Today Ztail is introducing an innovative new service that may be exactly what online stores need to bolster sales during the recession. The service revolves around eBay, acting as a pseduo-insurance policy that guarantees that customers will be able to resell the items they are purchasing right now for a substantial amount a year down the line. Even better, the service is totally free for the customer. It’s a bit confusing at first, but it also has a chance to really take off.
Here’s how it works (see the video below if you’re still confused):
- Visitors go to the Ztail store, where they can browse a variety of items including electronics, sports, and baby gear. They’re presented with the item’s normal price from a number of partner retailers, as well as its ‘Ztail price’
- When you purchase an item through Ztail, the site will guarantee that a year down the line it will retain its value and you’ll be able to resell it on eBay for a certain amount. For example, Ztail will guarantee that a $900 stroller sold through Giggle will sell for at least $359.60 on eBay.
- After purchasing the item, Ztail will Email you a link that you click whenever you’re ready to sell it (you can also access it through your Ztail account).
- Using an eBay auction wizard that was part of Ztail’s previous products, Ztail will post your item on eBay, auto-configuring all of the auction settings to maximize your return (you basically just need to enter your account information and ship the item once the auction ends)
- If the auction ends with a final selling price below the Ztail guarantee, Ztail will refund the difference. If it ends higher than the guaranteed selling price, you get to keep the extra money.
It’s a great idea because it makes it that much easier for customers to justify their new purchases, which in turn makes the system appealing to online retailers. Customers don’t have to pay anything extra for it either, as Ztail earns its money through affiliate programs with each partner store.
The system is ideally suited for goods that you know you won’t need forever, like baby carriages or the latest smartphone. Right now Ztail has a maximum time limit of one year for its eBay guarantee, which seems a bit on the low side (even the consistently-upgraded iPhone only comes out once a year). Ztail will likely offer longer time limits in the future after it affirms the viability of service.
But the current user experience needs work. For now Ztail is operating its own online storefront, with links to products on external retailers that are eligible for the guarantee. This means that you have to pick the item out through Ztail, which then directs you to the retailer’s site where you complete the purchase. Then you receive an Email a few days later confirming that everything worked and that the Ztail guarantee is enabled. In short, it’s pretty clunky.
In the future, Ztail hopes that retailers will integrate the service directly into their sites (eligible products will display a ‘Ztail badge’). Ztail says that retailers are excited about the service, but that they want to make sure it works before building it into their sites.
There are other systems in place that allow customers to swap their old items for cash, like Gazelle and Venjuvo. These services don’t require users to conduct their own auctions on eBay – instead, users ship their goods to the service, get their money, and let Gazelle or Venjuvo worry about selling it in a marketplace. But these services only can pay the user part of the item’s true market value (something around 60%) because they have to pay for handling and the auctions themselves. Ztail doesn’t deal with any of the items physically, so users can get paid the item’s true market value, which can work out to quite a bit more depending on the item.
Last year Ztail launched as a Kelley Blue Book For Everything, allowing users to appraise each other’s possesions and giving them an easy way to sell them online through eBay. Ztail has sidelined this functionality for now, with plans to re-introduce it in the next few weeks.
cool….
Uhh… The Nazis tried this already. It’s called social security and medicare and it failed miserably. So now we have pensions for purchases?
Guaranteed price in a year? Clearly someone got an F in Capital Theory. Prices are hard enough to predict in a relatively stable environment, and even harder in the type of hard core communism and hyperinflation that we are headed towards. How are they going to guarantee a market for these products?
Lets hope they go public so I can short their stock.
“nonsense” is aptly named.
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I don’t know it sounds like an electronic version of the brick and mortar shops that sell your stuff on ebay where they take 30+% of the sale. Offering a guarantee resale value akin to insurance sounds pretty good though.
This sounds a bit too good to be true … and the fact that they only have 400K in funding does not inspire confidence.
What guarantee is there that this Ztail price will be honored 1 year later and Ztail will not be out of business by then?
Idea is good but I think will be more applicable to HIGH valued items .. electronics… computers… etc.
Sounds like a great idea to me. I need to realize that I am the type of person who upgrades pretty frequently. I am also too lazy to get around to selling everything I probably could on eBay. I’m definitely going to try Ztail for my next purchase.
Sounds like a pretty neat service to me. I’d never make use of it by going to their site though. If it becomes integrated with retailers however that might prompt me to try it.
interesting concept
Brilliant! When are you going to do this for handbags?
You sound interesting. Can we exchange messages?
Dirty old man!!
He would have been a dirty old man if he asked to exchange massages, not messages.
Very cool. I’m going to try this out on my next purchase.
Agree with @David Turnbull, and would love to see it integrated into my amazon account.
If it doesn’t get rid of Paypal it’s garbage.
Yep. Sounds like a very good idea to me. Great.
I am an old guy that has paused at the door of eBay but now with Ztail, I will open the door.
Awesome. This is such a simple and underserved area.
But…. bring back the monkey!
I agree. I liked the monkey.
I’m the portfolio manager of mutual fund that invests in internet companies, and have followed the space closely for almost a decade. This strikes me as an exciting new innovation. I believe the ability to sell at a guaranteed price in the future will make people much more likely to spend their hard-earned dollars today. This will definitely influence me to buy that iPod Touch I’ve been eyeing for a while.
shoot me an email. You may be interested in hearing what i have to say.
rx7_twn_trbo@yahoo.com (excuse the email, as i dont want to display my other email in the public domain.
