Franchise Business Opportunities With Instant Cash Flow

Starting up a new business can be a little nerve-wracking under any conditions, but no less so during an economic decline. It's tempting to either stay away from new business endeavors entirely or walk into one with serious trepidation, fearing for its survival right from the beginning. It's a terrible way to start a business, but when you really stop to think about it, the beginning is really one of the most frail times in a franchise's lifespan, mostly because it takes time to build up business and get cash flowing in on a steady basis. Without that, a business really can't survive; so to some degree, fear is warranted at the outset of business.

That kind of fear in a franchise business, however, isn't always necessary, even in recession. If the threat of not having immediate cash flow is more of a weight than you can handle, it's important to know that there are business opportunities that come with various means of producing cash flow instantly. The following businesses, for one reason or another, are able to provide you with a steady income right off the bat.

Glove Lady

This business for sale provides an instant flow of cash mostly because it provides a product in high demand that few other groups are selling. A low-overhead, work from home business, Glove Lady specializes in selling gloves and other safety equipment. Though it's a product that many companies need, it's not one that a lot of companies sell, meaning that a Glove Lady franchisee has a cornered market from day one. And with a state-of-the art management system, customizable marketing system, and personalized website, everything is in place for a highly lucrative local business.

Superior Wash

One of the leading names in the truck-washing industry, Superior Wash has over 25 years of combined experience and can teach any hardworking franchisee how to profit from this simple and well established business model. Everything is provided for each new home based business from the outset: the business plan, cleaning equipment, accounting services, 24/7 support, and best of all, access to a national account list. What the national account list provides is a large number of trucking companies that, with only a call, will prove to be a immediate source of income because they're already familiar with the Superior Wash name. And with services for each client operating on a weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly basis, that initial income remains a repetitive source of cash flow as new accounts are added.

PIRTEK USA

This is the best franchise opportunity you can find in the manufacturing industry. Universally recognized as a worldwide powerhouse in the hydraulic business, PIRTEK USA provides clients with only the best hoses and other equipment made by the world's leading makers. What's more, they're the only onsite service provider, not only selling hydraulic equipment, but installing, repairing, and maintaining it, all at the customer's location. Between selling exceptional products and providing exceptional services, it is no wonder that clients new and old recognize PIRTEK USA as a wise choice for servicing their equipment, and thus, there is potential for income immediately.

MOLLY MAID

The biggest name in the home cleaning industry, MOLLY MAID comes to new franchisees with almost instant cash flow, mostly because the name is so widely known. The world's leading maid service, every new MOLLY MAID home business has instant advertising and brand recognition because nearly everyone has seen a MOLLY MAID car. Even if owned by another franchisee, that publicity bodes well for new franchises. Because advertising is relatively easy, franchisees are mostly just responsible for managing a staff of employed housecleaners, managing business growth, and providing invoicing and accounts receivable.

The Pajama-Man School

They call him the Pajama-Man, and for good reason. Because he works only from home, Andy Ross wears nothing but pajamas while he makes gobs of money brokering health insurance, and with his school, he is more than able to teach others to do the same. By his estimates, Andy makes $500 every day, just off two or three insurance applications from new clients, all without any calling on his part: he simply receives calls and makes sales. His competitors have all asked him numerous times how he has managed such startling success, but he refuses to tell them his secrets; he only tells his students. For only $5,000, you too can become his student and learn how to take advantage of the same kind of business opportunity.

Supercuts

Once again, the key to instant income with one of these franchises is an already strong market presence and a service that everyone needs on an ongoing basis. Everyone recognizes the Supercuts name and logo, and the average person needs a haircut every few weeks or so. Combine those two facts, and you have an instant success as a part of $3bil franchising family with 12,000 functional franchises already in operation. Each store has two streams of income, service and retail sales, and there is already a global marketing system in operation, ensuring that the cash flow you see today will only expand tomorrow.

