New Industry Helping Sell Items On eBay

Nov. 1 - KGO (KGO) -- There's a new way to sell something on eBay without having to do much work. 7 On Your Side's Michael Finney shows us how it all works and how much it costs.

A whole industry is growing up around eBay. Businesses are offering to help you sell your items on eBay for a fee.

That's a laugh familiar to anyone who's been to San Francisco's Playland. The once popular amusement park closed in 1972.

Laughing Sal hopes to live on at a new museum paying tribute to amusement parks of years gone by. But "Playland Not At The Beach" in El Cerrito cannot open until it raises $25,000 dollars for a handicapped ramp. That's why the museum turned to Found Value.

Richard Tuck, FoundValue customer: "We were actually throwing things away, discarding things and giving things away. But because we need money right now to afford putting in the handicapped ramp for people in wheelchairs, we were trying to be creative to come up with solutions to try to find those funds."

FoundValue is now going through the museum's unwanted items, and selling them on eBay as a fundraiser. In two months, it's raised nearly $3,000 dollars.

Maria Haswell, FoundValue: "Richard, I also put up your trade show booth at home."

The trade show booth sold on eBay for $1,000 dollars.

I Sold It in San Francisco is another business that helps people sell items on eBay. Like FoundValue, I Sold It evaluates the items up for sale, takes photographs of the items and posts them on eBay. You have to bring your items to I Sold It. FoundValue, on the other hand, comes to you. Both charge commission on a sliding scale. Fees charged by FoundValue range from 15 to 35 percent of the selling price. I Sold It charges anywhere from 20 to 35 percent.

Ryan Gin, I Sold It: "We take the pictures, we write the descriptions, we handle e-mail questions from potential buyers, we do the payment collection, we pack and ship the item and send it out."

As with anything you put up on eBay, there are no guarantees the item will sell. Pennants from Magic Mountain, Busch Garden and Knotts Berry Farm put up by FoundValue received no bids. But users of both services say any sale is found money.

Fred Buerman, I Sold It customer: "We're seeing we're getting the value it was estimated at because of the wide market of eBay. I could have never done that by myself."

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