Regards,
Mac
You are a portfolio manager of a mutual fund and a few extra bucks guaranteed on a potential resale down the road is going to convince you to purchase a $300 device? Like you can’t figure out the resale value of something as ubiquitous as an ipod via ebay now?
What can I say, John. I’m cheap! Everything you say is true, but aren’t most of us too lazy to do it. That’s what makes this idea interesting … it removes the friction and makes re-selling an item easy.
I don’t think it makes re-selling the item all that easy. You still have to deal with the eBay process and ship out the item. Does Ztail cover the eBay fees and shipping fees? Even if they do, there’s a time investment on your end. It would be amazing if they gave you a pre-paid box that you could you to return the product at the end of the year and get directly refunded, but then they probably wouldn’t be making any money.
What in the world are you talking about? This adds an entire extra layer of complexity and hassle for buying and selling an item. Ztail is just a middle man trying to come up with a creative way to take a cut out of a standard transaction.
Let me guess – you’re involved with ztail but not mentioning it?
Why so cynical, John?
What monkey?
Seems a great idea. I really liked it lot.
Well Their system isn’t perfect.
http://www.ztai...?pu=MacBook+Pro
I didn’t know I could buy a 3 year warranty for my laptop and then resell it a year later?
Where’s the kool-aid? Too many posers in this message board. Isn’t this really a just one-year lease?
And where’s the value? The ‘guarantees’ are pretty conservative, about 40%-50% of the original value. No real reduction in the eBay ‘hassle’ factor – to sell an item you need to remember your Ztail account, you need to have the original packaging and manuals, and you need to manage the post-sale process including shipping and corresponding with the buyer. (all from their T&C’s). About the only value-add they provide is a description of the product and image. Nothing a quick web search can’t provide.
This idea is going nowhere.
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Umm… Am I the only one who realizes that you are neither purchasing the item at a discount nor do you really “own” the item if you sell it in a year.
Basically you need to think of Ztail almost as a one-year rental service if you plan to sell it again via Ztail. Thinking of it that way will help you make a more informed decision about your purchase.
In the case of the Callaway Sand Wedge above, is it really a good idea to pay $60.47 to only own the item for a year?
Not really Scott, as I understand it, buying thru ZTail gives you the option to sell, not the obligation – so its just insurance on your purchase should you wish to get rid of it.
Lots of items like strollers, iphones and yes – handbags fit into this category well.
BUT – how can they guarantee the sale?? Imagine a competitor comes out with something that blows the itouch away, for half the price. Or suddenly the stroller you bought is designated as being harmful to children – who is re insuring ZTail? Isn’t this just bring hooky crisis economics away from the derivatives world and into the real world??
exactly. way too many holes in the process. On the way to the deadpool.
Would have been better years ago when people were still using eBay…
Thanks to ebay’s CEO, John Donahoe, and his current and damaging “Disruptive Innovation” policies, Ztail will have no power to stop the sellers from having their items stolen from them by their buyers, while Paypal (owned by ebay) gives those buyers refunds from the sellers’ accounts. Ztail will not suffer, when the sellers’ Feedback & DSRs are destroyed by bad buyers and they are banned from selling, either. It is the sellers’ accounts (not Ztail’s) which are frozen by Paypal for up to 180 days at Paypal’s “sole discretion” via Paypal’s User Agreement and it is the sellers’ interest on those withheld funds, that Paypal retains. Search the internet for “SPOTLIGHT: WATCHING OUT FOR YOUR SAFETY AND POCKETBOOK” to see what sellers on ebay are really dealing with. Those thinking they can resell their items on ebay need to know that “Sellers on eBay cannot state ‘no returns accepted’ if they are allowing PayPal to be a payment option for the listing”. Be advised that Oldenburg’s comments, blaming the credit card companies for sellers having their items stolen from them is VERY inaccurate. Per Paypal’s User Agreement, “PayPal retains full discretion to make a final decision”.
As long as ebay, with it’s corrupt policies and it’s incredibly despicable CEO (John Donahoe), is involved in the deal, I say NO THANK YOU! I’d rather deal with the sites which offer fairer and safer trading experiences. Thank you Amazon, Bonanzle, ebid, etsy, and so forth!
very good ideea
This service is pointless.
For one resale value is trivial to ascertain via Ebay on ubiquitous items.
For two their guarantees are all on the low side, so it’s mostly a marketing smokescreen. On the odd event that you need to sell your item in a year, and you can’t meet their guaranteed minimum, you’re going through quite the hassle to save a few bucks.
For three this has all the potential makings of a quick flop, particularly with such low funding. Thus you’d be banking on a guarantee that may not exist in a year.
Wow, check out their deals on iMacs. This totally kicks Amazon’s butt.
http://www.ztai...0/desc?key=imac
Seems very cool to me. If I’m on the fence about whether to buy the item, it’s nice to have the free option of selling it at a fixed price in the future. Much better than Craigslist or pawn shop that only gives me 50% of what it’s truly worth at that time.
Agree with the general sentiment that zTail needs more funding to assure the guarantee has value in future. Maybe backing by a stable player like AIG?
i’m looking forward to using this service
Wow, that’s pretty innovative, and a really cool concept. Agree with the write-up that a few tweaks are needed, but it’s a great start.
It sounds like a great differentiator for ecommerce sites. Some of the concerns raised above are relevant, but no one expects this service to appeal to everyone. The bottom line is that offering this service will help SOME online customers make the decision to click the “buy now” button, and that translates into increased conversion.