Reselling Old Items for New Profit
Daily Press Newspaper article “Reselling Old Items for
New Profits”
With the help of eBay and antique dealers, a
York woman helps “pals” sell their old stuff
BY LAURA MCCANDLISH
247-4991
July 26 2005
YORK – Linda Miller and her first associate, Ramona Faloon,
ripped the red canvas fabric off of the early 20th century
recliner-style chair in Miller’s garage. They exposed
precious flesh, the original brown leather of the weathered
cushion.
“Oh, we’re excited!” Miller said to Faloon,
marveling at the chair she bought for $25 at a church sale.
“The value just went up. This is what we live for!”
And though the cushion turned out to be upholstered in
Naugahyde—an old vinyl—rather than leather, the chair
still could sell for hundreds of dollars in an antique store or on
eBay.
From her York County home, Miller just launched Consignment Pal, an
online umbrella organization of consignment sellers that connects
interested individuals with eBay sellers, antique stores,
auctioneers and estate sale dealers. Consignment Pal, which
represents clients in 25 states and the United Kingdom and Germany,
helps people clean out their closets and make a profit at the same
time.
As a former homemaker who has lived everywhere from Malaysia to
Chicago, Miller wanted a business that could pick up and move with
her. She first started selling consignment on eBay in 1999 when her
family moved back from the Far East. Around that time, Miller also
started selling antiques in Faloon’s Denbigh Antique and
Collectible Mall, which had to shut down four years ago.
Miller introduced Consignment Pal at an eBay developers conference
in San Jose, Calif., in June. The online business allows people
like Miller, who enjoys buying and bidding, to connect with
consignment dealers like Faloon, who now works at the Antiques
Emporium of Smithfield.
“A lot of us like bidding at an auction or estate sale, so we
end up with a lot of inventory in our house,” said Miller,
who wanted to downsize, with the possibility of a move to Houston
on the horizon. From her travels, Miller has collected countless
Chinese ceramic pickle jars, birdcages and Vietnamese fabrics.
Miller hopes Consignment Pal will expand as a global operation,
gaining revenue from Internet advertising. She anticipates business
in China—which has had eBay since 2002 and will soon have
PayPal, the online payment system. But “consignment”
doesn’t translate well into Chinese or German, so Miller has
reserved www.resalepal.com as her domain name in those countries.
She also eventually expects 20 to 30 percent of Consignment Pal
sellers to be “stay-at-home moms.” Faloon just
recruited her daughter—who is at home with a 19-month-old
child.
“It’s more than just a hobby,” said Miller.
“If you are working 40 hours or more a week, it’s a
real job.”
With a nationwide trend toward de-cluttering, Consignment Pal can
help “those who have something they don’t need, but
maybe it’s too valuable to just get rid of,” she said.
Consignment Pal also can help members sell items for charity. A
local church just donated a pink breast cancer ribbon necklace,
handmade out of freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystal, for
Consignment Pal to sell on eBay. The tax-deductible proceeds will
go to the American Cancer Society.
But Miller complained that some antique dealers wrinkle their noses
at the word “consignment” and feel that the Internet
prevents them from inflating their prices. Still, she hopes to
provide a network for those different groups to come together.
“We combine all those consignment groups on the homepage of
our Web site to get people to talk to each other more,” said
Miller.
Copyright © 2005, Daily Press
http://www.dailypress.com/business/local/dp-55155sy0jul26,0,7861926.story
Reselling old items for new profit
With the help of eBay and antiques dealers, a York woman helps
“pals” sell their old stuff.
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