Is Snappy Auctions a Great Franchise Opportunity?
April 20, 2007 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
While the largest, most celebrated eBay drop-off store franchise concept , iSold It, has closed 60 stores, suspended domestic franchise sales and warned it may be on the verge of collapse, its next-largest competitor remains upbeat and continues to promote its franchise program.
In a company press release, Snappy Auctions celebrates inclusion on the list that made iSold It famous:
Snappy Auctions has been listed in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 list for the first time… With over 63 units open, Snappy Auctions ranked 309th in the survey, in only its 2nd full year of operation. The Nashville, Tenn. based franchise enables customers to make money off of items that are sold on eBay…
Snappy Auctions CEO Debby Gordon claims that Snappy Auctions is not suffering the same fate as competitor iSold It. In fact, snappy Auctions is doing phenomenally:
“We are poised for a phenomenal 2007, after an incredible 2006,” Gordon continued, “and this accolade is just the beginning.” In 2006, Snappy Auctions launched Snappy Sales Solutions, S3, which has contributed to its recent success. “S3 is yet another step toward our goal of changing the way businesses get value from retired equipment and inventory.”
Snappy Auction also boasts having been named one of Franchise Business Review’s Franchise 50, which honors franchise systems based on outstanding franchisee satisfaction through owner surveys and comments.
According to a Ina Steiner’s column on AuctionBytes.com, “Despite the challenges, Snappy Auctions CEO Debbie Gordon believes in the concept and says it’s all about execution.”
Can Snappy Auctions really be succeeding while iSold It, with much the same business model, is fighting for survival? Have they successfully overcome the challenges that eBay drop-off store critics contend make the concept unworkable? What do you think?
YOU’RE INVITED TO LEAVE A COMMENT ON WHETHER YOU THINK SNAPPY AUCTIONS IS A GREAT FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY.
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Well, if someone is going to take the class action suite forward, please count me in. I lost my life savings and have heavy loans to cover. I also face serious physical issues my doctor says are due to this whole episode.
If anyone has experience with a class actiion suit or knows a good lawyer to handle it, pipe in. You’ll be in good company.
Oh and by the way, someone told me Snappy also closed the Manhatten store as well.
Yep, count me in, too.
i would be interested. I have lost significant funds in this venture of broken promises. Would we go after the corporation or Debbie and her husband? My kids will now have to take loans for college. Hers should do the same. Those are my thoughts.
To my knowledge, Debbie is not married, so the only way you can get anything out of her that will affect her is to make her admit failure and that would take an act of congress.
Snappy Auctions is in the strongest position it has been in since it’s start. Yes a few stores have closed, and yes lives have been ruined, but that is normal for a new franchise and I’m willing to accept that as part of my success.
I see Snappy Auctions as the leading Ebay dropoff store franchise out there and see a strong future.
Of course, I also believe in the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and my ability to tell the truth.
- Debbie
Ed. Note: Our sophisticated identity verification software (which we purchased on eBay) indicates that this post may not, in fact, have been made by Debbie Gordon, CEO of Snappy Auctions. Nor the Easter Bunny.
Duh……
She’s too busy fending off lawsuits.
Kudos to the author!
Sounds like a message sent to her franchisees, (who were gracious enough to share it here). Full of hipe! And yes she is following in the steps of the leading drop off franchisors…right to litigation and financial failure. And TRUTH, well truth is that franchisees are losing their businesses, homes, families, friends and health in her wake.
And since when is the easter bunny not real?!
HERE WE GO!!! THE END IS NEAR (HERE??)
For two weeks now snappy corporate has NOT sent consigners their checks (or delayed them). They claim “..an accounting error..”, but never informed their franchisees about the delays. The franchisees found out when customers started calling and complaining.
I pity the franchise owners that have large payouts when they finally decide to bankrupt and leave them all hanging with very pissed off consigners!!
