Pack-and-ship store does more: Offers eBay auction service

Enterprise, The, Apr 19, 2004

Mail Plus of West Jordan has become more than a pack-andship store; it now is enhancing its bottom line by selling customers' items on eBay in return for percentages of between 10 and 30 percent.

Owner Jeff Edmunds said the new service, launched about three months ago, has been very successful. In response, he has trademarked onlinepowersellers and has acquired the domain name www.onlinepowersellers.com. The Web site is being designed.

Customers bring items they want to auction to Mail Plus, which then takes a digital photo of the item and researches its value. Mail Plus lists the item on eBay, hosts its picture on its server, fields inquiries from potential buyers and - hopefully sells the item, which it then packs and ships to its new owner.

"Once they pay with credit card or PayPal we take a percentage, anywhere from 10 to 30 percent, pretty much based on the final value," Edmunds said. "If it's an item that sells for under $100, we usually take 25 to 30 percent. Over $2,000, we're around 10 to 12 percent."

One of the more striking items Mail Plus has sold was a pardon signed by President Herbert Hoover. According to Edmunds, a great uncle of one of his customers was arrested in 1927 for 366 days. Hoover signed a pardon for him in the early 1930s. The item went for $1,537.

Mail Plus also is selling or has sold vintage watches and Barbie dolls, tool racks, cameras and electronics, clothing, coins and stamps, furniture, home decor, jewelry and watches, media, musical instruments, sports equipment, and toys and games.

"Right now I have some old Japanese books, a World War II Japanese flag with signatures on it and an emblem off an old Chevy Supersport 396. Somebody's bid on it already."

"This really fits with what we do, which is packing and shipping," he said.

Mail Plus of West Jordan is part of the Neighborhood Postal Centers group of independent pack-and-ship businesses. There are about 3,000 nationwide that offer shipping services from Airborne, DHL, Federal Express, United Parcel Service and the U.S. Postal Service.