Our recently released Seller Wanted Listings made it easy to buy boxes wholesale on BoxCycle. They also made it possible to sell through BoxCycle without creating a listing and holding inventory, something that was frequently requested by users.

Today, we are expanding access to Seller Wanted Listings to buyers who aren’t also selling boxes. Our focus is on buyers who are looking for larger quantities and/or have a regular need for boxes, but all types of buyers are supported.

Buyers who create (or already have) a regular Wanted Listing / Notification Request, with specific box information, will see an invitation on their listing page to convert to a Seller Wanted Listing. A seller account is still required to have a Seller Wanted Listing, but the conversion process automatically copies buyer details from the Notification Request to make this step easier. After the conversion, the buyer can optionally update buy prices or setup their pickup rules.

Since custom buy prices and buyer-only listings accommodate transactions that weren’t originally possible, buyer commission is now calculated from either quantity or value instead of just quantity: see the latest buyer fee details.

We are excited about enabling and expanding this new way to reuse cardboard boxes.

Last week we released a feature we’ve been working on for a long time: Seller Wanted Listings.

Custom Prices

We’ve now removed one of the limitations of the first release – lack of ability to set custom buy prices. With today’s update, buyers can specify prices they are willing to pay for boxes they are requesting. Automatic pricing is still available; simply leave the price blank and we’ll set the buy price to 10% of the suggested retail price.

Notification of Matching Retail Listings

If you have a Seller Wanted Listing, it’s now easy to be notified when new boxes matching your wanted listing are created on the retail side of BoxCycle: just check the Notify Me checkbox on your Seller Wanted Listing. Retail listings are regular listing created by sellers through the Sell Boxes section of BoxCycle.

This is perfect if there are situation when you’d want to buy boxes you are requesting at retail prices. This feature doesn’t create any commitments. You’ll get an email when a new seller lists something that matches what you are requesting. You can then either purchase the newly listed boxes or ignore the notification.

BoxCycle got a significant new piece of functionality today: Seller Wanted Listings. Existing sellers can now request specific boxes they want to buy and anyone can sell matching boxes to them. Seller Wanted Listing Transactions use essentially the same checkout system, order management system, and processing rules as normal Retail Orders with buyer and seller roles reversed.

You can find details on the BoxCycle Buying and Selling Used Boxes with Wanted Listings Help Page.

Selling

Most people who contact us about selling boxes just want to drop them off somewhere or, if possible, get them picked up. They are generally more concerned with convenience than with profit. Seller Wanted Listings fill their need. Sellers can see matching buyers in their area, schedule an appointment, and submit their request online. No account is required.

Buying

Seller Wanted Listings enable Wholesale Purchases through BoxCycle. While prices on BoxCycle are generally very competitive for retail purchases, they are usually too high to enable buying for resale through the site. Seller Wanted Listings enable resale buying. They also allow sellers to get boxes they need for themselves very cheaply. It isn’t unusual for businesses to constantly want to get rid of certain box sizes while always needing other sizes.

Limitations

These may be removed in future revisions based on feedback, but for this first release:

• Buyers cannot set a minimum order. However, small orders aren’t likely since sellers pay a fee to place an order.
• Prices are set at approximately 10% of list price and cannot be adjusted.
• Retail Delivery and Wanted Pickup cannot be separated. If you offer Delivery for your Retail Listing, you will also be offering Pickup for your Wanted Listing under the same terms.
• Unflattened boxes must be accepted, though buyers can pay up to 50% less for them.
• Expiration Date, Auto-Confirm, and Lead-Time settings are shared between Retail and Wanted listings.

Process and Fees

Sellers pay a $10 commission on successful sales with their payment details collected during order placement. Although it’s unusual to give payment details when selling, this is essential for us to be able to get a high level of commitment from sellers and enforce fees for unreliable behavior, much like we do with Retail Orders. This fee also has the effect of encouraging larger transactions.

Ordering process and management is very similar to Retail Orders with buyer and seller roles reversed. Buyers will hopefully only see a minimally higher time involvement for these orders. The main differences are that buyers pay sellers directly at meeting in cash and both parties have more freedom to resolve issues at meeting without our involvement.

Buyers do not not pay fees for Wanted Orders of 200 boxes or less unless they charge for Pickup. In that case we’ll collect Pickup charges from the seller at order time (to make sure the buyer gets paid for pickup if the seller flakes) and charge a 5% commission on the collected amount.

If the order is over 200 boxes, BoxCycle charges the buyer a $5 commission for each block of 100 boxes after the first 200 with a $30 maximum. This fee is collected during order confirmation.

Conclusion

Although there is some overlap, Seller Wanted Listings and our Retail Seller Listings are focused on different kinds of transactions. Seller Wanted Listings are optimized around connecting buyers who continuously need boxes for resale or use with, often one-time, retail sellers. In contrast, our Retail Seller Listings are optimized around connecting sellers with a continuous supply of boxes with, often one-time, retail buyers.

We look forward to your feedback to help us improve this feature over the coming months.

Notification Edit Screen

Today’s release makes it easy for buyers to modify their wanted listing if their box needs or contact information changes.  Buyers can also delete their listing if they do not want to receive further notifications.

For security, buyers need a special edit link to modify their listing.  The link is emailed upon creation of the wanted listing and is also included in emails notifying buyers of new boxes in their area.

BoxCycle launched with the focus of helping businesses and individuals with more or less regular supply of used boxes to connect with people who need boxes on occasion.  A typical example would be a retail store with boxes and a person looking for moving boxes.

There is a related, but very different scenario that is quite common.  To our knowledge it is also completely unserved: businesses with regular demand for specific boxes trying to find sellers with occasional supply.  A typical example would be a fulfillment center that regularly needs specific shipping boxes and a box manufacturer with overruns.

It is difficult for sellers like the box manufacturer above to list their boxes and be found by buyers.  Their inventory changes frequently and boxes often head to the recycling bin in days if not hours.  What is needed is a way for sellers to find buyers who have immediate demand.

A major new section recently added to BoxCycle allows for exactly this functionality: Boxes Wanted. 

Potential buyers can now indicate exactly what boxes they need including quantity, frequency, dimensions, color, wall thickness, printing, etc.   The listings are visible to anyone and buyers are notified each time a matching seller lists boxes.  Sellers can also respond to wanted listings without actually listing their boxes.

Boxes Wanted section is built on notification functionality we offered since launch and much of the current data comes from notification requests we received until now.

Buyers can still specify just their name and email address (or phone number) and be notified each time a new seller lists boxes near them.  We’ve added the ability for them to enter more specifics about the boxes they need and to restrict notifications to only those listings that match these specifics.

Furthermore, notification requests are now automatically visible in Boxes Wanted.  This allows occasional sellers to find regular buyers.  It also makes buyer requests more influential since visible requests signal demand which may encourage new sellers to list boxes in the area.

I am quite excited about the Wanted section.  It brings potential for efficiency and waste reduction to a complementary, but entirely new, audience.  At the same time I hope that it will increase the number of notifications submitted and make demand more visible to potential sellers which in turn could help BoxCycle get through the initial ‘chicken or the egg’ problem of a completely new marketplace.