Irish company aims to free eBay's flow

Takes control of sales and admin

By Ciara O'Brien, ElectricNews.net • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 20th December 2006 11:38 GMT

Irish firm Freeflow has teamed up with eBay in a deal that will see it offer pre and post-auction business services to the e-commerce site.

Under the agreement, Freeflow will provide sales and administrative services to eBay, while gaining the advantage of the company's private marketplace. Freeflow helps clients liquidate stock, and sells on their surplus product. Clients include Apple, 3Com, Creative Labs and SanDisk.

"Customers want to reach the broadest possible market for their at-risk inventory while minimising expenses in technology and management overheads," said chief executive and Freeflow founder Alan Scroope.

It is hoped the deal with eBay will facilitate this service for Freeflow. eBay's Private Marketplaces offers enterprise-level, private label markets, which can be customised to fit the customer's brand, and a private environment for liquidation of excess inventory to a certain group of buyers. At present, eBay does not get involved in after sales and logistics, but the deal with Freeflow would solve this issue.

Speaking to ENN, Scroope said Freeflow could potentially double its growth in the next year as a result of the deal. "It's a win-win all round," he said, adding that the new agreement would open up a "whole world that eBay couldn't play in".

"eBay's Private Marketplace group is committed to helping large, enterprise customers maximise their recovery rates on excess inventory with our various 'off-eBay' marketplace solutions," said Howard Rosenberg, director of eBay's Private Marketplaces group, in a statement.

"FreeFlow's comprehensive pre and post-auction services allow us to extend an even greater range of support to our customers."

FreeFlow currently has its headquarters in San Jose, California, with offices in Tralee, Co Kerry and Hong Kong.

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