FreeFlow Announces Service Partnership With eBay for Enterprise-Level Online Marketplaces
SAN JOSE, Calif.--FreeFlow, a provider of hosted inventory asset management solutions, today announced a service partnership with eBay that unites both companies’ proven solutions to help enterprise customers maximize sales of excess, aging, returned and refurbished inventory. This global best-in-class offering of eBay’s private marketplace technology and FreeFlow’s pre-auction and post-auction business services presents customers with an unprecedented number of options for maximizing inventory asset recovery and provides end-to-end services to customers desiring a turnkey asset disposition solution.
“Customers want to reach the broadest possible market for their at-risk inventory while minimizing expenses in technology and management overhead,” said Alan Scroope, FreeFlow’s Founder and CEO. “The combined offering of eBay’s private marketplaces and FreeFlow’s extensive business services, until now unavailable anywhere else, will bring our customers an array of opportunities to disposition at-risk inventory.”
“eBay’s Private Marketplace group is committed to helping large, enterprise customers maximize their recovery rates on excess inventory with our various ‘off-eBay’ marketplace solutions. FreeFlow’s comprehensive pre- and post-auction services allow us to extend an even greater range of support to our customers,” said Howard Rosenberg, director of eBay’s Private Marketplaces group.
FreeFlow Auction Services
With unwanted inventory to sell – excess, obsolete, returned, or refurbished – FreeFlow provides companies with invaluable market intelligence to establish reserve and target pricing, identify the buying community appropriate to the products, configure and merchandise their private marketplace, and perform all financial settlement. FreeFlow’s pre-auction services include:
- remarketing strategy and market analysis,
- market intelligence,
- auction strategy and
- pricing advisory.
FreeFlow’s post-auction services consist of:
- financial clearing,
- collections and settlement,
- shipping and logistics support and
- performance reporting.
By linking with eBay’s private auction platform, FreeFlow’s customers will benefit from eBay’s robust feature set, which includes a broad range of auction format types, buyer classifications, customization, and data reporting capabilities. Most notably, FreeFlow’s customers will gain the ability to sell into eBay’s Reseller Marketplace, and thus access the tens of thousands of eBay PowerSellers registered to purchase there.
eBay’s Private Marketplaces Group
eBay’s Private Marketplaces team provides enterprise-level, private label marketplaces that benefit from eBay’s world-class technology infrastructure to ensure reliability and scalability. These marketplaces, which carry the customer’s brand look and feel and are located at their chosen web address, are typically used to create a private environment for liquidation of excess inventory to a closed group of buyers who are invited to participate by the marketplace operator. For more information visit, www.ebay.com/privatemarketplace.
eBay’s Reseller Marketplace is an eBay-owned and operated marketplace, separate from eBay.com, where eBay PowerSellers can bid on inventory for resale. Open only to eBay PowerSellers, this marketplace provides access to inventory in lots for purchase directly from manufacturers, liquidators, and wholesalers. eBay Private Marketplaces can be linked to the eBay Reseller Marketplace, increasing market exposure by including tens of thousands of additional potential buyers at the flip of a switch. For more information, visit www.ebay.com/resellermarketplace.
Key Trends in Channel Management
“There is enormous opportunity for channel managers and distributors to increase their revenues with online private marketplaces. As companies move in this direction for the disposition of inventory, demand will increase for a broad range of service alternatives, ranging from internal site development and management, to fully hosted platforms and outsourced business processes. These will be key trends to watch in the future,” stated Tiffani Bova, Research Director at Gartner.
About FreeFlow
Founded in 2001, FreeFlow provides manufacturers with award-winning business services and technology that squarely address asset recovery in a subscription-based, turnkey solution, which enable customers to yield higher margins, increased inventory throughput, and improved cash flow -- quickly and with minimal overhead. Some of FreeFlow’s customers include Apple, Creative Labs and SanDisk. Privately-held, FreeFlow has headquarters in San Jose, California and Tralee, Ireland with offices throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.FreeFlow.com.