eBay Drop-Shop Auctioning4u Helps Manchester Clear The Clutter
Clutter around the house? Garage fit to burst? This year’s unwanted Christmas presents stashed in the same drawer as last year’s? If this all sounds familiar then you need Auctioning4u. The UK’s first and fastest growing chain of eBay drop-off shops has recently opened their seventh shop in Chorlton, Manchester.
[UKPRwire, Tue Jan 23 2007] Now in its fourth year Auctioning4u, who are already well established in London with six existing eBay drop-off shops, an eighty strong staff and 25,000 sq ft of warehouse space, have recently opened their seventh shop in Chorlton, Manchester. Formerly ‘Sell It Shack’, the shop is now a dedicated Auctioning4u eBay store where people can come and drop off their unwanted goods to be sold on the auction site that attracts 203 million customers worldwide.
Founded in 2005 by the entrepreneur Lex Deak, ‘Sell It Shack’ was the first eBay shop in Manchester but was taken over by Auctioning4u late last year. Deak, said: "As the industry leader, Auctioning4u has the ability to take the Sell It Shack business to a new level.’ With new advanced software, a brand new home collection service and a team of specialist eBay experts, Auctioning4u will be able to offer their Manchester customers a bigger and better eBay service.
Deak also added ‘As an entrepreneur at heart I’m currently casting around for a new venture and would like to wish the Auctioning4u Manchester team the best of luck.’
Former Sell It Shack employee now promoted to Auctioning4u Manchester Area Manager, Tom Evans said: "We are very excited about the prospect of joining Auctioning4u - the UK's leading chain of eBay drop-off shops. We have always known there is a huge demand for this type of service in Manchester and the North West as a whole. The improved infrastructure and resources now available at Auctioning4u mean that we will be able to offer a better service to our customers - be it individuals, businesses or charities. We are really looking forward to getting this improved service up and running!"
Auctioning4u Retail Manager Spencer Hickman said: “Our expansion to Manchester is just the start of a scheme that will roll out to the whole of the UK over the next eighteen months. With our advanced software Auctioning4u Manchester can now sell its customer’s goods on multiple platforms such as eBay, Amazon or specialist auction houses for antique furniture. This coupled with a 30 strong team of specialist eBay experts will yield even higher final selling prices than before.”
Sell It Shack is the fourth acquisition for Auctioning4u after its purchase of rivals, Auctionicity in July 05, Auction Partner in April 06 and most recently Trading Nation in August 06.
After recent openings in Brent and Chelsea London, Manchester is store number seven for Auctioning4u. The company are set to open a store a month in 2007. Auctioning4u Manchester is now open.
Auctioning4u Manchester
501 Barlow Moor Road
Chorlton
Manchester
M21 8AG
t: 0161 881 5771
e info@auctioning4u.co.uk
-ends-
For media information (not for publication), please contact Amy Oliver, PR Manager
Tel: 020 7159 1624 / 07742 462 707 Email: amy.oliver@auctioning4u.co.uk
EDITOR’S NOTES
A bit about us…
Auctioning4u is the UK’s leading chain of eBay drop-off shops, created to help people sell via this popular auction site which currently attracts over 203 million customers from around the world each year. Through Auctioning4u, customers can sell items via eBay without the hassle of writing descriptions, monitoring the online auction process or dealing with payments and shipping. Auctioning4u will set everything up on eBay - customers just have to clean out their cupboards and decide what to sell. Auctioning4u does the rest - if you can’t make it to the shop with your load, the company can even arrange to pick items up for a small fee. Once an item is accepted and registered, you can just go home, put your feet up and wait for the cheque to arrive six weeks later. Auctioning4u Drop Off Shops also offers its service to charities and companies.
Getting Your Items To Us
Our Drop Off Shops:
We have 5 dedicated Auctioning4u London drop off shops in Fulham, Notting Hill, Islington and North Acton (our main processing centre and car drop off point). We recently opened in Manchester and also operate out of storage company, The Storage Depot, London. We’re currently in their Chelsea and Brent locations with plans to be in their West Molesey and Beckenham locations in the coming months.
