EBay To Launch Trade-In Plan For VARs

EBay is set to unleash the new offering at TechXNY 2004 this week in New York. Other new products expected to be unveiled at TechXNY, meanwhile, include multifunction color printers from Xerox and storage offerings from Intradyn and Iomega.

VARs said the eBay trade-in program, which will be run with Dealtree, represents one of the biggest new opportunities at the show.

David Stern, senior category manager of systems at eBay, said the trade-in program provides VARs with a complete outsourced infrastructure for trading in old laptops and desktop systems. “This makes it easy for resellers to take back products from their clients and monetize them,” he said. “All it takes is putting a link on the VAR’s Web site to the Dealtree back end. What’s great is the trade-in site has the VAR’s own branding.”

Dealtree President Paul Fletcher called the new program a "massive opportunity" for VARs. "The numbers are endless," he said. "It depends on how well the VAR takes advantage of the trade in program." Fletcher estimated that VARs could get as much as two to four times the price for the used equipment by selling them through the EBay program versus alternative channels. One solution provider that has already struck a deal with Dealtree was able to beat out the competition on a $2.4 million deal by offering the trade in incentive via the Dealtree program, said Fletcher. The Dealtree offering includes a dynamic trade in calculator that allows VARs to quickly provide their clients with trade in compensation numbers.

Eric Crawford, a partner at Essex Technologies Group, said the Nashville, Tenn.-based eBay trading partner is making $1.5 million a month selling used IT equipment on eBay with as many as 6,000 auctions a day. “Instead of VARs liquidating their customers’ assets for 20 to 40 cents on the dollar, we can get them 50 to 60 cents on the dollar. We take it straight from the VAR to the end user and handle everything in between.”

Also at TechXNY, Xerox will launch its color multifunction printer offensive. The WorkCentre Pro C2128, C2636 and C3545 start at $12,995, and Xerox is touting the C3545 as the fastest color printer in its class, with speeds of 35 ppm in color.

Xerox also plans to roll out WorkCentre Pro 123 and 128 monochrome multifunction systems, with speeds of 23 ppm and 28 ppm, respectively, and prices starting at $10,289. New WorkCentre black-and-white copier/ printers start at $5,719.

Finally, Xerox is unveiling SMART eSolutions, a suite of software aimed at simplifying the administration of Xerox devices on a network including SuppliesAssistant, which automatically orders additional supplies such as toner cartridges.

On the storage front, Intradyn is unveiling a new appliance, which will be priced at under $20,000 and available only through channel partners, based on its Compliance Vault software that integrates up to 800 Gbytes of disk-based storage with a Sony AIT-2 or AIT-3 tape library. Because the Sony AIT tapes can be recorded using WORM technology, the appliance is suitable for small businesses concerned about compliance issues, said Graeme Thickins, vice president of marketing at the Eagan, Minn.-based company.

San Diego-based Iomega, meanwhile, is using TechXNY to unveil a number of new external storage products for small-business and home-office clients. TechXNY is expected to draw 20,000 attendees, including 4,000 solution providers.

JOSEPH F. KOVAR and EDWARD F. MOLTZEN contributed to this story.