Is iSoldit a Great Franchise Opportunity?
April 3, 2007 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
Overview: Entrepreneur magazine named eBay drop-off store franchise iSold It their “Top New Franchise for 2007,” a “Hotter Than Hot” concept and one of the “Hot Franchising Trends for 2007.” Some ex-franchise owners claim it’s a scam, a flawed and failing concept that cost them their life savings (see comments). What’s the truth? Is the iSold It franchise the American Dream… or an entrepreneurial nightmare?
Related Posts: Has iSold It Halted Franchise Sales?
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iSold it is a franchise that’s based on a simple and appealing idea.
Here’s how they describe it on their Entrepreneur magazine site listing:
By tapping into the tremendous pipeline of unwanted items that virtually every household or business has stored away, we’ve built a nationwide network of convenient neighborhood drop-off stores that make it easy for anyone to sell their items online. Our customers provide the merchandise and our stores provide the photography, listing, packing and shipping.
According to Entrepreneur magazine, iSoldit franchisees are positioned to seize the opportunities of one of the hottest franchising trends of 2007. Their list of Hot Franchising Trends for 2007 promotes eBay drop-off stores in general, and iSoldit in particular.
eBay drop-off stores: The largest global online marketplace has been creating opportunities for all, including franchises that list and sell items for those lacking eBay savvy. While the early-established eBay drop-off franchises like iSold It generally dominated the market, a few fearless competitors joined the race in 2006. Meanwhile, eBay is still going strong, with users worldwide trading more than $1,590 worth of goods on the site every second.
Entrepreneur Magazine named iSold It #1 on its list of Top New Franchises and #17 in its Hotter Than Hot list of the 100 hottest companies. According to Entrepreneur:
It’s no secret–eBay has become tremendously popular, and strategically positioned right alongside the world-famous online auction site is eBay drop-off store iSold It LLC. Elise Wetzel and her husband, Rick, founded the Pasadena, California, business in December 2003 and started offering franchises just a few months later. They have already sold more than 800 units and expect 2006 gross sales to exceed $100 million.
Entrepreneur does not hold back its enthusiasm for the iSold it concept and desirability as a franchise opportunity, stating:
Selling other people’s secondhand items for a fee is a golden idea with endless potential… The company continues to grow strong with 3,000 franchise applications flooding in every month and recent international expansion to Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The future promises limitless opportunities, and the Wetzels are ready for it. “We’ve created this brick-and-mortar interface to the internet,” says Elise, 40. “E-commerce will continue to evolve, and I think our stores are in an excellent position to capitalize on that.”
Is iSold it a great franchise opportunity… or a franchise scam?
According to others, the rosy picture painted by iSold it and Entrepreneur magazine couldn’t be farther from the truth. Ex iSold it franchisees Karen McGinn and Gene Bowen started a website, AmItheonlyone.org, that they claim exposes the truth about the flawed concept of eBay drop-off stores in general, and the flaws and deception of the iSold it franchise in particular.
Among their contentions is the the concept is flawed, processing costs are too high, that iSold it stores are closing rapidly for a variety of reasons, and that the franchise company execs are buying multimillion dollar homes while their franchisees are losing theirs to foreclosure.
The disparity between these two accounts is mind-boggling.
The iSold it franchise seems to either be the greatest franchise opportunity to arise in recent years, or one of the most effectively perpetrated franchise frauds in history. But which is it?
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DO YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE INTO THE i Sold it FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY, OR ANY INSIGHT YOU CAN SHARE? LEAVE A COMMENT, SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
After 3 years, Brian and Gail Eischeid are throwing in the towel. A story in USA Today had drawn them in:
iSold It eBay Dropoff Franchise to Close in Savannah
There’s life after franchise failure.
I posted a while back as the manager of an iSold It store in New Jersey that went belly up trying to make the sales meet the overhead…..it never happened.
I have moved on to sell from my home as a trading assistant, liquidator and also to manage eBay accounts for several businesses in my area. The beauty of this is that I get 25% of all sales while the buyers and sellers absorb the ebay, pay pal and shipping fees…..except for my phone and internet bill I have virtually zero overhead! One company even gave me an office and some use of their 28,000 sqaure foot warehouse in exchange for 20% B2B rates selling used commercial kitchen and restaurant equipment.
Best advice…..bag the franchise and use your expertise independantly. Why share your hard earned profits with a franchise. Going independant has been far more profitable and rewarding! There is life on eBay after iSold It.
Hi from France,
Do you know where i can find articles or informations about any drop off store finally lose in justice ? or have been sentenced ?
It’s too have more arguments in court with my french attorney. Thanks a lot for your help.
As a long time ebay seller, I can’t believe *anyone* would be stupid enough to BUY a franchise to sell stuff on ebay!
Why, oh why would you do that? Anyone with a brain (even some wiithout one) can sell on ebay for themselves or others. No franchise needed, no one to share profits with, no fees, nothing.
Rent a storefront, or do it from home. Put an ad in your local paper. You will get business. NO FRANCHISE WILL HELP YOU! There are literally dozens of copy-cat franchises to trim cash from idiots like you guys.
Pathetic, but Barnum was right. There is a sucker born every secone. AND – A fool and their money are soon parted.
Ron said: As a long time ebay seller, I can’t believe *anyone* would be stupid enough to BUY a franchise to sell stuff on ebay!
Remember, Ron, these weren’t long-time eBay sellers buying these franchises (for the most part). Huge hype surrounded these concepts- #1 franchise in america, all that.