This is another example of how Snappy lays blame on anyone but themselves. Last summer their software was down for a month. They blamed on someone else. Never mind they lack the IT knowledge to make sure their site was backed up and secure.
It was someone elses fault!!
They even tried to force their consignors to sign releases saying they wouldn’t sue because of the downtime.
Oh yeah…they DID hit the stores bank accounts for the money. They made sure of that.
Snappy Auctions corporate sends the consigners their checks? Is this how the other drop-off FRs do it also? (I thought an article about the failed iSold It franchisee in MI has the store owners responsible for paying their customers)
Does this mean that if the Franchisor goes under, Franchisees might have to face local consignees whose stuff was sold but never got paid?
This not Debbie or even the Easter Bunny, but a realstic portrayal of Debbie Gordon.
The emperor clothes look fabulous! I’m from the IRS and I’m here to help you. The checks in the mail. Snappy Auctions is very much alive and kicking. The earth is flat. Elvis is alive and working for Snappy HQ as our janitor. 2 plus 2 equals 5. I am not a criminal. Trust me. We didn’t let staff go…they quit.
Why don’t you belieeeeeve me?!?!?!
Signed, Debby (not the real Debbie but an amazing simulation. Kinda like 1964)
Yes. They hit the franchisor’s bank account and then send out the checks. The fun fact is they charge a fine to stores if they don’t approve the checks by a certain date, but they can send out the checks whenever they please.
Sounds like a double standard doesn’t it??
Sean: You are dead on! Scary isn’t it. Isoldit does the same thing. They can go in and out of the franchisees bank accounts, and no one can balance anything. To add to it, they charge for doing it. What most franchisees don’t know is that deep in the backoffice of their paypal accounts, their information is being sent to corporate. And guess who is held liable to the consignors-the franchisee! Add to that, one CEO who told consignors that the store was abscounding with their goods and money, and sent them to the franchisees personal address. This is only ONE little issue, amongst many. As I said, SCARY!
Interested in the eBay drop-off store franchise phenomenon? See list of all posts on the subject at our new Blogliography: eBay Drop-off Store Franchises
Seems there was a big fuss at Snappy HQ about an email that was sent out to all the stores that talked about the AmItheonlyone.org site.
I wonder how many stores are taking a hard look at what they’re doing. A lot…I hope.
Who sent the email? What’d it say? It didn’t mention FranchisePick.Com? After all, we’re the one with comments on Snappy from Bill Clinton, Regular Joe and Debby’s stand-in.
You are never forgotton Sean, I am sure that AmITheOnlyOne.Org linked it back to you. It seems that Snappy is facing the same fate as isoldit and Quikdrop, a multitude of stores closing. The shameful thing is that these franchisors are ALL still selling franchises knowing that it does not work (as evidenced by the momentum of closing stores). It doesn’t speak well of the franhisors either.
Chance: It doesn’t speak well of any franchisee who would sign up from here on out, does it? Don’t you think a minimal amount of due diligence would uncover the widespread problems? Like… the new iSold It franchise just opened in Hesperia, CA?
Story Link
Well the storm over the recent email to Snappy stores continues to brew. Snappy store owners now have access to AmITheOnlyOne.Org and they are asking a lot of questions. Of course, Debbie will probably deny it all and will the accusations will fly.
This is GREAT because now the RIGHT questions will be asked and people who were wondering what they did wrong will realize the did very little wrong except to buy into a flawed concept whose time has already come and gone.
Strap in. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!!
Let me say that the Snappy Auctions in my home town is a joke. I took over 5 sets of golf clubs in there and my experience was terrible. All of my checks were delayed and they listed them dirty. They claimed they would clean them up because that’s what they do. Then I noticed that one of my sets didn’t get listed. After waiting a few weeks I emailed the manager and got a reply that she quit and there was a communication problem. They forgot to list some of my clubs and they were sitting in the back of the store. They also have gone to 38% commission which to me is excessive. They are not worth the money. Many of my auctions brought less than similar items. I recently went to their auction page and they only had 8 items listed with nothing over a hundred bucks. It’s only a matter of time. I will be happy when they leave town.
