# Does This Business Model Exist?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-business-model-exist/246691>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 23, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-business-model-exist/246691 "2004-05-23T21:11:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-business-model-exist/246691/1 "2004-05-23T21:11:56Z")

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I could swear I read about this recently, but for the life of me I can’t remember where, or find anything on the Net:

Companies that will take items you don’t want, sell them on E-Bay, and give you the proceeds (minus their 20-30% cut).

As I’m unpacking from our recent move, I find myself amazed by how much extra stuff we own that I have no particular use for. However, this stuff is by no means garbage. I have neither the time nor patience to run a garage sale or do the E-Bay thing myself, so this kind of service would be perfect for me.

Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-business-model-exist/246691/2 "2004-05-23T21:13:40Z")

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Yes, indeed, there are storefront eBay sellers who will take all your crap and sell it for you.

[Here](http://in.tech.yahoo.com/040505/137/2cx7a.html) is an article about some of them.

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-business-model-exist/246691/3 "2004-05-23T22:47:13Z")

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eBay calls them [Trading Assistants](http://contact.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?GetTAHubPage).

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**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-business-model-exist/246691/4 "2004-05-24T18:40:10Z")

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[Circuit City has just started doing that](http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/techcorporatenews/2004-05-24-circuitcity-ebay_x.htm).