Talk Market: Ron Popeils in Training

Some say there are signs of trouble over at eBay -- that people are tiring of the whole auction thang. Certainly, their many moves to push the buy it now buying solution seem to indicate that eBay is hedging its bets.

But I wonder if the problem is the format of eBay. Pixely jpegs may not cut it in a world of Hulu and Vuze. I find myself auctioning less (I was never a seller, always a buyer) perhaps because of these issues but also because I was burned by a seller. It has taken years to get my issue resolved through Paypal. I know that the distributed nature makes things tough to enforce, but I still feel a little leery.

But that is not the subject of this post. Rather, I want to talk about Talk Market, the UGC infomercial market currently in beta. This site is very intriguing. Here's an example of how a UGC standup presenter enriches a sale:

I love this little vid because the host really tells us about the origin of her collection and its inspiration. This may not be a great venue to sell used iPods, but that's never what I went ot eBay for anyway. I went for unique items, and for these having a little story to go with the photography is really quite pleasant and seductive.

Financially, the way this works is that you upload a video and Talk Market hosts and seves your content for free. If the item sells, you pay a 5% commission -- a HELUVA lot less than a consignment shop.

I'll admit that part of the appeal of this model for me is seeing the sell. I love a good pitch. I love to watch a sales person take you from consideration to sell to upsell. I think this model is also great because it holds the potential for sellers to become microcelebs -- trusted voices that have items that reflect who they are.

So surf on over and check it out. It's a really interesting format, and a great selling environment.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.