Everything But The House Laying Off 200 & Downsizing Number Of Cities

Cincinnati-based 'Everything But the House' laying off 200 employees
http://www.fox19.com/story/37925208...ything-but-the-house-laying-off-200-employees

According to some antique dealers I was talking to at an estate auction on Saturday this has been expected for a while. Organizationally EBTH is apparently a dumpster fire and over the past few years it has been getting away from the core reasons why it was successful in the beginning and has been chasing rapid expansion of its markets rather than financial sustainability. According to these dealers they have heard that EBTH is going to slim down to 8 cities, down from the current 19.

Personally I'm not surprised since the quality of their estate sales has been very hit and miss over the past few years and instead of real antiques and accumulations they seem to be selling more newer items that don't look like they belong and were just thrown in to increase sales. An example of this is a sale that had quality antiques and collectables for the first 20 or so items but by the end was lot after lot of apple laptops and other electronics. In their first few years they had many estates from notable people in the community with interesting as found treasures and unique items. It was kind of like eBay's earlier years where it was more organic and less commercialized.

Your Thoughts?

 

Some insightful comments on reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cincinnati/comments/8b9nzh/everything_but_the_house/

 

Does not surprise me that they have finally seen the error of their ways.

This thread started out in 2015 with mostly good impressions. Then in 2016 the complaints started pouring in.

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/is-everything-but-the-house-ebth-com-legitimate.4870/

 

Weren't they just mentioned in some type of new dealings with ebay? I tried looking around, but I could not find anything recent, but I know I heard or read something in the last week or so.

 

I found the thread I was thinking about. It was talking about the new show with Lara Spencer.

 

Their business model of shipping most items to their central distribution hub here in Ohio is totally insane. It makes shipping costs go through the roof and on low value items that makes them practically worthless.

 

If the show ever gets off the ground now. I wouldn't want my name linked with that bunch of Yahoos, but her mileage may vary.

 

I've been buying from EBTH for over a year. They have a lot of unique items. I have to confine my purchases to those I can pick up locally due to their outrageous shipping rates. I was told this week that they were closing all but 8 locations. They will no longer have a warehouse in Indianapolis, and there will be no local employees to assist with questions. Their local staff was incredible. If you are unable to pick up your items at the estate during the pick-up window, you will no longer have the option of paying for local delivery (usually $75 but still a great deal compared to their shipping rates); nor will you have the option of paying a fee to have the items sent to the local warehouse for a small fee. They will ship the item from Indpls to their Ohio warehouse then ship it from Ohio back to Indianapolis, and charge ten times what any other shipper would charge. Shipping often takes a VERY long time. Most of their recent sales have had very limited pick-up windows, like 1-4pm on a weekday. Sellers will no longer have the option of having all of the items transferred to the local warehouse instead of having all of the buyers come to their home. Everything I loved about EBTH is being eliminated. I don't know that I feel comfortable buying with no local representatives to assist with questions or problems; can't take off work to accommodate the limited pick up window and can't justify paying the shipping costs. Sounds like they are moving in the wrong direction to me. I'll miss them.

 

I never bought anything from them, didn't know about them until a few months ago. Found a local estate sale of theirs (a mile from me) with some genuine antiques that I thought would be worth looking at, but then I found that the only pieces that were available for local pickup were the very large items (bureau and bigger). That made me lose interest fast. There are enough estate sales in my area (and all areas) so that buying from an estate sale that advertises and ships across the US (and charges for the privilege) just didn't make sense to me. Why not allow two days of local pickup for everything before shipping to Ohio? I don't get it.

I understand why it would be attractive to Sellers to get more eyes on the goods they need to sell, because they are the ones who are screwed by the lack of options that arise when they need to disperse their estate. But as a buyer, it just didn't make sense. Seems like a few simple changes to their business model would have made it work a whole lot better.

 

They didn't operate much in my area; they don't sound very bright, so it's just as well.

 

More bad news for EBTH.

I heard they had another round of mass layoffs in Cincinnati a few months ago. The quality of the items in their sales seems to be continuously slipping too.

Investor accuses Everything but the House of 'misrepresenting' its financial condition
Lawsuit: Online auction house lost $3M a month as it grew
https://www.wcpo.com/money/local-bu...se-of-misrepresenting-its-financial-condition

 

Everything but the House heads for liquidation process
https://www.wcpo.com/money/local-bu...g-but-the-house-heads-for-liquidation-process

Looks like they are done unless they find a white knight buyer to assume their liabilities. The people that I know that worked there have said the place was a dumpster fire with incompetent upper management making one size fits all policies that sunk the business and whom didn't know the first thing about collectables.

An online estate sale marketplace is a great idea that is greatly underserved currently in the marketplace right now with boomers downsizing. Somebody will make it work and make some serious cash.

 

One of their big mistakes was funding PBS programs for the advertising. It cost them a small fortune and I understand that they robbed Peter to pay PBS. Cash flow has become unsustainable regarding day to day operations.

 

They were run by idiots, and the idiots ran themselves into the ground.

 

New life for EBTH? Potential buyer found for online auction house
https://www.wcpo.com/money/local-bu...otential-buyer-found-for-online-auction-house

 

Thanks, Joe --

I just found a later article that says that EBTH is being acquired by its original owners and co-founders, Brian Graves and Jacquie Denny -- along with a "syndicate of investors." This article is from one week later than the one you posted, and may be the buyers to whom they were referring.
https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/08/31/embattled-ebth-finds-a-buyer.html

 

I see these posts are all a bit older. Has anyone else tried selling/purchasing since the original owners have taken over again? I do enjoy the HGTV show and have considered purchasing an item or two, but haven't taken the plunge as their shipping is a little high.