit City launches test of an eBay drop-off service
Looking for new business to fill extra space in its stores’ warehouses, Circuit City Stores Inc. has joined the ranks of some 20 fledgling companies offering a drop-off service for consumers who want to sell something on eBay.com. Circuit City recently began testing the service, called Trading Circuit, in a store in Atlanta. It expects to have 10 stores offering the drop-off service by mid-June, including six in Atlanta and four in a yet-to-be-named market, a spokesman says.
"If the test stores deliver the kind of service we think they can and people are as excited about this as we are, we’ll think about a national roll-out," the spokesman adds. Circuit City operates more than 600 U.S. stores.
Circuit City figures the eBay drop-off service will help make use of extra warehouse space that has become available in its stores since it stopped selling major appliances and changed its inventory management policy to keep most products on its selling floors rather than in back-room warehouses, the spokesman says. "We saw an opportunity to provide a service that we think people will like and make more use of the space in our stores," he says. He adds that Circuit City believes that it is the first established national retail chain to begn offering eBay drop-off services. "They`re the only one we`re aware of," an eBay spokesman says.
The Trading Circuit locations will operate as a store-within-a-store, with their own entrances and staffs of about five employees each. Consumers will be also be able to enter the Trading Circuits from inside a Circuit City store, but the two units will operate separately. "The Trading Circuit is nothing that our regular store managers will have to deal with," the spokesman says.
Circuit City is entering an eBay drop-off services market that has attracted about 20 or more start-up businesses in recent months, including some that plan to roll out national chains of hundreds of stores. Santa Clara, CA-based AuctionDrop, for example, plans to open 500 to 1,000 eBay drop-off stores over the next several years, says CEO Randy Adams.
EBay drop-off stores can vary in the specific services they offer, but they all are designed to let consumers drop off merchandise for sale on eBay. The typical drop-off store will estimate an item’s value on eBay, then take a digital photograph of it and create and an auction listing on eBay. For a cut of the final selling price, the store will manage the auction, handle fulfillment and oversee payment processing through PayPal or some other payment method.
Circuit City`s Trading Circuit, which accepts items valued at $50 or more for eBay listings, charges a per-item commission based on the final selling price. The fee runs 35% of the first $500, plus 25% of any selling price over $500. It also passes on to customers eBay listing fees and payment processing fees. Circuit City will handle Trading Circuit shipments to winning auction bidders through UPS, the spokesman says.
Circuit City expects to operate its Trading Circuit locations with eBay’s Trading Post brand, the Circuit City spokesman says. EBay has established the Trading Post brand as a means of certifying drop-off stores and build consumer relationships, eBay says.
Several of the other eBay drop-off services have made recent announcements regarding growth plans.
QuickDrop International, Carson City, NV, with eight stores open in five states, said this month it plans to open 21 more stores in southern and central Florida, 17 on Long Island, NY, one in New York City and 16 in a region enompassing southern Illinois and the St. Louis, MO, metropolitan area.
Etowah, TN-based NuMarkets, opened its first store in Cleveland this month to add to its six stores in Tennessee and North Carolina.
ISold It announced recently that it is registered to open franchises in 43 states and plans to be operating in 12 states this year.
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