Outlet Store?

We were thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to start a outlet store for our recycling business in another larger town. The purpose would be to sell primarily builder machines and such for re-sellers. The fees and hassles associated with ebay and pay pal make them look less appealing all the time.

We currently have a computer shop here in town. We do repairs and refurbishing and such there the same as any computer shop. Recently we have had a large influx of nice Core 2 Duo laptops and towers that are well above scrap value. There are more of these than we could ever expect to sell in our store we have now. Not to mention that it is very busy with repairs and such also.

I wonder if another store front in another larger town would be a good idea. My partner and I have discussed this at length and it seems like a good idea except for managing a place without direct constant supervision. The town we were thinking of is approximately 200 miles away. Another idea is to put it in a place like Phoenix or South Texas (Mc Allen area).

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? It would be a huge step.

We do have a web page up (I'ma-PC RECON - e-waste recycling), and there is the option of going with a shopping cart there and paying the fees to have it well placed in the search engines. We do own the domain name.

Ok, so what ideas do you good folks have out there. This community has been a huge blessing and has some wonderful ideas and support.

In closing I would like to make a suggestion of my own. If you are not a member please consider a membership. If you support what you believe to be a good thing it will continue to be there for you and maybe more importantly for those who come behind you.

If I understand you correctly you have a large quantity of used laptops that now have you thinking about opening up another retail location that would be difficult to manage, so you are also thinking about the option of creating an online store instead.

There is always the problem of theft whenever you open a retail store, most of the theft is usually the employees you hire. If you are not directly managing a store, not only will you have to concern yourself about a theft problem, but you also have to be concerned about your best business practices being followed. If you run the second retail location under your same business name, and website, whatever is done at that location will reflect on the other store, and your online presence.

If you hire a manager, there is a chance you might find a good one, but it's not a guarantee. There is another option however, short of creating a franchise. You can either take on a partner, who would help with the expenses, and take on the responsibility of insuring that theft and your best business practices are followed, but this also is an unknown.

There is still another option you might consider, and is a unique business model only a few retailers employ. You retain complete control of the location, the leasing of the location, the equipment, furnishings, etc. But you give a married couple the opportunity for a small investment, to operate the location as there own. I say a married couple because they can work overlapping shifts and will not usually steal from each other. They should also be located geographically to the retail location. So lets say for example your new location costs you 250k to start, you ask the couple to invest 50k to run the business, and you split the profit. You keep tight control over inventory by taking inventory every 3 months. The couple has an interest in running the business correctly because of their investment, and because what they make comes directly out of the profit the store makes, they get a percentage. Now you only have to visit the store a few times a month, you can pop in un-announced whenever you feel like doing so. In your contract you make sure you include that they must follow your best business practices otherwise you take back control of the location and find a new couple.

Personally I think more and more people are purchasing computers online rather in a retail store. You can sell the computers for less and make more profit because you don't have the overhead a brick and mortar building has. Because you are selling refurbished systems, this becomes far more important to consider than if you were selling new computer systems, people expect a deep discount for something that is used as opposed to new.

Of the two ideas you have presented, I believe the online store would be your better choice, your potential customer base is not limited by geographical location, your overhead is far less, and all you really have to do is hire someone to operate the online store and ship your computers.

There is still another option you might want to consider. When I was deeply involved in international trade, I sold thousands of laptops overseas. The majority of the laptops I sold went to the country of Jordan. They were at the time paying top dollar for used laptops, plus the US has a free trade agreement with Jordan. Many times you can get more for used laptops overseas, than you can here in the US.

Just my two cents, if you have questions or comments about anything I have said on this thread, or if I need to clarify something, please post it here, I will follow and answer as best I can. I think this subject is important, and whatever is posted positive or negative would help the forum at large.

Scott

eBay and PayPal fees are not nearly as much as rent and utilities on a another location. Hire a trusted friend and pay them a percentage of the profit (20-25%) on each eBay sale. They do the photo's, listing and shipping and you retain control. The trick to eBay is doing your homework. Research the sold prices and the quantity sold versus the completed listing to determine if an item is even worth listing. Current listings are worthless because anyone can something for what ever they want but that doesn't mean it will sell.

The listing title is the most important. when researching an item, try running svseral searches worded differently to see which one returns the most items, then use it as a model for yours. eBay isn't difficult if you take time to figure out what works best, and by all means use good grammar and correct spelling.

Lastly, you can even link your eBay store to your online store page so you don't have to list twice.

Hope this helps.

Vance

I see so many problems with this. Why not just find a consignment shop and sell through them? Way less hassles, no theft issues, no management issues, you don't have to collect sales tax, etc.

Ebay is a tool to sell your stuff...you just have to have a good process in place to do it...ie whe. You get new stuff it goes on the table to be sorted, move down to an area set up to take pics (a simple homemade light box with a $30 digital camera on a tripod that never moves), next station is where it gets put into box and then either make an order number for it with a lable printer or write it on box...then put on shelf. You or someone else puts into your ebay store (starting cost is a while $20/mo). Wait for orders...print and slap shipping order when they buy and pay for shipping...schedule pickup or drop off.

Far far cheaper and quicker sales than opening a store. You have the whole world looking at it, not just a few people that know your store.

Otherwise just put it on craigslist instead of a store....same thing zero cost...they pickup you dont deliver. I do all of the above btw.

Don't forget to make use of your Facebook network if you have one. Personal and business. I got a friend who just opened a shop down in FL, (computers) and he did this with FB an it's helped him a ton with getting orders in from around the country. Granted he's a gamer an has a wide network of friends from the games he plays.

Either way..good luck to you, an let us know how it goes/ends up for you guys.

Sirscrapalot - Did retail for way to many years to ever do it again. Not enough booze in the world.

Everyone's suggestions are really good. My partners 20 year old son is coming next week to live here. He is really eBay savvy, so we are going to give that a go first. I like the eBay store idea. We are consigning some stuff now also. As of now I am sitting on a lot of Core 2 Duo laptops (75+) loaded, tested and ready to go.

Really it is a matter of time for me. I just don't have time to list and such as well as run my 2 businesses I have now

Your son should streamline that process...plus there are listing tools out there that make it alot easier and quicker. Trust me...you will thank yourself....the store also makes the final fees alot cheaper....

Sell them wholesale to a competitor in a larger nearby town.

eBay seems to be working for us. We had $800.00+ in sales our first month. They do have some silly listing rules on computers until you have been with them for more than 90 days.

See thought you would like the ebay option. $800 probably equates to about $700 net...so rather than paying that out in rent, your money to keep.

Good luck and keep it up!