Getting into business for yourself never comes without its stresses, but wondering whether or not there's money to be made from the beginning of your franchise's operational life is not a stress you need to have. As you look for the business opportunity of your dreams, keep an eye peeled for those businesses that provide a steady stream of income from the get-go. Having that little bit more peace of mind goes a long way toward making an even more successful business.

Find more franchise business opportunities including home service franchises and retail franchises at Franchise Gator

Franchise Disclosure Laws Give Upper Hand to Attorneys

In today's franchising industry franchisors are forced to have excessive disclosure documents. Franchise Attorneys will collect this data to try to sue you. Every one knows you should never trust an Attorney; that also goes for any Franchise Attorney also. If you are in franchising you will of course need a few of these extorsionists to protect you from other suing franchise lawyers. Franchising Lawyers; 88% are incompetent, so be careful and do you home work. Many hardly know their rear ends from a hole in the ground. Be sure to read the study on the Franchise Attorney, Franchising Lawyer and problems in franchising law.

We need a complete overhaul in the industry with regards to franchise attorneys. While participating on the ABA Forum on Franchising for about 4 years, I have been noticing a problem with the aptitude and experience level of those who purport to practicing in the area of franchise law. Several quote "Franchising Attorneys" often ask questions of other attorneys of the group which are things they should inherently know if they claim to be "Franchising Attorneys". The ABA Forum on franchising, godbless their souls, claims that lawyers from all different experience levels come to the board and ask questions.

Well a recent question was asked by a practicing attorney in CA who claims to be a Business and Franchising Attorney on his web site, business cards and advertising asked the question about what disclosure was needed if any if a franchisor gave a franchisee a commission for sending him a buyer. Now many out there may not be too familiar with this, but then again you are not holding yourself out to well versed enough to charge $150-300 per hour for advice on such franchising subjects. This particular question totally infuriates me as a Franchisor, because I am to pay good money for these attorneys who block information from the public domain so they can sell it to me for the price described above. Yet these same people do not know the answer to the questions you ask, they instead call on other attorneys to answer such questions. Then may I ask why we pay them at all? And if you call them on it, and complain about their lack of knowledge they claim you are unprofessional.

Well if unprofessional means calling things the way they are then these two-faced attorneys are correct. In my opinion they are thieves, cowards and liars. They should shot and Caesar was correct in his statements as I am here today in this period. Entrepreneurs when they make mistakes pay for those mistakes in the market place. Attorneys wing it and hire paralegals to do all their work for peanuts and then bill you maximum rate. In franchising I would say the number of attorneys who purport such expert status to bill such high fees are generally morons.

Given that some are actually knowledgeable on their subject matter. Still the fees are way to high. But there are about 12% who know their stuff. The others need a Jerry Springer T-Shirt or a Jeff Foxworthy "Here's Your Sign". The answer to the above question is of course it is required for disclosure, my answer to this CA moron attorney (opinion) is "No, Keep it a Secret, don't disclose it?" DAH? It is a violation in my opinion and it is false and misleading to purport that you are an attorney specializing in some area of law and then not know the answers to fundamental questions in that area. For someone to put on a business card that they specialize in an area of law and hold themselves out to the public to be well versed and knowledgeable on the subject matter and to ask stupid questions that they should know the answer to is evidence in the need for on-going education, testing, and licensing of that area of law.

Attorneys seem to slip out of the categories in which other professionals such as Brokers, Accountants and Medical professionals must play in. Attorneys are therefore the most self-serving group of people on the Planet. Talk about calling the kettle black, these people sue franchisors and franchisees that are making a living by producing while these parasites steal your money and sit behind law books they have never read or use. They hire paralegals to do the work, they figure that if they do not know something they can find it, yet hide the information so you cannot find it, meaning you have to pay them to file paperwork. These attorneys file complaints and make up stuff in order to sue you and I and people who produce goods and services to this great nation. They often exaggerate issues and create barriers between parties where everyone loses, but alas, they get a G-Damn Fee. Fee for what, they are stupid well all but 12%. Now then we have many young Americans going back to school to get degrees in law? Oh great add more fuel to the fires and add more liars (lawyers).

