Reseller auction site to expand

An internet auction company aimed exclusively at resellers is looking to expand its services to feature ordering. Launched last month, Northamptonshire-based Xbidit is confident that small to medium sized resellers will benefit from its service.

An internet auction company aimed exclusively at resellers is looking to expand its services to feature ordering. Launched last month, Northamptonshire-based Xbidit is confident that small to medium sized resellers will benefit from its service.

The company, which claims to have "unrivalled access to IT hardware and peripherals at low prices", is concentrating solely on auctions and will hold one a week. The first has yet to be announced.

Founder Alistair Handyside admitted that Xbidit has not ruled out the possibility of developing a web ordering service. "Initially we are an online auction, but we will never say never to the possibility of expanding in the future," he said.

Rival online service JustXS, launched in September, also plans to hold reseller online auctions, and is not concerned by potential competition from Xbidit.

Howard Cuthbert, marketing director at JustXS, said: "We don't see them yet as competition. We also have an auction facility, but we haven't had to use it because the ordering service is doing so well. Xbidit will have to ensure it is solely resellers using the service rather than end users."

Handyside, a former commercial vice president of Ingram Micro, is confident of success. He said that resellers must register before entering the auction and that all registrations are examined scrupulously before being approved, to prevent end users and the public benefiting from the cut prices.

"The small reseller can buy in single units and won't have to make bulk purchases, which has previously excluded small players," he explained, adding that bids can relate to as little as one item, or the full-sized lot of 250.

Another benefit of Xbidit's auctions, Handyside claimed, is that they take only two hours to complete and resellers know immediately whether their bid has been successful.