Sold!
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ookmark onlinegoodwill.com as your favorite Internet shopping site! Our Goodwill has been posting items for sale on the Internet, first with eBay and Amazon and then with shopgoodwill.com, since 2001. We’ve now launched the easiest way yet to search and find items through our e-commerce department with onlinegoodwill.com. Onlinegoodwill.com takes shoppers directly to our Goodwill’s online listings.
There’s something innately satisfying about buying an item online that is a rare find, a great price or is just plain fun to have. Onlinegoodwill.com allows you to search the thousands of donated items listed by our Goodwill including jewelry, art, clothing, books and electronics.
Tammy Glass, vice president of finance for our Goodwill, has overseen the e-commerce department as it has evolved from what seemed like a good idea to a group with 29 employees. “It has been really satisfying to see the department grow. When we finally got a handle on recognizing many of the more valuable items that were donated to us, and started selling those items online, we knew our donors were pleased that we saw the value and merit in their donations,” says Glass.
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Onlinegoodwill.com lists more than 1,500 items at any time. It’s expected that our e-commerce department will account for more than $1 million in sales in 2009. “The listings and sales have increased steadily as our staff has developed better ways to screen donations for items of value. A recent example is a Marc Chagall print that sold at auction for $4,010. This print was discovered through a new procedure recently developed to enable us to screen all art objects,” says Steve
June 6, 2001 First online sale - eBay 2001 Total Revenue - $23,233 June 2004 Joined shopgoodwill.com 2007 Jewelry first listed through e-commerce
Baker, the director of loss prevention who oversees e-commerce.
September 2008 Books first listed through e-commerce
The latest update in donation screening came in mid-July when a new conveyor belt was installed in the hard goods area of the Story building in Nashville. Mike Eisenbraun, senior director of production, designed the system so the e-commerce team is able to review almost all donations that pass through the warehouse. Baker says, “This will not only result in higher quality selections for our auctions but expedites the sorting process in the warehouse.”
January 2009 Most expensive item sold-to-date Ellsworth Woodward watercolor $7,500 Summer 2009 onlinegoodwill.com launched 2009 Projected total revenue - $1.3 million Average annual revenue increase 50%
One of the first big finds on the conveyor was a rare bronze tiger which was part of a three-piece desk set issued by Tiffany Studios between 1902 and 1932. It sold recently on onlinegoodwill.com for $568. The next time you have the urge to find that one-of-a-kind bauble, first edition book or collectible, log on to onlinegoodwill.com. And be sure to search often since new listings are posted throughout each weekday. Pictured above, counter-clockwise: Tiffany & Co.©-Elsa Peretti® Eternal Circle pendant and chain in sterling silver-$276; German bisque doll-$302.99; Marc Chagall hand-signed lithograph-$4,010; 1903 First Edition, Call of the Wild by Jack London-$582.03; Handy Dandy Pride Victory V3 mobility scooter-$300.
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Ambassador | Fall 2009
Ambassador | Fall 2009
Our Goodwill’s foray into Internet sales started with three employees and 63 rare bobble head dolls that collectively sold for $9,000 on eBay in 2001. Total online revenue that year amounted to $23,233. Today, onlinegoodwill.com lists more than 1,500 items at any time and it’s expected that our e-commerce department will account for more than $1 million in sales in 2009.
The largest growth in e-commerce, which was once housed in a small, non-descript office, has taken place in the past two years. E-commerce is now located in an 11,000 square foot warehouse with fourteen listers and additional support staff, including photographers, researchers and certified jewelers.
E-commerce Timeline