I too saw major flaws in the idea from first glance – but I’ve been in franchising for 20 years. Add to that some of the slickest sales teams in the business. P.T. Barnum had nothing on the guys at iSold It. This was not their first trip to the rodeo, by any means.
Is the i-soldit website correct with the number of stores operating. I found one store listed as being NARU’d from eBay in April. I found another store in Texas linked to another Texas store.
Also I noted in the FAQ’s- the following disclaimer-
“NOTE: Pending amendment of our franchise disclosure document, these franchises are currently not being offered in the States of Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia and Washington. If you submit a statement of interest, we will contact you as soon as the amendment process is complete.
TOP”
Waz up with that?
Why do you care? Do you want to lose 100,000 dollars too?
It looks like ISI’s oldest franchisee has left the system. isoldit.ca005 in Westwood is no longer listed on the franchisor’s web page, and they have changed their ebay id effective May 29. They are still in business- which is good!
Amoz post led me to count the stores listed on iSold It’s website: 105 in the U.S. Down from a high of how many? The grapevine indicates more stores are closing (or leaving the franchise, if they are financially OK otherwise, like LA/Beverly Hills) every month.
More software horror stories in the last month, too. Given the poor performance & reliability of the Infopia-based system, is it any wonder one store just switched to AuctionSound, and LA/BH has gone to Kyozou?
Sean, is there a pool yet for which corporate office can hold out the longest: Snappy or iSold It? Oops – sorry, gambling’s illegal…
Quick spin through the iSold It website reveals:
- No franchise section (good thing)
- No new press articles since 2007
- 103 store locations listed
- 6 of those locations have 0 items for sale
- Several more have fewer than 10 items
- More than half have fewer than 100 items
Chance has stated that a store with fewer than 100 items cannot be turning a profit- or at least it’s unlikely. Could it be that this hot franchise really has fewer than 50 viable stores?
Beloved millionaire Richard Quick, Esq. has announce the latest FranWorst franchise opportunity: iSTOLE It!
According to the iSOLD IT press release, “iSTOLE It combines the selling power of eBay auctions with our unique, no-cost inventory acquisition system to unlock multiple window(s) of opportunity for YOU!”
Best yet, the iSTOLE It conversion program is available to failing franchisees and independents that can’t survive on thecumbersome revenue-share model.
There is no way I Sold It franchises are going to last much longer. There are too many problems not just in corporate but even amongst management of individual locations. I worked for ISI for a few years and was shocked by a lot of what I saw. I’m glad I got out of that business. There were numerous eBay drop off stores in my town and they ALL closed eventually, one by one. It was sad. There were a lot of things going on at ISI that I didn’t agree with, not just in terms of software malfunctions but shady business practices. This lost the trust of a great deal of the public who took to the internet expressing their dissatisfaction with the company. eBay is making it easier and easier for people to sell items and make a decent profit. The latest setup is almost brainless. If someone doesn’t know how to do it or doesn’t have a computer, they will most likely turn to family and friends to do it for them. Once someone shells out their item to a drop off location and end up seeing less than half of the profits from the sale, it’s not surprising to see disgruntled customers and to expect that the franchise will profit much once they pay for their office space, employees, and everything else.
It looks like iSoldit is trying to change its image via it’s website. In fact it’s a brand new website. Now we can’t determine the number of stores left.
going to http://www.i-soldit.com redirects to
http://877isoldit.com/
Interesting. It’s built with free blog software. Think we inspired them to get into blogging?
No mention of the franchise program, and all the old articles are gone.
The current count is 84. Go to the site, click on auctions, and open the drop down box for store locations. Also lists Canada and Australia
I have been purchasing things off ebay for about 4 years now, and I have never encountered such a problematic piece of human excrement as I have with this particular isoldit seller. He sent me a Marantz 7300 receiver (33lbs) I had one some weeks earlier, in a box that would have been used for a hat or packing peanuts box. This being a very sensitive piece of equipment one would think he would have used a heavy duty box that you can purchase from a UPS store or the like. Well after many attempts the ass-h–e still will not respond to my e-mail attempts. Needless to say with such a fine packing job, the unit was not working properly and came to my door with holes in the box. Does this company still exsist? If they do, are they getting their franchisers straight from the parole boards early release program? Some of these folks from e-bay, why are they allowed to sell? Is e-bay considered to be a reputable company any longer? I guess if the inmates make money for you, they should allow them to run the asylum.
There is a God! Ken Sully died in a motorcylce crash last night at about 10pm! He was one of the nastiest franchisors out there!
I wonder if “Suzanne” above (a must cheerleader post reading) is completely bankrupt by now? Just about every single isold it franchisee is in debt far beyond their wildest dreams. What a moronic business plan from the very beginning. Sometimes it costs me more money than I make just to auction something on eBay from my own house!
Ken Sully posted on motorcycle forums as FastLaneKen. He had just bought a brand new red Ducati 1198, which I think is about a $20K bike.
He was just talking about his new Ducati, and was selling his Busa for $9K here: http://www.ducatispot.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12705
Here is an account of the fatal accident by the friend who was riding with him at the time: http://www.ducati1098.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13110
He concludes: “Ken leaves behind a beautiful wife of many, many years, and a young daughter of only 17. He was 58 years old.”
It’s especially sad that Ken left such a legacy of ill feelings behind him, at least among his former franchisees.
In commenting, please be respectful of his family.
New post: http://www.bizzia.com/franchisepick/isold-it-ceo-ken-sully-killed-in-crash/