

The NetFlix of Junk - t0pj
http://futureboy.blogs.fsb.cnn.com/2008/07/30/the-netflix-of-junk/

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sysop073
I'm confused how this is like Netflix at all, except for them paying for the
shipping. You're giving them something instead of them giving it to you, and
you're selling it, not renting it.

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thorax
Yeah, that part seemed really odd to me, too. Aside from post office
interaction, it doesn't feel like it's much like Netflix at all.

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mynameishere
So...obviously they are reselling them somewhere else that has a similar
assurance of re-payment. The question is, who is that? I'm guessing that their
buyer gives them a shopping list of items they need and only then do they
offer to purchase them through "gazelle".

There are a lot of super, super shady "electronics dealers" who sell crap
using high pressure techniques, and who keep costs low by _not_ having
inventory. I'm guessing that these people are gazelle's buyers.

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tniles
Hi - Thos from Gazelle here. Just wanted to chime in with a response to a
couple of these. @sysop073 and @thorax - the Netflix connection is right now
is more about how easy we want to make it for folks. We try to take free
shipping one step further by sending pre-paid packaging to our customers to
send their stuff back to us. Looking at it longer term, by providing a model
where people can sell end of use items to us with no hassle at a fair price,
owning a cell phone could start to be more like renting a movie. @mynameishere
- You are right - there are a lot of super shady dealers out there. However
we're not selling to them. We've invested a lot in the technology and process
behind the scenes to develop optimized channels to move the items through.
We're trying to encourage reuse as much as possible - the majority of what we
buy isn't junk at all, and in fact has at least one round in the consumer
cycle left in it. We sell some of it directly to consumers ourselves (
<http://stores.ebay.com/SecondRotation> for example) and have carefully
selected wholesale and recycling partners that will take whatever we have.
We're absolutely committed to behaving in an unimpeachably ethical manner.

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Tichy
Resources are worth that much? Would recycling an iPhone even yield enough
money to pay for shipping it around the world?

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sspencer
Man, I might use this service. Seems like an excellent, hassle-free way to
unload junk.

Excellent submission.

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redorb
Very good execution on the idea of "brokerage of everything" - if you can find
a way to determine relative selling prices, then offer a margin below that -
then resell its money in the bank.

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fallentimes
You're going to really like our startup. Let me know if you want to be on the
beta list.

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redorb
put me on the list please, my email is in profile

