Sick of the eBay boycott? Try PropertyRoom.com
By Matt Jansen
Sellers are in the midst of a battle with eBay to protect their way of doing business. And during their boycott, fewer options are available on eBay. That means now is a good time to check other sites like PropertyRoom.com, which sells stolen but unclaimed merchandise on the cheap.
When police catch a criminal with stolen merchandise, they store those items in a property room. If no one claims the stolen property then the police have to find another way to get rid of it.
PropertyRoom.com steps into that niche and claims:
Today’s law enforcement agencies have property rooms full of stolen or forfeited goods. The rightful owners are not easily identified, and once property is no longer needed as evidence, it must be disposed of properly. Enter Property Room. Founded and managed by former police officers, Property Room harnesses the power of the Internet to quickly move items out of police property rooms, reduce personnel costs and generate revenue well beyond traditional police auction methods. And there is no cost to the participating police or sheriffs department.
The company “went online in 2001 with a smattering of items from the Police Department in Eureka, Calif., and a few other places, has grown to the point where it has deals with more than 1,200 agencies. Think of the site as your personal, legal fence,” according to The Chicago Tribune.
It’s important to note that PropertyRoom.com does lack some features eBay supports such as buy it now and a community feedback management system.
But, PropertyRoom.com may be an example of why creating an organization independent of eBay can prove more lucrative than working through the online auction giant. This is especially relevant as sellers on eBay are facing higher fees and an inability to leave negative feedback for buyers in the future.
Sellers have banded together and have pledged a week-long boycott of eBay but in the past boycotts have done little to soothe eBay’s appetite for change. However, with this much publicity it would be an ideal time to launch another organization that services sellers at a low cost while luring buyers in with an attractive storefront.
Then maybe consumers would benefit from some competition in an otherwise cornered online auctioneer market.
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June 30th, 2008
propertyroom.com sucks here is one of my personal experiences you will notice that its a 1.00$ item but here is the problem with the system
the site adds 4.95 for s&h per item ???maybe fair but im not sure
but when one buys multi- items?for each one?
they “CAN NOT” bulk lot items even when you win 23 items
then they charge you 8.68$ for shipping of “ONE” item (did i mention
that i had others items already)
grand total of 15.89$ for a 1.00$ item (this is not realistic) buy any
standard business model
September 23rd, 2008
What I find disconcerting is that almost nothing is checked to see if it is working, and almost everything has a disclaimer that it wasn’t tested and may not work or may need repairs. How hard is it to put some double A batteries in a digital camera and see if it even powers up.
October 17th, 2008
Propertyroom is not what it once was. The deals used to be fantastic but there are too many users. I watched a drill that can be purchased at Home Depot for $69 sell for $90 plus the shipping… people are stupid and will bid on anything without knowing if it’s a good deal or not when 2 seconds of homework and Google would tell them they are fools!!!