Thoughts on a Clearance Items Website

Hi all,

I've been thinking about a start up idea and was hoping to get a little feedback. I was thinking of building an e-commerce site where retailers could list their clearance items for sale (think pure B2C eBay).

I got the idea after see what has happened to DSE over the last few months. They had way too much stock. Most retails hold excess stock too (maybe not to the levels of DSE!). Often they'll heavily discount items but good deals can be a bit hard to find. I thought bringing them all together in the one place would make things move quicker.. and also help you guys pick up awesome bargains! :D

Anyone have any thoughts?

Comments

  • +1

    this is a interesting idea. but you would have to answer the following, why would they not just use ebay ?
    how much would it cost them to sell a item they are already willing to sell at a loss ?
    why the current system does not work ? i rarely find any good clearance items that are in stock.
    when it is bulk excess stock dont they just sell it to company's like greys online ?

    dont get me wrong , i like your idea and it would be super convenient for many people , but i dont see the appeal as a retailer.
    on the upside if you do start it up ebay might buy you out if you have any success.

      1. As a B2C platform, I'm hoping to have something simply "better" than eBay. (Yeh that's a bold claim :D)
      2. From my rough calculations, retailers should be slightly better off. I'm hoping the platform would prevent too much discounting from them by selling things faster for them. I'm talking to some retailers now to get a better idea of what this actually is.
      3. I think you hit the nail on the head. Clearance items are kind of scattered everywhere. From personal experience (and the experiences of friends/family), people tend to stumble across these deals either by browsing physically or online - or finding something here on OzBargain. I'm hoping to be able to aggregate all this stuff together.
      4. I think my platform would fit in the chain like this: Regular selling -> starting to discount -> "My Platform" -> Grey's (or similar). It should be a step before Grey's. It's for items that are a little older and starting to get discounted but not quite "we need to unload this crap right now - it's costing us too much to hold onto!".

      Thanks for the feedback!

  • Why not just create EBay competitor with less or minimal fees. That would be helpful. EBAY & DSE Sucks.

    • That's kinda where the idea came from too. I know eBay has it's problems and it's not just fee related. I think I have something better.

      As for DSE, that was just an example. What I have in mind won't help DSE anymore!

  • Greys online?

    • +1

      *Grays but my thoughts exactly… Their fees are a little ridiculous though.

      • Yeh I had a look at Gray's. I'm thinking of trying to occupy a space that sits just before them.

        They actually buy up stock and hold it in a warehouse.

  • +2

    Also COTD and OO are probably selling this same stuff too.

    • Yep, would be taking some elements from their business models - they would be competitors in the same industry so that's a natural thing.

  • your idea isn't new.
    https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/alert/?a=priv-deleted&…

    btw
    dse won't bother selling b2c. their stock will be bought in bulk for cents to dollar by a company and auctioned off.

  • Wow thanks so much for the feedback everyone! I wasn't expecting much. You guys raised some interesting points.

    I'd like to push my luck a little further with some more questions:
    1. What would be most important to you from this sort of site?
    Big discounts? Big range? Good Products? Shipping? Customer Service? Transparency? etc
    2. What would absolutely kill the experience for you?

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