Written by Adam Gordon, COO of Maxsold Edited by Barry Gordon, Founder of Maxsold
Gordon's Downsizing and Estate Services has a long-standing partnership with MaxSold to help re-sell larger volumes of estate inventory or personal property. MaxSold has a unique service as COO, Adam Gordon explains in this guest blog post.
Maxsold was built in response to an evolving problem in the second-hand market, a problem that is exacerbated by socio-economic trends. This brief overview demonstrates the breadth, depth, and timelines associated with the problem and how Maxsold was built specifically to tackle it.
Today, we live in a world where almost anything we could want or need is available at the click of a button. The costs associated with these “click acquisitions” continue to go down while the service levels associated with the transaction continue to go up.
Consumer value is being generated at an astonishing rate, by saving time (both hours worked to afford, and time required to acquire). You can click to buy something right now and, before the end of day tomorrow, it can be delivered right to your door.
Are you ready to downsize?
The Trend for Pre-Loved
For the past, and the next, 25 or so years, there have been (and will continue to be) more downsizing and estate clients than ever before. This means that more everyday items continue to flood into the second-hand market.
Addressing the need is hard. Traditional suppliers have left the space for more lucrative speciality sales, leaving a large and unmet need.
Those most aware of the pre-loved stuff trend have been disposal companies, storage companies, charities, and sale of goods companies (including auctioneers, estate sellers, consignment shops, etc).
Disposal and storage companies thrived due to downsizers or executors feeling either;
their items are of little value (disposal), or worse;
they cannot let go of the excess items and instead put off solving the problem and commit to ongoing logistical costs such as moving or storage, while item values continue to drop.
While disposal and storage thrive, sale of goods and charities struggle. Why? There’s an oversupply of stuff, increasing logistical costs, and no commensurate change to the business models these services operate.
What does all this mean? Traditional models of sale, both profit, and not-for-profit, have departed from serving a client need - accepting and selling all excess items for downsizing and estate clients - and have instead moved to an antiquated business model which requires them to cherry-pick items of value due to high operational costs.
It’s not that they want to do this, it’s reactionary and based solely on survival as the growth in pre-loved items grows exponentially. That said, although they have found a way to survive serving a very niche need, without addressing the time-conscious consumer trends it is likely that in time they will fail.
An Auction House with no House
Maxsold provides the missing link in online auction access for the seller. eBay has shown the world the value of the convenience offered by online auctions. By making online auction providers a household word, they have made online commerce a part of everyday life for even older consumers.
eBay has also made efforts to expand into the concept of “local trade”- but their efforts in this regard have not gained traction and therefore are not a focus of the online giant. This leaves a gap in the market for sellers and buyers which look online to buy or sell, but appreciates the convenience of picking up or dropping off the purchased/sold item.
Additionally, eBay nor its power sellers have ever addressed the challenge of a private individual with many articles to sell. One that requires the management and flow of those assets, and one that prefers a finite sale stream rather than an ongoing process that sells in dribs and drabs.
Maxsold represents the original auction solution that sells a volume of goods in a short period of time, without judgment.
It reaches out to the broad demographic of younger buyers who can actually use the goods being sold, but who don’t have the time or interest in going to an event-based auction or estate sale where they must stand and wait for a desired item.
Maxsold economics allow for smaller, more specialized staff, shorter supervision times, low event costs, hyperlocal targeted social media advertising, no registration or cashing out lineups, no delays in payment, and no shipping.
Sales are conducted from the seller’s residence in most cases, or co-mingled with others at warehousing locations operated by partners.
The Benefits of Using Maxsold
Sellers gain the benefits of a traditional auction, without the cost or limitations. They are able to sell many or few items of varying values without requiring that the items be moved off-site prior to their sale. This ensures the homeowner that their items are not mixed, or confused with those of others.
The process is transparent and observable. A seller can watch the event unfold from anywhere with an internet connection. They can expose their goods to competitive bidding and enjoy the added value of finding different buyers for different goods rather than selling all goods to one source.
In short, for buyers it means enabling them to spend as little time as possible executing a reliable and efficient purchase transaction.
For sellers, it means providing a safe and transparent process that respects the goods and addresses the problem without judgement - only service.
At the end of the day, excess items, whether loved or not, can often be liabilities for people who don’t have free space to hold onto them anymore. The only question is, how do potential sellers with large volumes of everyday goods want to manage that liability?
At Maxsold, we believe it’s how you sell, not what you sell, that matters.
“Today, you own excess stuff...don’t let excess stuff own you tomorrow”. - Adam Gordon, COO Maxsold Inc.
If you are in the process of downsizing an estate, contact Gordon Estate Services today to learn more about our content auction services.