Manchester - 23 June, 2005 -

Snappy Auctions, a franchised eBay drop-off and selling service, plans to open its first New Hampshire storefront at 545 Hooksett Road (Maple Tree Mall) in Manchester on Monday, owner Dan Muskat said yesterday. Sellers bring their merchandise, which must sell for $50 or more on eBay, to Snappy Auctions and pay a 15 to 35 percent commission in exchange for professional services, which range from establishing a price to shipping to the buyer. "I call it a consignment shop on steroids," Muskat said. "When you drop your stuff off for a consignment shop, you're limited to the number of people that walk in. Here there are millions of people that can look at your item every single day." Muskat previously was vice president of business strategy for Jac Pac Foods, which his family sold in 2001. His father, Irwin Muskat, retired after the sale, but Dan Muskat, 41, said, "I wasn't quite ready to retire. "I left Jac Pac in 2001 and spent the last four years looking for something to do," he said. "There was a cover story on AOL about the hot franchises of 2005 and Snappy Auctions and eBay stores were listed and just started doing my due diligence and never looked back." Muskat has right of first refusal for new Snappy Auction stores in adjacent territories and he plans to open six to 10 Snappy Auctions in New Hampshire and neighboring states. Each site could have three to four employees. He is eyeing sites in south Manchester, and possibly Nashua, Portsmouth, Concord, Keene and Lebanon. After the sale of Jac Pac, both Dan Muskat and his father were among dozens of victims of convicted swindler Koji Goto, who is undergoing mental competency testing while awaiting trial on 45 outstanding counts, including those involving the Muskats. Muskat said items that typically sell well at auction are designer clothing with tags on it, designer accessories, antique and vintage cars, antique and vintage car parts, computers, china and some high-end tools, he said. "The more unique an item is, the better it will do on eBay," he said. In most cases, the seller will know within two weeks whether the auction has been successful, and if no buyer emerges, then the seller can decide whether to keep the item or donate it to charity, Muskat said. "When you bring your item in, you drop it off, we'll take pictures of it professionally, we list the item professionally," he said. "We manage the buyer, meaning we take care of the financial transactions, any questions he has about the item and we actually pack and ship, which is the thing that people dread the most. "So when you leave your item here for us to sell on eBay, that's the last time you see it, and then you get a check. It's that simple and it's really a great deal for the person selling," he said. eBay has grown so large, with 40,000 categories, said Muskat, that "it sells more than the gross national product of a lot of countries." "I've bought and sold cars, and I've bought and sold toys for my kids; I run the gamut. You find anything you want on eBay," he said. According to Internet Retailer, eBay drop-off centers have the potential to generate $10 billion sales annually by tapping the potential of eBay's nearly 100 million registered users. The Snappy Auctions franchise was started by software consultant and eBay power seller Debbie Gordon, who opened the first store in Nashville in October 2003.

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