i-Cellar.com is now the only place left in Pittsburgh to sell on consignment through eBay! There weren’t many to begin with, and the trend had dropped dramatically over the last 5 years, but that’s the exact reason I opened i-Cellar. I’m a computer engineer, web developer, professional “smalls” photographer, and antiquer who has extensive personal sales and marketing in eBay and elsewhere. I saw a chance to merge all my skills and experience for one reason – to run a successful business by making you money!
A lack of competition doesn’t mean it’s time to relax. I believe competition is a great motivator, edge sharpener, self reflector and niche designer, and is of great benefit to the customer. I always assume there’s room for improvement, and am relentless at discovering and utilizing those improvements — regardless of competition.
i-Cellar was designed in a way that that most consignment shops simply couldn’t compete with — low commissions, professional photography, web search engine optimization, eBay sales and marketing & trend research, publication design, etc. I didn’t open my business to squash competition. It made sense to people who would have nice items to sell and don’t want to pay outrageous commissions, and there was a complete lack of all these (what I consider essential) skills under one roof.
My professional careers and personal hobbies have overlapped to allow a unique and highly applicable skillset. As one example, you likely found i-Cellar by typing something like “sell eBay pittsburgh” or “Pittsburgh ebay consignment” or something similar in a search engine, and my site was one of the first to show up. I apply that same searching placement knowledge with your items being sold, and that translates to more people finding and bidding on your items — which means more money.
So while there may not be any outside competition at this moment of time, I’m still going to do the same thing I’ve been doing – make you the most money possible in any way I can. If you win, I win — It’s it’s own competition.