Nashville - 13 January, 2006 -

Not even two years into franchising, Snappy Auctions is tapping new domestic and international markets. Debbie Gordon, president of the eBay drop-off store, is launching Snappy Sales Solutions (S3), a business-to-business brand of the company, and applying for licenses to set up shop in the United Kingdom and Japan. She says her moves are a response to the high traffic eBay has seen in its business and industrial category and its continued expansion overseas. S3 is a set of marketing tools Gordon had designed to have a more professional appeal over the company's original brand, which mimics the whimsical eBay trademark. The 100 Snappy Auctions franchises have free rein to use the S3 Web site and logo to set up a campaign to solicit business owners to sell off old or unused equipment and excess inventory. Catherine England, a spokeswoman for eBay, says in the third quarter of 2005 alone, $1.5 billion worth of items sold in the business and industrial category, making it one of the most active areas on the site. With S3 as his platform, Loren Hall, owner of two Snappy Auctions stores, intends to get a piece of that multi-billion dollar pie. He is focusing his Brentwood location in Maryland Farms strictly on business-to-business transactions. "(S3) adds credence that we can and will work with other businesses," Hall says. "We're already doing some of it right now but we just didn't have the infrastructure laid out as neatly as the Snappy Sales Solutions has done for us." Kristi Gilbert, also an owner of two Snappy Auctions stores, says she was ahead of the game because the business plan she set up before opening her locations last July listed business to business as a market objective. She says it just makes sense revenue-wise - higher priced items turn a higher commission. It also makes sense for businesses looking to get rid of goods. According to a release by Snappy Auctions, eBay and Accenture have conducted research that shows businesses often generate twice the sales by selling online. And since items on eBay can sell internationally, Gilbert says companies have the chance to liquidate property that otherwise wouldn't capitalize. "Obsolete equipment here in the U.S. is not obsolete in other countries," she says. England says eBay opened international markets in 1999 and now has 33 of them in 18 different languages. Gordon is trying to start franchising in just two countries but she sees the opportunity in going into more - next on the list is Australia and Spain.

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