The new store is located at 3228-A Roswell Road near the intersection of Roswell and Peachtree in the Buckhead community.  Co-owners Damon Mushrush, Travis Jones and Michael Holt plan to open two more locations in the Atlanta area in the next six months.

"Millions of people use eBay to turn possessions they no longer want or need into cash, but millions more don't have the time or technical know-how to do it themselves," Mushrush said.  "It can take four hours or more to prepare even the simplest items for auction, from taking and uploading digital photographs to writing the ‘ad' and selecting from 45,000 selling categories.  We do all the work so our customers don't have to."

A-to-Z service:  Snappy Auctions accepts any item with an expected value of $50 or more, ranging from sporting goods, apparel, jewelry, electronics, computers, camera equipment, music equipment, antiques and collectibles to stamps, mannequins, shelving, power tools, heart rate monitors and radiation detectors. 

The staff performs an expert valuation to determine the estimated selling price of the item on eBay and devise the most appropriate pricing strategy.  Then they photograph the item, categorize it, create a keyword-based description strategically designed to maximize the likelihood that buyers will find and bid on it, and handle the eBay posting process.

Once the listing is active, Snappy Auctions personnel answer all queries from eBay shoppers, then collect payment and ship the item when the sale is complete.  The store holds each item until it sells, and keeps the owner informed of the process every step of the way.  In return for these services, Snappy Auctions receives a 15% to 35% commission, depending on the value of the item. 

eBay experts:  Mushrush himself is a veteran eBay-er who sold $20,000 worth of video and computer games on the Internet auction site in just four months during his last year in graduate school at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. 

He took an accounting job at Ernst & Young after graduating in 2003, but decided to get into the eBay drop-off business earlier this year when he discovered the Snappy Auctions franchise while attending the eBay Live conference in New Orleans.

Jones, a long-time friend who was working as a systems analyst for Kaiser Permanente, and Holt, a college buddy who had joined KPMG as an accountant, knew about Mushrush's success as an eBay seller, and they offered to join him in the venture.  All three quit their jobs several months ago to become full-time eBay entrepreneurs.

Make it Snappy:  The Snappy Auctions franchise was started by software consultant and eBay power seller Debbie Gordon.  She opened the first store in Nashville in October 2003 and began franchising this year, equipping her franchisees with proprietary software that ensures that customers' merchandise is expertly priced, photographed, categorized, listed and managed to bring the best possible selling price.

In the process, Gordon has become a pioneer in a new breed of brick-and-mortar eBay offshoots that are expected to generate higher sales than all do-it-yourself eBay sellers combined.  Internet Retailer has estimated that stores like Snappy Auctions have the potential to gross $10 billion in sales annually --- a figure that would nearly quintuple eBay's 2003 gross revenues of $2.17 billion.

eBay has embraced drop-off stores for that reason.  They will enable eBay to expand its seller base to people who otherwise would not take the time or effort to patronize the online auction site.  More money for the stores means more money for eBay, too.

Hidden treasures:  While many items handled by Snappy Auctions are everyday products like DVD players and food processors, the company also turns up the occasional surprise "find" a la Antiques Roadshow.

One woman came to a Snappy Auctions store with several antique porcelain dolls she thought were worthless.  After the staff researched the dolls, it turned out that one was a sought-after collectors' item.  eBay selling price: $1,700.

Another customer brought in an antique mirror that no longer fit her decor.  Snappy Auctions personnel discovered that the item dated back to the 1700s and set the opening bid accordingly.  eBay selling price: $4,000.

There have also been a pair of antique silver carriage lamps ($2,000), a late 18th century barometer ($800), a picture autographed by Elvis ($686) and other collectors' dreams.

Those kind of windfalls may not come along every day, but everyone has stuff gathering dust in their closets, jewelry boxes, attics and storage lockers that has the potential to be turned into cash.  With Snappy Auctions, you can eBay those items without lifting a finger.   Finally: an easy way to make a buck.

Source: snappyauctions.com