The funniest part of this issue is that these morons cannot even argue the point, calling such observations of the system run a muck as unprofessional. Well when you are professional about it they cloud the issues with rhetoric and these word smiths sit around all day trying to figure out how to screw us all, so they can get theirs without working. Without knowledge, without ever having to produce one thing for America, except and invoice, which if you do not pay they will sue you? Whatever. The problem being that they hide behind a desk, never learning to the best of their ability the subject matter. Next time you are at a party and someone tells you they are a lawyer; tell them to go to hell. They deserve no respect, no professionalism and none of your time. Tell them to their face. Whether they are a politician, regulator, litigator or judge.

They system, regulations, sue happy lawyers are the reason the economy is in shambles. These lawyers reward laziness, lead in that regard by example, perpetually lie to clients, customers and the public in general using false and misleading advertising, could care less about right and wrong and should for the most part be hung or burned at the stake. You know this true. Look around folks; High insurance, medical, franchise fees, etc. Why do you think this is? Guess. Is it unprofessional to call an ace and ace and a spade a spade? Not where I come from.

I call and demand a complete revamping of franchise law, category of law where franchising is its own deal not mixed in with securities law; a crushing of duplication amongst states and the federal government. Re-education for all franchise attorneys mandatory, if they cannot learn what they should already know, they cannot practice franchise law. No Grandfather clauses, because in this area of law there are too many incompetent folks holding themselves out to be attorneys and do not understand the model or the dynamics. They (except for the 12%) are scoundrels, crooks, fraudsters, incompetent, and wannabes. (CYA-opinion). Recently when I wrote this attorney in CA and called him into check, He copied my email into the ABA Forum for other attorneys. Many stuck up for his views that it is okay to ask dumb questions (not the 12%, they simply kept quite, understood or agreed with my comments), although the real issue is that only incompetent people ask questions which are so fundamental that they ought to know by heart if they are to practice in this area of law.

During Franchising Week and we are to promote franchising, what a better way to promote franchising which delivers 1/3 of every consumer dollar spent then by deleting or calling into question the parasites the 88% of attorneys which plague our industry like a virus against humanity that threatens the economic stability of our nation worse than any potential international terrorist. By threatening to sue, when we should be working together to build a stronger unity and building small businesses through franchising for the betterment of the future of America and the laid off individuals which were forced out of work by lawyers in other fields suing and raising costs into oblivion. Today we have our troops being attacked and some occasionally killed to restore order in Iraq, yet in the US we have a worse threat than that, here, we have attorneys causing the crumble of America, for personal financial gain, without regard for the well being of the American people, these lawyers are the worst of all Terrorists, they are preventing America from getting back to work, they are immune to Patriot's Act know your client rules, they will take a check form anyone. They will defend guilty parties, they will file bogus claims against the hard working class of Americans, small business owners and franchisors who have delivered to all Americans, lower prices, competitive choices and smooth distribution, not to mention employing 38.44% of all Americans.

You want to keep America back to work? Hold those Lawyers responsible and if they cannot be responsible, SHOOT THEM, shovel them and shut up; stop listening to this rhetoric and playing with words. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out right and wrong, but all the lawyers in the world could not get themselves into agreement. The system of law, truth and justice is flawed because the lawyers have run a muck, are not held accountable, don't care (88% of them), stir controversy, avoid intent. It is obvious that the lawyers in the Franchising Field yield a huge chokehold on our society; from every aspect of franchise law. When someone asks these 88% what type of law they practice, typically they will smile and say, "well what is your problem?" Then they simply say yes we can help you with that here is the fee schedule and then quickly they get online to find the answer or pay someone else to look it up. Is that really fair to America. Franchising is a huge system of distribution and rivals Wal-Mart in efficiency.

