Overstock begins selling its returns and liquidations on Overstock Auctions

[Kristijntje]

Greetings Overstock.com Auctions Community,

Hope that the summer is treating all of you well. It has been a while since I last posted anything of substance on the boards and I have much to report, so here goes:

1) Overstock.com Oasis: I am sure that many of you have seen links and emails advertising this event. We are hosting a mini-conference of sorts next week in Las Vegas. Our goal is to exhibit new site features and tools, collect valuable advice, and most importantly, meet all of you! I will be available during most of the event, so please come and say hello.

2) Overstock.com Returns Business: Overstock.com has started to sell merchandise on Auctions under the seller name OverstockReturns. Overstock.com Returns is a business unit in Overstock.com dedicated to liquidating returned merchandise through Overstock.com Auctions. This merchandise is usually in near perfect condition and sells at a steep discount to the actual market price. An example of an item that we might sell whould be a designer watch with a small scratch on the face. Our listings range across a vast array of categories and the quality of the merchandise is clearly highlighted in the listing as a "quality score." OverstockReturns is a Trusted Merchant and accepts payments through O-AuctionCheckout. We believe that this is a wonderful opportunity for Overstock.com customers to experience Auctions for the first time. We anticipate that this offering will drive incremental traffic into the website which in turn, should help boost sales for all of our other sellers.

3) Fake Merchandise: I see many posts about this on the boards. I want all of you to know that we have been busy working with a handful of attorneys who represent many of the top brands. We are working with these groups to identify fake items. Moreover, our Content Review team is actively pulling down fake items and removing nefarious sellers. This is an extremely difficult process (I am sure that you have read about eBay's struggles), but I think that we are improving every day.

Reminders:

1) Sellathon Services: Wayne (Sellathon's CEO) and his team have created a wonder set of FREE tools for the Overstock.com Auctions community. These tools give sellers great insight into their listings.

2) RSS: We recently launced seller specific RSS feeds. You can see these feeds marketed on your Homepages and can learn about how to use the technology in the FAQs. Now your clients can subscribe to your feeds and find out when you list new auctions. Be sure to advertise this technology to your customer base and it will increase your exposure. We will continue to make updates to these feeds in the coming months.

Please let me know if you have any questions! And again, flag me down at the Oasis and introduce yourself. I would love to meet you.

Kind regards,

J.T. Stephens
Assistant Vice President - Auctions
Overstock.com

full article: http://forums.auctions.overstock.com/vie...hp?t=13608

[sneakymagenta]

Overstock.com has started to sell merchandise on Auctions under the seller name OverstockReturns. Overstock.com Returns is a business unit in Overstock.com dedicated to liquidating returned merchandise through Overstock.com Auctions.

 

We believe that this is a wonderful opportunity for Overstock.com customers to experience Auctions for the first time. We anticipate that this offering will drive incremental traffic into the website which in turn, should help boost sales for all of our other sellers.

[bargainbloodhound]

should help boost sales for all of our other sellers

Unless you're a seller who is selling the same items as Overstock in which case you're screwed.  The only sellers who can compete with Overstock on price and shipping rates are the Enterprise Merchants (i.e. manufacturers) and a few of the huge national chain sellers like CompUSA or The Sharper Image.  I can't compete with O on price or shipping and larger sellers like the PeSAsh!tes can't compete with O either.

[rossellini]

I can't compete with O on price or shipping and larger sellers like the PeSAsh!tes can't compete with O either.

They're not offering the same low shipping rates on auctions.  They're charging $7.00 shipping per item and don't offer combined shipping.

http://auctions.overstock.com/cgi-bin/au...AGE=SEARCH&TYPE=4&BYSELL=overstockreturns

[bargainbloodhound]

That's good news. Especially the "don't offer combined shipping."  I can definitely compete with those shipping rates.