So Mike, where is your home town? Maybe we should add them to the list of stores who need to know more about amitheonlyone.org so they can learn how to shut down their store before they lose too much.
It’s too bad store owners have to go to another web site to learn about how to shut down since Snappy won’t help them. I’ve heard from stores who have shut down or are int he process of shutting down and their comments on support from Snappy highlight how Snappy pretty much blows them off.
Having given this whole thing some thought in the last few weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion, we are all at the beginning of the end (to paraphrase Churchill!) of a South-sea/Dutch-bulb type bubble of pure hype. I say ‘we’ because I fell for it too, and I consider myself to be a bright intelligent sort of chap.
The maths seems simple, why did no one work it out when we all started thinking “hey, I/We/someone could make money selling other peoples stuff on ebay using high-street/retail park drop-shops”?
Lets assume for the sake of argument that over any given period, the average ‘profit’ of an eBay item (from all the millions posted on all the National ebays, high end to 99p [50c]) is 60c U.S. (this figure may be available somewhere – I can’t be arsed to look!). Lets also asume that there is a ‘fixed’ or average cost to running an average store – anywhere in the world……costs include premises rent, stationary and materials, wages for two part time Lister/Shippers, and dinner for the propriators, a nice couple with just enough in the bank to start a little business now the kids have left school. They only pay themselves with dinner at the end of the month, because their overheads are at the limit, and they plough as much as possible back into the business.
Now lets assume that their costs are $600 per month, and they are selling the equivalent of the 1,000 items with an average 60c profit needed.
If they decide to open another store nearby, their overheads will more than double (because they will have to pay the new proprietors, as well as two part-timers, while the profit per item will not change. Add to that the fact that the two stores can now only attract equivalent of 900 average items because they are in each others shadow/footprint, and it suddenly becomes obvious this concept was never going to work.
Never, ever, not in a million years, not with any number of store’s over one, working really hard. No – don’t argue, it was never, ever ever…EVER going to work.
The final rub – this wasn’t a misguided nice elderly couple, this was Thatcherite-Raganomic Free Market MBA capitalist Gordon Gecko type, predominantly male, money grabbing, immoral, amoral, selfish, sociopathic empathy-dead swine.
They sold us the dreams, the visions, the ‘concepts’, and in a desperate search for a fast buck some of them are continuing to do so. They have huge PR and marketing suits, their own (often disguised) ‘Blog’ sites, Wall Street/City funding and the ear of a complacent or apathetic media looking for half a story to fill the inside pages, financial pull-outs or Sunday supplements.
Get out now, go independent and specialise in something you know (Christian Braun – CEO of Auctioning4u seems to be preparing to do just that with ‘Toymart’). If the law allows in your country/region sue the bast**ds, sue them for misrepresentation, sue them for fraud, sue them for being very naughty! Maybe we will get them all in jail, for their own protection before they’re lynched!!!
Or…..What about suing the investors/VC’s/Angels for not properly auditing/ensuring the long term viability of the ’scams’ they are propping up?
Many of the U.S. franchisors have mandatory arbitration clauses. In the case of the couple at amitheonlyone.org, they allegedly didn’t have funds to pay their share of the arbitration, so they were out. In a recent case with The Coffee Beanery, the arbitrator sided with the FR. The franchisees seem to have some valid complaints that the arbitrator had a professional relationship with the FR and the ruling was contrary to law (lots of info on BlueMauMau.org on this).
In the end, the franchisor organizations of young franchisors are new corporations with little or no assets. The UFOC and FAs are heavily, heavily weighted in favor of the franchisors and failed franchisees are generally drained both emotionally and financially and generally go away quietly (at least before they started learning to use the Internet).
