YNOT – Selling used media online might get a little easier, if former eBay executive Simon Rothman gets his way. His new startup, Glyde.com, is aiming to take the hassle out of selling used books, video games and DVDs online by assisting the sellers with delivering the goods to the buyers. There is a cost to all of that assistance though, and questions remain about whether Glyde.com will even attract enough buyers and sellers to give its approach a fair chance.
The current website at Glyde.com is in beta. One feature that makes this website unique over traditional services like Amazon.com and eBay.com is its proposed service to make shipping purchases a simpler proposition for sellers. Rothman’s company would provide sellers with a pre-addressed, pre-stamped envelope; simply place the purchase inside and send it off in the mail.
Rothman is aware, however, that it won’t be easy to lure away sellers from established sites like eBay.com, since those sites already have large volumes of buyers in place. His approach then will be to target sellers that find eBay.com and other similar services too complicated and not worth the effort just to make a few bucks.
“We want the middle-aged Midwestern soccer mom to easily be able to buy and sell her stuff,” Rothman said. “It’s a pretty straightforward ambition.”
The Glyde.com service will further assist sellers by allowing them to choose media from a pre-existing database and then simply specify the item’s condition, rather than upload pictures and write custom descriptions. The seller can choose the price, and will be shown how many other sellers are offering the same item – and how their prices compare.
The system isn’t without its downside for sellers though, since methods and prices for shipping will be out of their control.
“Selling a ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ DVD in ‘good’ condition nets a seller 33 cents after Glyde takes its 18-cent commission and its fee for the shipping mailer, which it provides to the seller pre-addressed and pre-stamped,” wrote Ina Steiner for AuctionBytes.com. “It appears Glyde also profits on shipping fees, charging the buyer $4 for shipping a DVD.”
In another area that has possible repercussions for sellers, the Glyde service will use the escrow model in an attempt to cut back on fraud; buyers pay for purchases with a credit card, and Glyde holds onto the buyer’s money until the item has been received and the buyer is satisfied.
“If a buyer’s money is not in the seller’s hands until the buyer is happy,” Rothman said, “it’s much harder to game the system.”
That of course means the seller assumes the risk.
“The risk to the seller for earning that 33 cents is pricey,” wrote Steiner. “If the buyer reports the item ‘Not As-Described,’ the seller loses the sales proceeds and pays for a mailer ($1.00-$1.75) and half of the return shipping ($2.50).”
The buyer does have to pay half the shipping for returning an item though, so there is some incentive built in for buyers to avoid returning a purchase.
