Consumer swap site WebSwap.com launched an e-commerce model
for visitors that features a shopping area modeled after neighborhood garage
sales in which prices of items decrease over time.
The opposite of auctions in which prices increase, the model complements the
site’s two other ways to buy and sell — fixed price selling and swapping.
WebSwap’s “Garage Sale” features prices that decline in hourly increments
with final markdowns taken until sold.
Although the concept is not new (think Filene’s Basement in Boston), it does
provide an alternative to consumers visiting the site, and the operators are
hoping that will help to attract more visitors.
An automated, digital version of a traditional neighborhood garage sale,
WebSwap’s “Garage Sale” takes the popular automatic price markdown model a
step further
by posting a starting price (dictated by the seller) at a recommended 90
percent of the item’s market value and a minimum price of at least 50 percent
or less. The price of the item then goes down hourly in equal increments for
up to seven days until someone
clicks “Buy it!”
“Dynamic pricing gives buyers the excitement of hourly discounts until the
item sells and (gives) dealers the fastest way to sell their new and used
merchandise while maintaining a rock bottom minimum price,” said Jan Gullett,
president and CEO of WebSwap Inc.
WebSwap says its features include bulk loading, free picture hosting, $300
guaranteed
trade fulfillment backed by certain underwriters at Lloyds of London, 100
percent safe payment processing, no transaction fees and multiple ways to
transact.