Iowans who’ve never tried to sell anything on the Internet auction site e-Bay may soon decide to give the process a whirl. A chain of stores has been granted development rights in eight eastern Iowa counties to help streamline the e-Bay process. Jack Reynolds is co-founder of the QuikDrop chain. Reynolds says “We’re a retail store that takes things in and sells them on e-Bay and then gives the people a check who brought the things in.” He says a customer brings in the item to be sold, worth at least 50-dollars. It’s photographed with a digital camera, a full description is written and it’s posted on the global auction site. Contrary to what you’d think, Reynolds says few people try to sell their own stuff on eBay. Most people don’t do it themselves, Reynolds says, as it’s too hard. They have to take pictures, do the write-ups, answer questions via e-mail, pack and ship the item and deal with credit cards and PayPal. He says of the millions of eBay users, only eight-percent ever sell anything, 92-percent are buyers only. He says certain items brought into the QuikDrop stores are put up for bidding right away, others are held for a few days to maximize their exposure to certain buying trends.The first QuikDrop store is planned for Davenport with at least three more to follow in some of the following eastern Iowa counties: Dubuque, Jackson, Clinton, Muscatine, Louisa, Des Moines and Lee. Seven locations are now open in five states. Reynolds says franchise contracts are in place to open an additional 250 stores in the U.S. and 75 stores internationally. For more information, surf to: “www.quikdrop.com”.