Auctioning4u opening times are:
Monday – Friday 10:00 – 18:00 and on Saturdays 10:00 – 16:00.
Auctioning4u @ The Storage Depot opening times are:
Brent:
Monday - Friday 8:30 - 18:00 Saturday 9:00 - 17:00
Chelsea:
Monday - Friday 8:30 - 18:00 Saturday 9:00 - 13:00
Our drop-shops function as regular shops on high street locations and are really for people who live close to them to come and drop off their items. It pretty much works the same in The Storage Depot locations but it's quite good for people who want to bring both their items to store and items to sell.
Home Collection Service
Our home collection service is perfect for those who have bigger items to sell or for people who simply don’t have time or don’t live close enough to one of our drop off shops. We operate this service within Greater London and Manchester as well as East and West Sussex. For a small fee (dependent on postcode) our team can come and pick up a vanload of items worth a total value of £300 or more (can be one item or many). Step by step, this works as follows: The customer is directed to our Home Collection web form (www.auctioning4u.co.uk/homecollection) to fill out their details. Our team will get back to them within 48 hours to discuss their items. A collection appointment is then made to suit the customer.
DHL Special Rate Delivery:
For those that are a bit further a field we have set up a special rate with DHL. For £6.50 you can send up to 31.5kg from anywhere in the UK to us.
What Sells on eBay?
Saleable items include mobile phones, cameras, laptops, designer clothing and accessories, sports equipment, all sorts of collectibles from vintage toys to china and figurines, some antique and branded furniture, American fridges, cars, other vehicles and much, much more.
Cars
We can also sell your car! No more taking strangers out for test drives, no more time wasters. All you do is drop off your car at our West London processing centre and we do the rest. What’s more, on eBay we often achieve up to 20% more for your car (and that's after our fees).
The service includes:
• Store your car at our processing centre in North Acton
• Clean inside and out
• Inspection by a car specialist
• HPI test (background check RRP £40)
• A sophisticated eBay listing with up to 70 photographs
• Field all potential buyer queries
• Arrange all potential buyer viewings
• Arrange payment and ensure there are no problems with the sale
• Post you a cheque!
If you are interested in selling your vehicle please contact cars@auctioning4u.co.uk
Live Auctions
To see or buy from us click here for our
• car auctions
• general auctions
• fashion auctions
• toy sales
• book sales
Our Fees
If the item sells for over £30, you get two-thirds of the final sale price. If the item sells for less than £30, we take £10 or the final sale price, whichever is less, to cover our processing costs. You never have to pay us upfront and we won’t charge you anything if your item doesn’t sell based on an auction without reserve price.
Our Car Fees
We charge just 5% + VAT of the final sale price if the car sells for £5,000 or more. If the sale price is less than £5,000 we charge a flat fee of £250 + VAT.
Quirky Items
We have sold some very weird and wonderful things in our four years of trading. A space alien movie prop went for £550 while the jacket that Jude Law wore in a production of ‘Joseph and His Technicolou Dreamcoat’ went for nearly £900. A Zandra Rhodes shawl donated by Dame Shirley Bassey made £800 for Barnardo’s while a leather wrist strap as worn by hunk Russell Crowe in film Gladiator made £93! We’ve even auctioned the Daimler limousine that belonged to the late Queen Mother! We are currently auctioning a glut of World Cup football memorabilia gathered by Fulham FC star Moritz Volz. 100% of the profits will go to The Prince’s Trust and Kick4life.
www.auctioning4u.co.uk/football
Why use Auctioning4u Online Auction Service?
• No hassles with complicated listing issues, monitoring Online Auctions or posting items. The latter is especially useful as at least one third of Auctioning4u’s buyers to date have been overseas, with a significant component from North America
• Auctioning4u can maximise sales prices through the combination of expert staff using the latest technology, two photographic stations and the variety of payment methods offered to buyers (credit cards through PayPal, sterling, a variety of international currencies and transfers, cash at their processing centre)
• Using Auctioning4u Drop Off Store means customers won’t need to disclose personal details on the net and there is the added security of physical shops.
