- 8 August, 2004 -

With Snappy Auctions, selling on eBay really is easy MARY HANCE STAFF BY MARY HANCE I hate to admit this, but years ago - 10 years, to be exact - my persuasive husband talked me into buying a set of cannonball andirons. He planned to put them in the fireplace we were having built as part of an addition to our home. They were very handsome - and heavy - and we were told that they were fashioned from real Civil War cannonballs. We bought them at a marked-down price at the Clearing House Consignment store in Belle Meade for what I considered a splurgy lot of money. (I can't tell you how much, since I do have my reputation to consider.) Anyway, as luck (or lack of focus) would have it, when the fireplace was built, it was not quite large enough to accommodate the expensive andirons. So ever since, they have been gathering dust and cobwebs in our basement. I have hauled the dang things out to the front yard for at least three yard sales (where they got little or no notice) and then had to drag them back to the basement, ever hopeful we would find someone who would love them as much as my husband did - and, of course, be willing to pay handsomely for them. Meanwhile, everywhere I go people are talking about eBay, and what a cool thing it is. The people who are selling all kinds of strange and wonderful things right and left make it sound so easy. Maybe so. But honestly, I know myself well enough to know that it would be a big hassle for me to set up an eBay account, post my andirons with a pleasing photograph and convincing write-up, and answer questions from potential buyers. Plus, I would have to collect the money and pack the andirons to send. (Ugh! They weigh 27 pounds each!) So when I heard about Snappy Auctions, an upstart consignment company that will do all the work for you and then cut you a check for 65% of the sale price, I decided to investigate. I figured I had almost nothing to lose, since they assured me that I could set a minimum price and see what happened. "Ninety-nine percent of things will sell if they are priced right,'' says entrepreneur Debbie Gordon, who said her company accepts items that they believe will sell on eBay for $50 or more. Gordon, a New York native and Vanderbilt University graduate with a degree in economics and human and organizational development, started her Snappy Auctions company in March 2003. The selling service evolved from her niche of selling high-end, designer shoes on eBay. "There is a huge market for this; eBay consignment is estimated to be a $5 billion-$10 billion industry. We are starting to franchise it," she said. "People have a lot of things they hold onto, and most of them lose their value. So why not get rid of them and get something for them?'' Just in the months since the Green Hills store opened in October, Debbie and her assistant, Merrill Bohren, and two other employees have sold thousands of items: saddles, wake boards, jewelry, antique dolls, wedding dresses, personal seat licenses for Titans home games, lamps, guitars, designer purses, tools, china, crystal, electronics, skis and other sporting goods equipment. "It is amazing. There are 45,000 categories of things to be sold on eBay,'' Debbie told me, adding that people always want her to identify the most unusual thing she has sold. "Really, nothing is really unusual to us,'' she said - before I delivered my andirons. Despite my worries, the andirons sold within their 10-day stay on eBay. I'm not saying there was much interest, but all it took was one, and that is what they got: one offer for $299, our opening bid. So here I am, one lucky girl, with a check for nearly $200 in my hot little hands and the andirons out of my basement and on their way to some handsome fireplace in Orange, Calif. Thank goodness the buyer pays the shipping! I'm definitely happy. I'm just trying to decide how to break the news to my husband about our good fortune! Stay cheap! Ms. Cheap appears Thursdays and Fridays in The Tennessean's Living section and Sundays in Life. She is the author of Ms. Cheap's Guide to Getting More for Less. Reach her at 259-8282 or at mscheap@tennessean.com. SNAPPY SELLING The folks at Snappy Auctions will price your items (things they believe will sell for $50 or more) for you based on input from you as well as their research and experience with similar items. They professionally photograph your items, create the descriptive listing, respond to all inquiries, pack it up for shipping, send invoices to the buyers, collect payment for your items via credit card, check, etc., and ship and track items once they are sold and the money clears. Then they send you a check within a couple of weeks. To do all of this, they charge anywhere from 15% to 35%, depending on how much the item brings. The 35% applies to anything up to $500. To reach Snappy Auctions, stop by 2014 Glen Echo Road, call them at 463-7355 or log onto www.snappyauctions.com.

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