RETAIL
Business is booming for a Birmingham company which helps people sell unwanted possessions on eBay as middle class sellers raid their attics to raise cash.
Kings Heath-based auction drop-off store flog-it-on, which opened in September, is opening a second store in Kings Norton in July and is set to add a further four within three years.
Based on an idea from the US, flog-it-on handles the sale and delivery of items on eBay, charging the owner a percentage.
The company sells items ranging from clothes and televisions to collectables and cars for people who don’t have the time or technical skills to list items on eBay.
Flog-it-on co-owner Richard Morton said: “Initially our market was people concerned about their carbon footprint – mainly middle class people whose kids were putting them under pressure to recycle. But with the credit crunch, people are tightening belts.
Mr Morton, who runs flog-it-on with Steve Perkins, said he had seen a “sea change” among customers in the last few months as priorities change from recycling to raising cash.
“It feels, conversationally, like people need to raise money and selling on eBay is quite an exciting way to do it. To a certain extent it is still a very middle class market but people who would normally put things in their attic are bringing them out.
“We’ve had several clarinets recently – instead of keeping them in the attic and saving them for the next sibling, people are selling,” he said.
Mr Morton added the market for buying and selling second-hand cars on eBay was “buoyant”.