If franchising were to leave tomorrow, you could not see a ball game, buy a car, eat out, buy gasoline, etc. And because this distribution system is so powerful America is so powerful. We have regulators who are lawyers who have no experience making a paycheck, little if any in franchise law, clogging the system. We have OSHA, EPA, Workmen's Comp, ADA, etc all areas with more lawyers. Franchises often involve real estate, the average re-finance paper work or real estate listing use to be 3-5 pages, today sixty. Franchise UFOCs with attachments usually 180 plus pages. Use to be 13 for UFOC and about 10-15 pages of various attachments. Lease agreements and Sub lease agreements use to be 5 pages not 55 pages. OSHA standards are 47 stories high are stacked on top of each other. Come on people, THINK. Think about it, what is the problem here. It is not that American Companies cannot compete in free markets; we are the ones, which refined them, used them to become victorious in two World Wars. If anyone knows free markets like Milton Friedman it is we, we practically created the modern free market and folks the biggest single factor and driving force of that modern force today is franchising. Not bunches of two-bit, fake it tell you make it, Boilerplate bandits, self-serving, three-piece suit parasites. Yet today we have Blood sucking giant mosquitoes, Lawyers, sucking us dry in swarms and then infecting us with the virus they call professionalism and law.

Societies exist because the human species is innately social by nature, not simply because of law. What we need to do is Genetically modify these lawyers to work for solutions, not create pages of What-ifs and case law based on arbitrary decision making of other lawyers who have graduated as the best ten gallon hat bull slingers into status as judges (again 88%). America can be fixed tomorrow and everyone can go back to work when the lawyers 88% of them get educated, terminate, die or get a life. Then there will be plenty of jobs for all Americans and the Lawyers, can work on the automated garbage trucks so they do not get their hands dirty. The whole world laughs at us, and the culprits are laughing too. But hey; they are very PROFESSIONAL, just ask them. I say so what, if someone is lying to your face and you are not allowed to call them on it, do you really care if they are lying professionally? I sure as hell don't. The hypocrisy has gone to far.

I am unconcerned what the Harvard Law School or these schools churning out 1000's of lawyers per year have to say about that, the fact is it is true. They are running the country and we must fight this now before we end up another has been on the list of great civilizations, which inhabited the Earth during the short history of modern homosapiens. I would rather not be part of a footnote in the evolutionary chain, which was unable to adapt and whose branch went no further. It is time to take control of the bull (pun intended) and wrestle this beast to the ground once and for all. Lets start with franchising, put America back to work, get this economy flying again and then we can weed out the other areas of law where parasitic lawyers abound. Care to comment on my opinion. Afraid too, chicken? Too unprofessional for you; Deal with it. Lawyers do not deserve our time, money or common courtesy. The time to stop playing games has fallen upon us, it is time to act decisively. Fight on Entrepreneurs; do not take anymore of this BS. This country was built on blood, sweat and tears, we have come to far to turn it over rhetoric of bunch of professional Lawyers. In my opinion they are scum of the Earth and you know I am right, why are you so afraid to say it? Might get sued? Think about it.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is an online writer in retirement.

Tips for Choosing a Real Estate Agent - Independent Versus the Broker Franchise

The general rule is that it's the agent, not the office that's most important. Go with the best agent you can find, independent or franchise. However, if you don't know any agents and can't get a recommendation, the national franchises usually maintain at least minimal quality con­trol, have procedures that protect both them and you, and usually have heavy errors-and-omission insurance in case one of their agents makes a bad mistake.

Today it's very hard for an independent office to survive. National franchises such as Coldwell Banker, Century 21, R/EMax and others offer heavy advertising, name-brand recognition, and legal support and associated services to agents. They often overwhelm small independent offices with their competition.

As a result, most agents today in most areas belong to a franchise of one sort or another. My own experience has been that only those independents that are either extremely strong, with excellent agents, or very weak, with poor agents, have not been gobbled up by one or the other of the franchises. That usually means that if you're dealing with an independent, you've probably got the best, or the worst, of the field.

It's important to understand, however, that although you may go with a national name in real estate, in most states you're still dealing with a local office. For example, a broker friend of mine had successfully operated an independent office near Los Angeles for over 20 years. He had seven agents working full-time for him, every one a winner.

