The OC For Sale

An iSold It store opened up about a month ago not far from where I live. Interested in what denizens of the real OC are auctioning off? Here are the store's listings. Unsurprising: lots of golf clubs, a ship in a bottle, BMW headlights, a rhinestone studded evening bag in the shape of Old Glory, The U.S.S. Ronald Reagan on a mug. Must be visiting from L.A.: Rocky Horror Picture Show dolls, Born to Ski trolls.

The concept and ramifications of this kind of business model fascinate me. For starters, it must dramatically increase eBay's inventory. The flipside: it must hurt donation-dependent charitable organizations that might otherwise receive people's cast-off loot. (Not to mention the emotional toll this must take on garage sale junkies.) It also has to be a huge boon to bargain hunters. I have the feeling the sellers using these services are almost always looking to lighten the load with a minimum of effort, and that any return is pure gravy, more than they thought they would realize. Thus, they're probably more willing than most eBay sellers to start the bidding low and not set a reserve.