Ex-EBay Execs Help Lazy Resell Used CDs, Books

By Eliot Van Buskirk

glyde

Ebay still rules as the online garage sale site, but auction upstart Glyde thinks it knows a better way to resell used books, CDs, DVDs and videogames. The company claims “anyone can sell in ten seconds” on Glyde, which makes it simple to list an item, suggests a price based on how used the media is and even supplies pre-addressed envelopes.

Glyde CEO and former head of eBay Motors Simon Rothman claims the average United States household owns over $3,000 in used media, 98 percent of which “depreciates to zero, [is] thrown away or ends up in landfill.” Glyde’s strategy implies that much of this is due to eBay requiring sellers to work too hard (one reason some hire specialists to sell their stuff there).

“We built a service that makes buying and selling a used DVD as simple as trading a share of Disney stock,” said Rothman in a statement. “It’s the NASDAQ for physical goods.”

As of the site’s Monday launch, these physical goods are limited to used media because it’s so easy to supply standard listings for those and to ascertain price. Glyde CTO and Excite co-founder Mark Wong-Van Haren managed development of the back-end of the service that “absorb[s] the complexity so users don’t have to.” In addition to helping sellers create listings quickly, Glyde lets them donate a percentage of their revenue to the charity of their choice. As for buyers, while they can’t bid on auctions on Glyde, they don’t have to pay until the product arrives — of particular concern with physical media, which can be scratched.

Glyde’s method for creating a listing is smoother and faster than eBay’s and its pre-addressed envelopes, for which the seller can pay postage on the website, make the process even easier. The site charges the seller 10 percent of the price of the item, and only allows sellers to set prices within a certain range, rather than choosing any price they want or allowing buyers to bid on items.

Glyde’s job won’t be easy because sellers generally want to be where the buyers are. And the buyers are on Amazon and eBay, neither of which impose pricing limitations and both of which also supply ready-to-use photos and descriptions for DVDs and other media. In addition, Amazon Marketplace lets sellers reach buyers who are also shopping for the new version of stuff, while eBay offers a “what’s it worth” function courtesy of TeraPeak.

Glyde is clearly betting that smaller and nimbler will win the day, but if its simpler, media-tailored system lures customers away from eBay and Amazon, they could probably streamline their used media sales and start offering envelopes.