However, he decided that he could make more money with less effort by associating with a national franchise. So one day, he simply converted. His office now bears both the national name and his own name. It's a fran­chise, he's still the broker in charge and the agents are the same. He operates under the umbrella of the national firm, which provides the support noted above, but you still deal with him or one of his associated agents. In a sense, you're getting the best of both worlds.

Except... the national franchise has strict rules regard­ing the amount of commission charged, how deals are handled, where escrows are placed, and so forth. My friend no longer has the flexibility he once had to tailor-make a deal to suit his clients and customers. Today, he follows the rules. This sometimes benefits those clients and customers, and other times it causes them grief and produces a poorer result.

Gary writes for My Hawaii Real Estate where you can find Oahu homes for sale in the all the major islands. Review real estate on Oahu along with our MLS search for Honolulu real estate listings.

eBay Franchise Drop Stores - Why They Failed

As a former official eBay Trading Assistant, Trading Post owner and master franchise representative for an eBay drop store franchise chain. I would like to weigh in on the subject of franchising and stand alone eBay drop stores or consignment locations.

My experience on both sides of the fence has revealed certain truths, and since I was at one time a proponent of the franchise model, I believe my views could be helpful to anyone considering the purchase of a new franchise eBay drop store. These views are my own opinion and do not reflect upon eBay any eBay franchise drop store chain in particular or upon eBay consignment as an addition to any other type of business. I am simply expressing my views regarding the stand alone drop store franchise model and why it has failed.

The Promise:

eBay drop stores came upon the scene with a great fanfare and promise. Initially it was considered a unique and interesting proposition by both business pundits (Entrepreneur Magazine) and investors alike. The promise of the initial drop store franchise operations seemed limitless and they expanded like weeds across the land. Soon it would be difficult to pick up a newspaper or read a business magazine without seeing some reference, either advertisement or article, about the eBay drop store franchise revolution. It was an exciting time...

These franchises promised individuals an easy way to be in business for themselves - a way to "have a store without investing in inventory" by offering a simple effective solution to everyone in America's battle with clutter. People heard the story and they believed; they read about eBay's fabulous growth and the amount of merchandise sold every moment on eBay and they felt it was a sure thing. If any franchise could work for them, this type would because it was easy and it was new and customers would clamor over themselves to get in the door. And really it was a "cheap" franchise to buy....

The Deal:

The deal was simple.

Anyone could own a store if they agreed to the franchise terms. Most of these terms included a simple up-front franchise fee of about $25,000, an added expense for signage and fixtures of anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000, plus a continuing monthly national advertising fee and a royalty fee on all sales of about 4% (of Gross Sales), some with a cap at $1,250.00 per month but most with no cap on the royalty fee.

Once "accepted" into the franchise, the new store owner would be "helped" in finding a suitable lease for a prime storefront (its all about location). These prime retail locations usually were recommended to have a footprint in excess of 2500 square feet. (The storefront itself did not require more than 300 square feet, but storage would be large consideration). Usually the overhead numbers involved with operating a 2500 square foot space in prime retail locations were not stressed to the new store owner, but it would be mentioned to cover the basic requirements of disclosure.

Every franchise must comply with the U.S. government rules regulating franchises and they do so with a document called the UFOC. The UFOC is a very verbose & complicated document which provides both parties in a franchise transaction certain definitions, disclaimers and disclosures. The document can reach 400 pages in length or more and is simply not easy for a layman to understand or evaluate. The U.S. government requires this UFOC document, but they do not provide a course in how to read it. I will say that it is intended to provide many worthwhile protections for prospective franchise buyers, but since most of those same people do not read the document, these protections are rarely understood.

The Process:

A new store owner is first given a training course, usually lasting approximately 7 days. This course is given by the franchise at a franchise designated location (travel expenses are not included in the up-front franchise fee). The course is designed to teach the standard methods and practices of the franchise methodology of drop store operations. The class will also include many details about eBay rules, eBay practices and eBay listing procedures. Very little time is usually devoted to the calculation of eBay fees. Intake, Description, Software Operation, Photography, Storage & Inventory, Shipping, Customer Service (both store front and online) and numerous other topics are covered in this 7 day course. It really is a lot to absorb, especially if the new store owner has never sold an item on eBay before.