When you consider the loss and anguish that this many failed businesses can cause, there’s not much of an outcry other than on a few select blogs (like this one). Why’s that? Franchisors have learned the art of the “gag order” quite effectively. In a good franchise organization, that’s a positive thing that protects the brand that is everyone’s shared asset. In a bad franchise, it’s an effective way to disable the alarm bell that could warn the next wave of suckers, I mean, franchise owners.
Hugh, take another look at the Cold Stone Bowl of Cereality post. The CEO states directly that the first 50 units of a franchise are high risk, lots of trial and error. He then states that they’ll be expanding only through franchising (obviously passing on the risk to bright eyed “cerealogists” Trix are obviously not only for kids.) Those who sell new, unproven concepts often know exactly what they’re doing, are very good at it, and have their bases covered.
I think what would make this tough to litigate would be the obviously experimental, unproven nature of the concept overall. Can eBay Drop-off franchisees really claim they didn’t know that selling people’s stuff on eBay via a storefront was unproven in the marketplace?
In the case of Snappy Auctions, the claim was break even in 6-8 weeks (it is in print in an article), so the franchisees could see this as a proven and tested program.
I See – over here some of the clauses would be considered illegal or ‘unfair’ and therefore inadmissible in court. However the governing class have made access to justice very difficult for almost anyone who’s earnings aren’t way above average.
You guys however have the benefit of Class Action litigation which we don’t? I’m thinking maybe a bunch of you could get together and do something. Sometimes threatening to sue the Government (federal?) Department responsible for policing/overseeing the relevant industry, gets quicker results than chasing the crooks who run the businesses?
As you’re probably aware, I refused to sign the gagging order! losing the chance of £1,200′ish, but posting the blogs I have has been worth every penny!
Antoher lesson about our legal system: class action suits only occur when the “deep pockets” situation is in place and Snappy is not a public company with published financials so finding an attorney would be difficult, but possible.
Believe it or not, Debbie is not the most popular person around and there is probably a good lawyer who would take this on just to make her mad.
Yooo hooo! Lawyer person!?!?!?!
I just got this notice about a new publication concerning due diligence for franchising. What is so funny is that John Heacock of Snappy Auctions and Ken Sully of Isoldit are listed among the contributors. Talk about letting the rabid foxes into the henhouse!
July 30, 2007 07:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time
New Guide Demystifies the Franchising Industry
DUBLIN, Ireland–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c64207) has announced the addition of Due Diligence Into The Franchise Industry: How To Become Your Own Boss to their offering.
Many people look at franchising as a way to be their own boss and freedom from the restrictions of corporate life. However, most do not have a clear understanding of what goes into running a franchise or the rigorous selection and startup processes. Aimed at new franchise purchasers, this report addresses key issues such as how to select a franchise, as well as what franchisees need to know once they have applied.
The report includes a variety of industries in the franchising world and interviews with some of the top executives in those industries. The report offers the opportunity for these company executives to speak directly to the people who are looking to purchase a franchise, and it helps them communicate to potential franchisees exactly what they are looking for.
This report features interviews with leading authorities and executives from franchises and associations such as:
-Matthew Shay, President, International Franchise Association
-Jeff Snyder, Regional Co-Owner, Re/Max of New Jersey
-Mitchell Moore, Director of Business Development, Nestle Toll House Cafe
-Brig Sorber, President, Two Men and a Truck
-Ted Beamen, Vice President Business Development, Boston Pizza Restaurants L.P.
-Jon D. Kennedy, Senior V.P. of Franchise Development, AmericInn International, LLC
Some of the issues discussed include:
-Franchisee financial commitment
-Training provided by franchisor
-Territory exclusivity
-Marketing budgets
-Assessing litigation between franchisee and franchisor
-Real estate management issues
-Control of franchisees by franchisor
-Freedom to choose vendors
-Calculation of royalties
-Negotiating royalties
-Dispute resolution
-Exiting the franchise / liquidity options
I. Introduction To Readers
II: Matthew R. Shay, President, International Franchise Association
III: Ross Almo, Executive Director, Econo Lodge Franchisee Association
IV: David Asarnow, President and CEO, CLIX
V: Ted Beamen, Vice President Business Development, Boston Pizza Restaurants L.P.
