An eclectic collector who had no idea what her antique mahjong set was worth was all smiles after it zoomed from her $10 reserve price on eBay to a sizzling $197 US.

But she didn't handle the online auction herself. Instead, she contracted with Simply Sold, a newly opened storefront service in Toronto's east end, to manage the exacting chores demanded for a successful online auction.

In return for a 30-per-cent commission, the mahjong owner not only saved herself hours spent detailing and photographing her set, listing it on eBay, monitoring the auction online, and then boxing and mailing it. She also tapped into marketing expertise that showcased her treasure enticingly enough to score an impressive ROI on her paltry initial outlay.

Simply Sold founder Nicole Verhoef and executive adviser Abhimanyu Chirimar say their chief value to sellers is identifying the right time and the right price to sell any given item - an arguably wise investment, given that a whopping 45 to 50 per cent of items offered on eBay fail to sell.

Ken Kerr, Business Edge
Simply Sold founder Nicole Verhoef and executive adviser Abhimanyu Chirimar pose with some of the auction items they've placed online for customers.

Both are still in their early 20s; Verhoef comes from an entrepreneurial family and has a background in sociology and criminology, while Chirimar is still a student at the University of Western Ontario.

Even with very little publicity or marketing to date, Chirimar says Simply Sold is already fielding queries from all over Canada about liquidating a dizzying array of possessions.

"We've had calls about everything from selling 12 acres of land in Nova Scotia, which we had to turn down for now, to someone with a simple sports trading card that right now is up to over $900 US in the bidding," Chirimar says.

Simply Sold handles only items worth $50 and minimum bids of $9.99. It can't guarantee wannabe profiteers that they'll wind up rich. But it does offer an easy and convenient method of taking a shot at the big bucks.

Customers bring items to the store and then discuss which level of service they wish to pay for. Basic service is free and includes a seven-day listing with no reserve, a "gallery" photo plus six zoom-in photos.

The premium service fee is $20 upfront and allows sellers to set a reserve, or minimum, selling price and to have an unlimited number of photos taken and displayed online. In either case, sellers pay nothing if their items don't sell.

Simply Sold's staff writes an appealing description of the item, researching its provenance where appropriate, and takes detailed digital photographs. The result is then posted on eBay or on one of the other online auction services. If a valuable antique is what's being sold, for instance, Verhoef says they may use Go Antiques.

After that, Simply Sold monitors the bidding, e-mailing a link to sellers who want to watch the action. Finally, a cheque is cut for whatever price the item fetched minus commission, which is charged on a sliding scale: 30 per cent on the first $300, 25 per cent on the portion of sales between $300 and $1,000 and 20 per cent on amounts above that.

More than 200 people have patronized Simply Sold since last November, when the company became one of a fast-growing number of cyber consignment, or drop-off, stores that are cashing in on the phenomenal success of eBay.

Now in its 10th year as the largest online auctioneer on the planet, eBay currently has more than 34 million items for sale and hundreds of thousands of wheeler-dealers in 25 countries around the world. All that adds up to something that never existed until now for small-scale sellers: A global market for local merchandise, Verhoef points out.

Simply Sold's partners say their operation has at least 250 counterparts in the United States and about 40 in Western Europe. In Toronto, their only competition so far is a company called Imagine This Sold, which opened in December.

Some of these entrepreneurs are merely piggybacking on eBay's folks-buying-each-other's-stuff formula. But others are actually morphing it into some lucrative new permutations.

Simply Sold's Chirimar sees a future where individuals selling Great-Granny's tea service will be just the gravy in their business plan. The meat will be its dealings with other companies.

Although he declined to name names at this early stage, Chirimar says negotiations are under way with small retailers who need to clear over-stock to make room for new inventory. And by Q3, he expects to announce at least one alliance with a major retailer whereby customers wishing to return store items after the standard 30-day period will automatically be referred to Simply Sold.

While working on those kinds of partnerships, Verhoef says that Simply Sold will execute its aggressive business plan, which calls for opening flagship stores in other major Canadian cities, likely beginning with those in Alberta and British Columbia and possibly Montreal "as soon as possible."

After that, franchises - which Chirimar says are already being eagerly sought - will be offered for fees that are yet to be determined.

Although he declined to cite Simply Sold's startup costs, he says he expects the initial investment to be recouped by year's end.

Is the cyber consignment niche likely to heat up in the foreseeable future? The easy answer is yes, especially given that the demand for selling on eBay is being driven by tall-but-true tales such as the $28,000 US paid for a grilled cheese sandwich purportedly bearing an image of the Virgin Mary.

Almost as outlandish was the $455 US snagged last month by a North Carolina man who auctioned three tablespoons of water out of a cup from which he claims Elvis Presley once drank.

(Terry Poulton can be reached at poulton@businessedge.ca)