The Program:

The newly trained store owner is then released to complete his store construction phase according to franchise regulations. Counter colors, sign placement, numbers of computers, placement of interior walls and paint colors all are defined in the materials given to the new store owner. He has bought into a "proven" system and he must follow the franchise specs.

Once the new drop shop franchise owner's store is complete, he is ready for business. Some franchises will use a portion of the "National Advertising" budget to send out flyers and possibly buy a newspaper ad or a radio spot for the grand opening of the new eBay drop store. Initially the store owner is pleased with the small amount of initial business which results from this advertising push because he and his staff (usually 4 or more employees to start) need to get up to speed on all of the procedures of both eBay and the franchise and they need to learn each step of the process. The store owner is responsible for training his employees or he can send them to the franchise corporate headquarters for a training class at his own expense. Usually it is a trial and error method with the new store owner teaching his staff as much as he can remember from his short training class.

The Grind:

Now that everyone is all "trained" and the initial "ad buy" is over, the store owner is now looking for ways to drive business into his new store. He has more overhead than he initially had envisioned so he must get to work. Staring at a monthly nut to crack of nearly $8,000 on average, most store owners realize fairly quickly that they need items to sell on eBay. Where to get them? Some store owners simply advertise the store and wait behind the counter for customers to stream in. In certain areas of the country and in the early days of drop store operations history, this "tactic" did work. It is less likely to work each and every day however.

The average customer of an eBay drop store, franchise or not, is someone who is not tech savvy, has no internet access, is elderly or is wealthy and has little time. Initially the pool of prospective customers was much larger than it is today because more people now have internet access, more people are familiar with eBay and eBay has made it much easier for people to list a single item on their own. eBay classes are taught by certified eBay education specialists at retirement centers nationwide and these classes are sometimes free. People would rather realize 100% of net profit from a sale than 60 or even 50%.

The drop store owner is now on a mission to bring in customers.

He/She must have products to sell. If it become apparent that advertising and location simply do not provide the traffic he needs, the store owner will try different tactics. Sometimes the franchise will offer assistance in the form of "outside sales" seminars, conference calls and the like. These sales ideas are offered as a way to show that the franchise is on the side of the store owner. (To be honest, most employees of franchise operations are honest hard working people who want nothing more than to help the store owners).

In the end these outside sales ideas boil down to selling cars, RV's and boats - all of which are now precluded by eBay and some States as being illegal or unacceptable without special licenses for each. The franchise failed to mention that a store owner may need a car dealer's license and a boat broker's license or an auctioneer's license to operate a eBay drop off store and sell these types of items. Business-to-Business is another source of income promoted by franchises, but rarely do other businesses wish to split profits in the manner required to make the deal attractive for the drop store owner. This leaves only household merchandise, collectibles and toys, generally creating a garage sale type of atmosphere.

Processing becomes the key - reduce processing time, become more efficient, write shorter descriptions, shoot less photos and speed up the process for each item. This only serves to reduce the final sale price of those items.Store owners soon realize that selling any item worth less than $100 is not worth the expense of processing that item. They react by turning customers away with low value items. This is not always the wisest course of action because that customer will never return and one never knows - they could have been just trying you with a small item before bringing in a diamond ring.

Those rare occasions that high value items are presented are exciting to the store owner and stressful at the same time. The store owner knows the customer will want what he/she has been taught that diamond ring is worth. Unfortunately used diamond rings or other high value items are not always worth what some may think they are. We all like to buy low and sell high but when we buy high we really hate to sell low. eBay has a way of bringing reality to the equation. The store owner must now attempt to coerce the customer into selling a high value item with a low starting price and no reserve. Why no reserve? Because the store owner soon learns that items placed on eBay with a reserve price rarely reach the minimum bid and the number of bids on items with undisclosed reserves are are less than on items with no reserve at all. On eBay the game is to start low and hope to sell high. The store owner must get his customer to buy in to that theory.