VI: Gayle Becker, Vice President Franchise Development, TruePresence
VII: Lori Kiser-Block, President, FranChoice, Inc.
VIII: James L. Courtney, Senior Director Market Development, USA Baby, Inc.
IX: Kyla Duffy, Chief Operating Officer, Bits, Bytes, & Bots
X: Kent Feazell, Senior Vice President of Development, Express Oil Change & Service
Center, LLC,
XI: Jarrod Fisher, Vice President Franchise Sales, World Properties International
XII: John W. Heacock, General Counsel / C.O.O., Snappy Auctions
XIII: Harold J. Hill, President and CEO, Bad Ass Coffee Company of Hawaii, Inc.
XIV: Jennifer Jackenthal, Founder and President, My Girlfriend’s Kitchen
XV: Margaret Jacks, Vice President International Development, Sandler Systems Inc.
XVI: Jon D. Kennedy, Senior V.P. of Franchise Development, AmericInn International, LLC.
XVII: Giorgio Kolaj, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President, Famous Famiglia
XVIII: Patrick Maslyn, Partner, Latham & Watkins
XIX: Mitchell Moore, Director of Business Development, Nestle Toll House Café
XX: Truly Nolen, Director of Franchise Development, Truly Nolen of America Inc.
XXI: David Di Orio & John P. Nuzzo, Independent Franchise Owners, It’s A Grind Coffee House
XXII: Tip C. Powers, President, Realty Direct Franchise Corporation
XXIII: Steven A. Rosen, Chairman and CEO, FRANNET: The Franchise Consultants
XXIV: Ken Rubin, CEO, Xact Natural Pest
XXV: Lily Sarafan, Chief Operating Officer, Home Care Assistance, Inc.
XXVI: Bruce S. Schaeffer, Founder and President, Franchise Valuations Ltd.
XXVII: Adam Schectman, Director of Franchise Development, Advanced Realty Solutions Inc.
XXVIII: Larry Simpson, Director of Franchise Development, Postal Annex
XXIX: Jeff Snyder, Regional Co-Owner, Re/Max of New Jersey
XXX: Brig Sorber, President, Two Men and a Truck
XXXI: Kenneth C. Sully, President and CEO, iSold It, LLC
XXXII: Jan Van Blarcum, Founder, Creative Tutors
XXXIII: Synopsis of United Franchise Offering Circular
XXXIV: Additional Resources
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c64207
Contacts
Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
Fax: +353 1 4100 980
press@researchandmarkets.com
Sharing Sharing
These links help you add this release to websites on which you can save or share bookmarks. Diggdel.icio.usNewsvineReddit
Print this Release
Max: They’re certainly experts.
The question Sean is “At what???” How to sell a franchise concept that doesn’t work!!! And add Larry Simpson to the tall order, considering he sold 1/2 of the US the Isoldit stores(most of which are now closed or bankrupt). Even more interesting is that this publication is in the UK (you know where Isoldit went belly up!)
Just as an FYI, John Heacock is no longer with Snappy Auctions. He was let go by Debbie Gordon when she made her announcement of the new CEO that never happened. You never know. He might turn out to be a help to franchisors. I doubt there is much “love” between him and Debbie Gordon.
Well folks, I did some number crunching using Terapeak and after a random sampling of 30 Snappy Auction stores ( including the 4 highest selling stores), guess what the average monthly sales are for the last 3 months: $13,867 – GROSS!!!!
After your selling fees and Snappy’s cut that’s about $3500 a month margin. THAT’S THE AVERAGE FOR 30 STORES!!!! I am AMAZED they are still open.
