eBay Can Save Time and Money While Your Business Grows

As the owner or manager of your business, you have enough to do without spending valuable business hours at the local furniture supply store or computer warehouse. Shopping trips are probably not your top priority but you still need a new fax machine, display case, laptop, pencil sharpener, light fixture, or whatever. Depending on your business, it’s not likely that you can find one store where you can get everything you need.

One-stop shopping is just a few clicks away. Sure, you could easily go to the websites of the various vendors and office supply stores. But will you be getting the best possible price? If saving money is truly important to you—and it probably is—it might be time to take a trip to eBay to see if they have the solutions you’ve been looking for just waiting for your bid. As a trip to the site will show you, eBay is not just for comic books or Neil Diamond albums anymore; it’s for business owners like you.

Small and middle-market businesses are benefiting from not only buying their office contents from the site, but retailers are also making a killing selling their wares on eBay without having to pay rent for a storefront. For space’s sake, we will talk about how eBay can help you find equipment and supplies at bargain basement rates.

With the recent dot.com meltdown in the not too distant past, it should be easy to find everything you need for your business, regardless of what business you’re in. Sure enough, a recent check found Herman Miller Aeron Chairs (the Cadillac of office chairs, if you will) starting out at $400 (they retail for about three times that); vending machines under $400; a transmission shop for a little over $16,000; and even the contents of a vacated office cubicle with a starting bid of $1.00!

In fact, this mode of buying and selling has become so popular that eBay has created a website just for this purpose called eBay Business (www.ebaybusiness.com). Launched in January 2003 the goal of this new division is to bring together all of the business related listings into one destination, making it easier for small businesses to find the equipment and supplies they need. eBay has estimated that small businesses represent more than $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in the capital equipment, office technology, and wholesale lots categories, based on data from the fourth quarter 2002.
 “Since the small business owner is so budget conscious, eBay Business is a great opportunity for savings,” says Karl Wiley, Sr., category manager, eBay Business. “The primary reason is to save money since the small business can find used and new equipment at substantially cheaper prices.” Wiley added that new equipment is largely due to inventory liquidations by suppliers who also use eBay as a cheap means to sell it off. 

Wiley added that the online auction route is preferable to traditional supply and equipment shopping because there are fewer limitations on what is available. “If you were shopping for laptops you would go to a number of stores—Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, etc.—to find what you were looking for, during business hours, that is,” he said. “You can shop online for the exact model you need 24 hours a day.” He added that many auctions have a “Buy It Now” option so bidding is not even required.

eBay Business’ categories have been grouped into three main areas: Wholesale Lots, Office Technology, and Industrial Verticals. As its category implies, Wholesale Lots covers a broad range of listings on everything from computers and electronics to toys and sporting goods and these are typically for businesses stocking their own sales inventory. Office Technology also has computers but includes networking and telecom equipment, software, office furniture, and other supplies. Industrial Verticals groups capital equipment and supplies related to everything from metalworking and restaurant supplies to agriculture, construction, commercial printing, and more. Of course, you can still find what you’re looking for on the regular eBay site (www.ebay.com) as there are always bargains to be found from the general public.

Like any cautious manager, you are likely concerned about getting bilked out of your hard-earned money, but eBay has addressed these scenarios as well. For example, if you are in the market for a really big ticket item like a truck to make deliveries or cubicles to fill 10,000 square feet of office space but you are wary about spending thousands of dollars, eBay can still be your solution. However, the company recommends using its escrow option on all purchases over $500 (www.escrow.com). Once a deal is done, the buyer sends the payment to an escrow company who holds it until the item is delivered. The seller is paid when the goods are delivered to the buyer’s satisfaction.

eBay also has a resolution dispute arm called SquareTrade (www.squaretrade.com). There is also fraud protection offered through the company. Another component that cannot be taken for granted is the feedback rating given to every seller and buyer. By checking a seller’s rating, you can see how satisfied past customers have been. This is not available at your local office furniture dealer or parts distributor, but it would certainly come in handy. It only makes sense to check a seller’s feedback record before you spend thousands of dollars with him. The feedback function is one of the many features that has turned eBay into a multi-billion dollar business in less than 10 years.