Some eBay drop stores do survive with perseverance, skill and entrepreneurial spirit...

These stores would have survived and possibly thrived without a franchise but going in, the store owner did not know that he would have to find ways to make it work on his own. He purchased a franchise and this usually implies the investment in a proven system which will yield dividends if the system is followed. In most cases, in the eBay drop store business, if the franchise model is followed and the store owner does no more than what the franchise recommends, the store will not be profitable. The overhead, eBay fees, insurance, lease payments, employee costs and advertising costs are a tough enough nut to crack on a net of 30% of the net profit from used merchandise. Adding in a franchise fee, national advertising fee and royalty fee just makes the entire business model collapse upon itself.

Franchises sell a name and a brand in most cases.

In this case the franchises were selling someone else's name - they sold the name and brand and the cache of eBay. They did it with eBay's blessing in most cases, but they did it in a way which was not exactly providing the value of a franchise.

When one purchases a franchise like McDonalds, they are reasonably assured that people driving down the road who see the franchise sign will be familiar with that brand. When one purchases any eBay drop store franchise, no matter the name, they are not assured of the same brand recognition. They perceive a brand recognition for the eBay name, but that has little to do with xyz franchise signage. The franchises usually tried to capitalize on the eBay brand with similar color schemes or even by using the eBay logo in the franchise brand logo. This still does not make the consumer recognition for that brand any stronger than it would if a store owner who did not purchase a franchise used the same logo trick (which is not allowed by eBay) in their own non-franchise store logo.

Buying a franchise is a big step, one which should include a great deal of your own research and numbers crunching. Even if the idea of owning a franchise seems comfortable, be aware that it is not a guarantee of success. Many people who have purchase eBay drop store franchises feel as thought they were deceived into a purchase of a business model which never worked.

On the surface this is the truth, but it was not always the case. In the early days of the drop store boom the concept did work and store owners realized gross sales months as high as $200,000 or more. These numbers were widely leaked by the franchises because they helped sell franchises...and because at the time they were the truth. Leaking these numbers was a big risk. As a franchisor it is unlawful to share these numbers, but it was done on a consistent basis.

Times have changed for the eBay consignment business, the market has shifted, customers are smarter and eBay is easier to figure out. Retail lease space costs have increased and insurance premiums have doubled or more. The cost of doing business as a stand alone eBay drop store is just too high. It is no longer a viable franchise model and only in very rare cases will it work for non-franchise store owners with no other retail income.

What Will Save The Day?

Think long and hard about investing in this business model. If you currently own a franchise drop store, you need to seek other opportunities, find new ways to bring in income, reduce your overhead or increase your revenue per item. There are many options available but most store owners are swamped with the grind of maintaining the process of eBay consignment to fully explore these options.

For the owners of franchise eBay drop stores - only they can save the day. But if the franchise will not budge on the fees or on restrictions regarding secondary - or actually primary - retail solutions such as cellular (another iffy proposition) or some other form of retail, there is little hope of digging out of the trap. The current situation was not foreseen by the store owners or the franchisors, although the franchisors saw it sooner than the store owners in most cases. The situation remains, in either case...

eBay consignment can work as a tool for another business. In my view, it is not a business model which can support itself without some other form of business income. As a part of another business, eBay consignment can be a very attractive addition to the overall picture. By using eBay and consignment sales to boost revenue and provide customer service for another business entity while increasing the worldwide exposure for that business through eBay stores listings and auction listings of consigned or inventory products, eBay consignment can be utilized as a very good tool for marketing. eBay consignment, if used as a draw to get new customers in the front door, advertise an existing business in a new and interesting way, and to transition a brick and mortar operation to Internet sales can be a very nice marketing program for almost any existing business.

As a hobby or part time income producer, selling for neighbors or friends, eBay consignment can be fun and rewarding. But as a full time stand alone business model with no other income streams, your efforts and money could be invested more wisely elsewhere.

Written by: Scott Pooler - All Rights Reserved - All Business Auctions

Scott Pooler

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