PEOPLE OF SNAPPY!!! WAKE UP. Smell the coffee. RUN AWAY WHILE YOU CAN!!!!!
Nothing wrong with ex-employees telling it how it is!!!
OK…the final numbers are in. I ran 90 day sales numbers on ALL the Snappy stores (using eBay numbers that are NOT proprietary) and it’s worse than I thought.
The average monthly sales for the last 90 days for all Snappy stores is: $12,608 and this is further exacerbated by the fact that the average highest single sale for all stores is $3687. This means if you take out the highest and lowest sales, with the highest most likely non-prepeating items, the average store is selling $8921 per month (gross).
Average sales price is $135 so Debbie’s claims that higher average selling price is the key does not hold water. You need a LOT of these items to stay alive.
How the HELL do you survive off those kinds of sales????
Debbie, time to fess up. It’s only working in about 3 locations and they all have the same demographic: lots of old money. Nowhere else seems to work.
Anyone can access this sales info. I’m doing the same thing on ISoldit stores and it’s not any better.
You don’t survive on those numbers! That’s why we’re out of business. All we ever heard from corporate was “stop taking items that aren’t going to sell for more the $50″ “spend more money on marketing and advertising”..with commission of 38%no one wants to sell their stuff with a store!! Summer months were usually slow anyway. We dreaded August! Nobody buying on eBay and no one around to bring it in. We would have been better off closing the store for a month.
I don’t see how these other stores are surving by only listing 10-15 items at a time…even if that stuff sells for more than $50, it can’t cover the overhead.
Hey Numbers genius, do you know what area Terapeak doesn’t grab? Now add in that information and the numbers should improve for these stores. If you don’t know what I’m referring to then you should stop this ridiculous waste of my time.
Joe, if you don’t mind me asking, where was your Snappy store?
Ed. note: I’d caution people from identifying their stores publicly on this forum. The folks at amitheonlyone.org could act as intermediaries if you want to connect through them.
Well R. I confirmed the numbers with some stores and they’re pretty close. Why don’t you just tell us what you think is different instead of mothing off.
Even if they improved 100% the stores would STILL be losing money!!
Ooooh guess what! The numbers from Terapeak are HIGHER then eBay!!! I just confirmed it.
Retort?????
re: R.
Jul 31, 2007 at 10:53 am
The James Bond series of novels and films have a plethora of allies and villains. Bond’s superiors and other officers of the British Secret Service are generally known by letters, such as M and Q. (and now ‘R’ from Snappy HQ in Nashville)…..
But they’re the “bad” guys so they should have names like Sphincter (Spector) or Clueless (Chaos) or THE BACKRUPTOR or maybe The Gordon Gang.
Interesting numbers, did you also divide the “Top” Store’s numbers by 3, considering the fact that 3 stores are reporting on one id and the owner has deep pockets. None of the other franchises are doing any better! So, WHY??? are people still buying these stores?
Bill – they’re not the only ones, but Auctioning4u could only get it down to 4 letters; Ptom?!
Chance – they’re still buying because no matter how hard we try here, the National media on both sides of the pond, in Australia and the rest of Europe (this chaos is happening in Germany, Holland and – I believe – Italy?) would rather lead with some dumb ‘celebrity’s’ tit-job, a great white shark several miles off Cornwall or Christ’s face in a piece of toast/window blind/bowl of porridge etc…
I’m now sending these links to anyone in authority I can find an email for and will raise this (massive news) story with the BBC, who – being only a mile down the road from A4U – have used CB’s baby to illustrate a lot of the eBay stories they’ve had in the last two years, and should now (to ensure balance and re-establish their famous ‘inpartial’ credentials!) be keen to use the same company to illustrate the end of the ‘Bubble’.
Contact your Governors/State legislators, tell your representative, hell; drop the cowboy in the big house a line, in short make sure no-one can claim they weren’t warned/told when it finally becomes a ’story’.
