After the rise, peak and decline of the eBay drop-off store comes the introduction of eBay "pick-up" stores. R. David Johnson is founder of Vuurve, a service that lets eBay sellers offer same-day availability of certain items in major metropolitan areas in the US. Johnson said Vuurve gives online retailers the ability to effectively compete against traditional retailer beyond discount pricing, and he said the service would drive more consumers towards online shopping.

eBay sellers select a metropolitan area in which they choose to offer same-day availability. They pay Vuurve $24.99 and send at least one item to one of the participating UPS Stores in the metro area. The seller can now offer one item on eBay with same-day availability in that one metro area. Buyers choose which store in the area they want to go to, show the UPS Store their license and the credit card they used to pay for the item, and go home with the item.

Vuurve is currently limiting acceptable items to hard-to-find gaming systems (the consoles, not the games) and iPods that are new in box. That allows the shopper to go to any of the stores in her metro area, not necessarily the one with the seller's item - she may actually pick an item up that was sent there by a different seller.

Vuurve has forged a relationship with UPS & The UPS Store to build a national network of Pick-Up Stores, and calls the model a shared distribution system. Johnson said the UPS Stores charge Vuurve storage fees and a fee per transaction, and said he believes the service is scalable.

Johnson said he has not yet approached eBay because he wants a proof-of-concept first. There are no listings offering the service on eBay yet, he said that will happen when the service officially launches on July 1.

Vuurve has launched in major Metropolitan areas including Massachusetts, New York, the Washington DC Metro Area and Greater Atlanta. During the next several months Vuurve said it would continue to expand its network of Pick Up Stores farther west to Illinois, Texas and California markets.

http://www.vuurve.com