Owner of Failed iSold It eBay Drop-off Franchise Leaves Apology
July 21, 2007 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
According to a report at DailyProgress.com, all that’s left of the iSold It ebay-drop off store franchise in Charlottesville, VA is the iSold It sign, an empty storefront and, until recently, an apologetic note to customers from the store’s former owner.
“To all iSold It customers, thank you for patience on waiting on your checks,” read a recently removed note on the door of the deserted iSold It in Rio Hill Shopping Center, off U.S. 29 in Albemarle County.
“This was never my intent. I am so sorry all this came about. I have invested my lifesavings into this business and now I have to close it,” the typed note continued.
“I know many of you are upset; I do understand this. My goal is to send everyone a check, this is going to take longer then I had hoped for.”
The eBay member profile for the store indicates that the Charlottesville iSold It, which was opened in November, 2004 by a father & son team, was the franchise chain’s first franchise location and the 18th iSold It store overall. The store had earned a 99.6% positive comment rating on eBay, with 5505 positive comments made about the store’s service. In a bit of sad irony, the member profile still includes a cheery pitch for the iSold It franchise opportunity.
The DailyProgress.com article draws from several stories covered on FranchisePick.com: iSold It’s suspension of franchise sales, iSold It CEO Ken Sully’s Open Letter to Franchisees and iSold Its removal from the Entrepreneur 500. The article elaborates on the latter issue:
Entrepreneur editorial director Rieva Lesonsky said she had been hearing from “unhappy franchisees” even before iSold It announced the cessation of franchise sales.
“We’re measuring opportunity,” Lesonsky said. “If there’s no longer an opportunity, then we’re not going to rank them.”
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH ISOLD IT OR SIMILAR EBAY AUCTION FRANCHISES? LEAVE A COMMENT; SHARE YOUR OPINION.
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This is most certainly a sorry state of affairs for both the franchisee and their customers. How very unfortunate.
One of the reasons people buy franchises, quite obviously, is to mitigate business risk with a proven system that has performed well over time. As with many of these clicks-and-mortar operations (such as iSold It), this track record is difficult to prove. In fact, many unsuspecting franchises are sold only on the future earning potential, rather than on the capacity of the business to provide a stable income right now.
I suppose the lesson here is that niche franchises, although quite unique, will often find it difficult to respond the changes in the market. Failure to respond undermines the sustainability of there franchises, and in the end, can cost people everything.
hhcv: Very good points. Though I don’t think the problem is with “niche” franchise, but with, as you first indicated, franchises that have not stood the test of time.
As you point out, people buy franchises to “mitigate business risk with a proven system.” They pay a premium for that in the form of up-front and ongoing fees, and giving up autonomy. With a concept that’s still in the experimental stage, they get the burden of a franchise without the benefits. They are paying to be lab rats.
Thanks for your comment
It appears to me that the owner has a lot to do with profitability in these drop off stores. Why would some of them be working and not the others?
I see these guys average $6,000 profit per month according to their website. I was not award a franchise could publish earnings like this?
http://www.letsfranchise.com/scripts/offer.php?code=GGL-CPCC0401-Franchise&offer=EAUCTI-001
eAuction Depot Difference: Once you reach typical monthly revenues ($40,000) your royalty flat fee ($1,200) ends up about 1/2 as much as some of our competitor’s royalty percentages (6% or $2,400). Highly successful franchisees can get a 1 year ROI (Return on Investment) from the start up costs. With our system, expect to earn an average of $6,000 profit and up per month after six months, based upon earning 35-40% commissions/shipping profits on $40,000 of total sales
Sean;
This concept was always a pile of crap -nobody had a proven system that had worked in the past for any period of time.
That these sold is testament to enduring relevance of Bob Purvin’s Book Franchise Fraud.
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
This is the dumbest franchise. People trying to make a quick buck. Now that more people are computer savvy, they know how to list items on ebay on there own and there is no need for these stupid franchise stores. Ebay is on the downslide, thanks to competiton like Craigslist.com where it is free to advertise and you can search for items both locally and nationally.