I see the whole point of the internet in the 21st century being for us to use as a tool in order that the world either become a place where this shit can’t happen, or that the proper safety nets are in place. I bet this stuff doesn’t happen in the Scandinavian countries!
What’s this about a great white shark?
Er,,,oh I can’t be arsed…..Google it!
It’s our version of the Sun Newspaper trying to ruin the Cornish tourist industry single handed because they’ve got nothing else to do!
Strange how we have not heard back from “R” (suspenseful movie music).
Anyway, Snappy IS in trouble. They are losing 3 stores this month, have not signed up a store in months and most of their stores cannot possibly pay their bills with the revenue they’re posting.
Snappy employees, make sure your resume is in order. It’s just a matter of time. I’m sure Debbie will try to keep the “successful” 3 stores running, but she won’t need you to do that.
It’s time for a press release!!
What are the surviving stores doing differently? Is anyone having luck with aggressive community marketing? With charging higher fees for value-added services? Soliciting donated merchandise for charity and splitting revenues with the non-profit.
Amidst all these challenges, what’s surprising me most is the utter lack of any creative ideas to solve these problems. Guys: Look at the pizza industry, one of the most competitive markets there is. When I get these guys together, they can toss out dozens of things they’ve tried and argue about what works and what doesn’t. When the question’s posed to drop-off store owners, what works, what doesn’t, there’s complete silence.
There are legitimate complaints about these franchisors it seems, but there’s also a lack of fight on the part of the franchise owners. I agree with Chance on the challenges with this concept, but just saying it can’t work doesn’t help anyone save their businesses or their homes. Hate to be simplistic, but why not find a way to charge more and provide enough value to justify it.
I’ve been wanting to start a brainstorming thread with ideas and resources for marketing drop-off stores, but I’m not sure I’d get a single contribution, just more gloom and doom. Am I wrong?
I think this concept might work in the higher income areas. But owners have to have such deep pockets to continue to operate at a loss for at least 4-5 years. The trouble with having these stores in an area that is not populated by Rockerfellers or Getty’s or Rupert Murdoch, cannot sustain because people just don’t want to give their hard earned stuff up cheaply. They can do it on their own and not have to pay out 48% of what the item sells for.
An owner can go out and network and spend all their time out pounding the pavement to get business, then the store manager doesn’t show up for work, and the shipping clerk calls in sick, and you’re stuck working in the store . This happens alot.
Deep pockets means a nice return, eventually…but plan on losing alot for 4-5 years. The last of the fight comes when your accountant says get out and get out fast..you’ll never make any money at this.
You can have conference calls on fun ideas to market your store until you’re blue in the face. They don’t work in all markets and you can exhaust your annual advertising budget in 4 months.
What works? Having deep pockets and investors and being in a “high-rent” area. What doesn’t work? Exhausting your life savings in 1 year and not getting anyone to invest..can’t even get an SBA or bank loan this industryis so new.
My apologies for not getting back to you all…someone pointed out that the eBay numbers were higher then Terapeak. Give that person a cookie. Terapeak doesn’t include eBay Motors.
As for the other comments, I would tend to agree that there will only be a dozen or so stores remaining after about a year’s time with all the franchises…apparently the people who sold these franchises neglected to tell the buyers it might be a good idea to know how to start a business. It takes any business 3-5 years to seriously be self-sustaining, and these stores are no different; proven or unproven. You collect money from anyone selling or doing anything, and the longer you do it and the more people know you’re doing it, the better you will do. People, there are stores selling Purified Water and making money.
I feel horrible for anyone who was told otherwise in regards to profit(s), with any franchise or business in general. My heart seriously goes out to them.
I will let you all speculate as to why only certain stores are doing well. If we need to get into that topic, then this conversation will take a different turn…
Pardon me, I mis-quoted – the person stated that Terapeak was higher then eBay. None the less, Terapeak does not include eBay Motors.