• Auctioning4u has a high “trust rating”. Recognised as an eBay ‘PowerSeller’, one of eBay’s most successful sellers in terms of product sales and customer satisfaction, Auctioning4u has a positive feedback rating of 99%, which gives both buyers and sellers confidence, we are also recognised as members of the eBay Trading Assistants programme.
Auctioning4u Charity
We work with more than 20 charities including Barnardo’s and PDSA. The 120 charity shops we work with act as drop off points for donations only. So if you drop off your items at say, a Scope store, the money from the sale of your item goes directly to benefit the charity.
To give an example of how a charity can benefit from the power of eBay we have been able to raise £25,000 from the sale of 3,000 pairs of shoes donated by Camper to benefit the Amazon Rainforest Foundation. If you know a charity who would benefit from our services please contact Isabella Pawlowski, fundraising director, Tel: 020 8896 3844 Ext. 504 or Email: fundraising@auctioning4u.co.uk.
Corporate Collection
A corporate collection service is currently in the pipeline. Auctioning4u can set up camp in your business for a couple of hours and employees can bring their unwanted items to us that way!
If your company is interested in a corporate collection please call Marketing Manager, Dominique Radclyffe on 020 8896 3844 Ext. 510 or dominique.radclyffe@auctioning4u.co.uk
Auctioning4u Business
Auctioning4u’s Business Selling Service provides a fully outsourced solution to enable your business to reach 203 million buyers on eBay. We manage the entire eBay sales and fulfilment process on your behalf, leaving you free to focus on your core business. In addition to eBay, we also sell on other platforms including Amazon, QXL and Google Base. We can help with new stock, returned stock and surplus and liquidated assets or overstock.
Businesses or government agencies interested in using the Auctioning4u Business Selling Service should contact Marcus Stone, Business 2 Consumer Director, Tel: 020 8896 3844 Ext. 103 or Email: business@auctioning4u.co.uk.
Auctioning4u Consulting
Auctioning4u Consulting enables companies to create a professional presence on eBay by advising on branding, design, marketing and auction management software.
Using the experience we have built becoming an eBay titanium Power Seller, we can create a professional eBay shop for your business, utilizing leading auction management software.
For more information please contact Trevor Ginn, Head of Consulting at Tel: 020 8896 3844 Ext. 210 or consulting@auctioning4u.co.uk.
Quick Contacts List
PR + Media Enquiries – Amy Oliver Tel: 020 7159 1624 / 07742 462 707 amy.oliver@auctioning4u.co.uk
Full Contact List
For all PR and media enquiries please contact Amy Oliver, PR Manager Tel: 07742 462 707 or Email: amy.oliver@auctioning4u.co.uk
For charity and fundraising enquiries please contact Isabella Pawlowski, fundraising director, Tel: 020 8896 3844 Ext. 504 or Email: fundraising@auctioning4u.co.uk.
Businesses or government agencies interested in selling excess stock, returns or slow moving lines or simply exploring eBay as a new distribution channel should contact Auctioning4u’s business desk. Please contact Marcus Stone, Business 2 Consumer Director, Tel: 020 8896 3844 Ext. 103 or Email: business@auctioning4u.co.uk.
Auctioning4u also offers a consulting service on how to best sell on eBay and other Online Auctions, please contact Trevor Ginn, Head of Consulting at Tel: 020 8896 3844 Ext. 210 or consulting@auctioning4u.co.uk.
Retailers and those interested in franchising please contact Spencer Hickman, Retail Manager, on 020 8896 3844 Ext. 708 or franchising@auctioning4u.co.uk
For vehicles please contact cars@auctioning4u.co.uk. For all other information, including shop addresses and opening times please call 0870 06 10000 or go to www.auctioning4u.co.uk
For strategic partnerships please contact Christian Braun, CEO, on 020 8896 3844 Ext. 201 or christian.braun@auctioning4u.co.uk
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