BY KAREN E. BOWES
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY MIGUEL JUAREZ staff
Above, Larry Regan, owner of “iSold it,” on Route 35 in Middletown, helps customers sell unwanted items on eBay. At left, Spencer Freeman, store manager, prepares an item for shipping. MIDDLETOWN – Admit it. You have one – an expensive item you bought but never used.
It seemed so perfect, so necessary at the time. But now, like a treadmill covered in laundry, it’s simply taking up valuable real estate in your living room.
iSold It is a new store that makes getting cash for your unwanted items easy. Their motto says it all: “Drop off your stuff. We’ll sell it on eBay. You get a check.”
Owner Larry Regan, of Ocean, is reaping the rewards of other people’s junk by auctioning them off on eBay, a popular Internet auction house.
Barbie dolls, china tea cups and antique violins are just some of the items you’ll find in the back rooms of Regan’s Route 35 location. Foot traffic has been so busy over his first two weeks of business that he’s been forced to hire more employees to handle the demand.
The rules are simple: the item must be worth more than $30, be likely to sell on eBay and the seller must have an e-mail address. Listing the item doesn’t cost a dime, but if the item sells, a commission is calculated based on the final selling price, usually somewhere around 30 percent plus fees.
For a person with no computer skills, it’s a simple way to earn extra cash without a garage sale.
Here’s how it works: A customer brings in an item she would like to sell, say a camera. An iSold It employee determines the camera’s worth and its potential for sale on eBay. The camera is photographed and placed online with a minimum bidding price approved by the owner. The auction lasts a week. Anyone in the continental United States can bid on the camera for a week.
At the end of the auction, the camera will be mailed to the highest bidder. Afterward, a check from iSold It will be mailed to the seller, minus the commission and eBay fees.
“This is a very institutional setting,” Regan said of his shop. “It’s really a processing station; it’s not designed for people to sit and look around. It’s designed to bring something in and get a check.”
This no-nonsense approach to buying and selling seems to be working well, attracting a varied clientele, from baseball card collectors to vacuum cleaner wholesalers. Almost all the sellers are women.
“I’d say 80 percent of our sellers are women,” Regan said. “They bring in the dolls, furs and china.”
A recent seller brought in and sold a 12-setting Lenox Tuxedo pattern china set. The owner sold the china to the highest bidder for $760, and her cut was $511.94.
“That’s a lot of money for something that was just sitting in the garage, not getting used,” Regan said.
iSold It is located in the ShopRite plaza on Route 35, across the highway from Sears. The business is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Those interested can call (732) 671-3644 for more information.