Auctioneers vs Auction Listing Agent: An Old World Favorite Taken Over by a New World Business
By Steve Albright
Growing up in a world without the internet - yes folks, there used to be a world without an internet! - an auction was something that took place in a fancy building with lots of old people using paddles to bid on a floral upholstered love seat that was supposed to be important because it was designed by a Von somebody and owned by a Sir Somebody. There may have been an auction listing agent behind the show but all anyone cared about was the auctioneer, who spoke fast and pounded a gavel when something was Sold!
But as I have gotten older and the internet has taken over all of reality - it is obvious that my world plus the world of those around me is forever different when grown men and women are having serious discussions about Farmville over martinis - auctions have become a very different thing.
With the introduction of eBay in the mid 1990s, the world of auctions changed forever. EBay was originally designed with the concept that everyday people like you and I would just hop online and sell that old purse or your daughters old prom dress or that pair of shoes that your well meaning but clueless husband purchased for you and you have never worn.
Then, as the internet evolved and eBay evolved, people started realizing that they could use eBay in essence to have their own store. Who needs a lease and the overhead of a brick and mortar store front, not to mention the hassle of trying to get street traffic through your doors? You could take those knick knacks or wind chimes or whatever and sell them on eBay, which already had a steady market.
Now, since eBay has effectively eliminated the position of an auctioneer (which makes me very sad - there is just something about the slamming of a gavel that eBay cannot replicate, no matter how great they may be in other ways), the auction listing agent is rising to the forefront. These are people who are trying to start their own eBay store, but with a bit of difference from the other eBay store owners previously mentioned.
The new eBay store owners do not make, buy, or find their merchandise. They use a drop ship company - a company that provides the merchandise at a particular price, and then after the merchandise is sold, they ship it to the buyer. All these new auction listing agents do is list the product on eBay for a profit above what they pay the drop ship company for it, and then keep the profit.
Again, it is a perfectly fine way of conducting business, but I just find myself a little sad and nostalgic for that old image of a floral upholstered love seat by the Von someones, and knowing my world plus the world of my children will be a little sadder without those images.
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