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Consignment drop-off stores are set up to auction other people’s items online for a
percentage of the sale. The most successful people selling on eBay have a niche product.
Drop-off stores don't.
Somebody's else's goods sounds like the ideal source. Once your system is in place, it should
become an assembly line for turning their clutter into cash. Your profit will come from what
you offer your online bidders; but, the potential for profit is determined by the things
customers bring in to sell. A continuously changing stream of customers results in items that
are mixed in category, varied in condition, and wide-ranging in price.
This variety of items might seem like an advantage since there can be millions of buyers on
eBay looking for thousands of different products, but it isn’t. As a store owner you are paying
employees to photograph, list, and ship a different set of products every hour, every day. It
becomes a constant pool of inconsistency with no hope of standardizing the work flow.
Remember, too, employees are going through all this work for an item you don’t own and will
return if it doesn’t sell. Your control over what you can offer buyers is haphazard.
If a store processes items that sell for less than then it costs to put them through the system,
it looses money. If an item is processed but doesn't sell, the store looses more money. By not
charging a processing fee to the consignor, sales of high ticket items must be plentiful enough
to cover the losses and more. That isn't happening, so they tend to take in items that keep the
staff busy but don't generate a profit. More on processing.
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