eBay's New Mobile App Sells Your Stuff So You Don't Have To
Selling with eBay Valet takes away the hassle of dealing with your own listings. With the app, users take a picture of whatever it is they're trying to sell and add a description. Then eBay's "valets" - people who work for eBay and vet your items for sale - research eBay listings and determine how to best list the items, including how to price them.
They'll give you a valuation quote, which you can accept or decline. If you accept, your items are posted and given two weeks to sell on eBay. After the item sells, you keep 70% of the profits. eBay will send you a shipping label or a free prepaid box, and you send off your sold items.
The service does have a few catches. If you send in something that valets can't sell, there's a return fee equivalent to a normal shipping charge to have it sent back to you. Valets also can't make changes to your listings after they're active on eBay. If you'd like, you can call and cancel a listing and request that your item be returned to you, but there's a $10 return fee per order.
eBay carefully vets its Valets, who have to meet ridiculously rigorous standards. According to eBay Valet's website, valets must be able to list 100,000 eBay listings each month, have storage capacity sufficient to hold and manage items received for at least 21 calendar days, the ability to list items across all eBay categories, a physical presence in all major metropolitan hubs in the U.S., and demonstrated ability to reach Top Rated Seller status on eBay within 90 days of starting valet services.
eBay Valet accepts electronics, new or like-new designer shoes and handbags, antiques, kitchen appliances, sporting goods, musical instruments, and car parts. Unlike other online consignment e-commerce shops that have recently become popular, like Poshmark, eBay Valet doesn't accept clothes, according to its website. Bulky items, media like DVDs and CDs, and high-end valuables are also not accepted through the program.
The app was designed by the Israel Innovation Center, a Tel Aviv-based group within the Innovation and New Ventures organization, which is chartered with rapid prototyping for eBay, according to TechCrunch. For now, eBay says eBay Valet is a "pilot" program.
You can download eBay Valet for iPhone here.