Untitled Document
Below is a featured article that appeared in the business
section of the Register Guard newspaper, about Mr. Boland's Web-Site and
eBay success.
From Online To On Road
By Tim Christie
The Register-Guard
Published: Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Michael Boland knows RV's.
He's worked on them as a mechanic, he's worked in an RV factory doing maintenance,
and he's sold and appraised them for a dealer.
Now he's his own boss, brokering motor home sales through his own Web sites
and on eBay, offering his services as an RV appraiser and as an expert witness.
He estimates he's sold $5 million worth of RV's since setting up his virtual
shop as a self-styled RV broker in 2000.
Not that it's been an easy road.
Boland moved to Eugene in 1998 from California, where he worked as an RV mechanic,
tile contractor, and ran a pool business, among other enterprises. He was tired
of the California traffic, he said, but he also wanted to be closer to a hub
of the RV industry, in Lane County.
He did some work as an RV mechanic, worked at the Monaco plant in Coburg, and
he sold motor homes for a dealer. He wasn't happy.
"
I was disappointed in the way customers were treated at the dealership," he
said. "I decided if I went online, I thought it would be a much better
deal for them."
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In 2000, he launched RVshoppinguide.com, setting it up as an online classified
service. He thought he could charge $30 or $40 per ad, and wait for the money
to roll in. But it didn't work out that way.
"
What we thought the public would buy wasn't even a close bet," Boland
said. "We thought the big sellers would be classifieds. That was a disappointment."
But he kept plugging. He started getting calls from potential customers, asking
if he could do RV appraisals. So he launched Aspenappraisals .com.
In 2003, he started looking at eBay, and figured out that it held great potential
not only as a way to sell RVs, but also to market them. Today, he does 60 percent
to 70 percent of his business on eBay. "After our first eBay sale, we
knew things would start launching," he said.
In a typical transaction, a seller will see one of Boland's ads on eBay and
call to find out how to get an RV listed. Once Boland explains how he works,
if the seller is interested, Boland flies or drives to where the RV is, and
inspects, appraises and photographs it. Then he comes home and puts it up on
eBay and his own Web sites.
He charges $250 to $549 up front. After the RV sells, he collects a commission
of $2,500 for RVs under $100,000, $3,500 for RVs that go for between $100,000
and $200,000, and $5,000 or more for higher-end coaches.
"
Most of our clients are executives," he said. "They're glad to pay
us to sell these things."
While he sells some RVs on eBay auctions, he uses the site mostly as an advertising
venue, he said. Buyers and sellers see his ads and contact him about doing
a deal.
One recent chilly morning, Boland went out to Bethel to meet a new customer,
Allen Colburn, a 70-year-old retired contractor who wanted Boland to sell his
1997 Fleetwood American Eagle.
Wearing a black Roush Racing team jacket, black slacks, and black driving loafers,
Boland got busy taking pictures of the coach from all angles, inspecting the
storage bays, checking out the engine. He explained to Colburn how the transaction
will work.
"
He appears very professional," Colburn said.
Jody Maddox, a Paterson, Wash., farmer, said he was very satisfied after buying
a high-end Prevost Country Coach RV through Boland two years ago. Boland, he
said, was "very knowledgeable and very honest about what he does."
"
He knows his motor homes and he's pretty good to deal with," he said. "I
couldn't be happier with the way the whole deal turned out."
Boland, too, said he couldn't be happier with the way his business has turned
out.
"
I get up in the morning and I can't wait to see what orders have come in," he
said. "It's just a ball."
Click here to sell your coach!
Below are links to some of our web sites:
Your coach will be posted here: http://rvshoppingguide.com/id118.htm Note
our current four-eBay pre-sale coaches (last four coaches on web page.)
Each coach also appears on this page: http://rvshoppingguide.com/id24.htm
And on this web site: http://rvup.com
The RV Shopping Guide also owns : http://aspenappraisals.com. All
web sites point to the main web site http://rvshoppingguide.com which
in turn attracts thousands of perspective buyers.
You may have noticed our private party eBay auctions receive up-to five-times
the visitors than other similar motor home eBay auctions receive.
We’ve spent three years perfecting our eBay auction process. Much of
our success is due to our web site exposure with each coach. We’ve had
over 20 million visitors to all of our web sites. Thousands of interested buyers
have our web sites in their favorites within their browsers and
check our listings weekly. In addition we are constantly adding new inventory
to our web sites, in short, buyers are attracted to web sites that are not
only informative but also active and constantly up-dated.
One more reason for our success: Michael Boland is a no BS style auctioneer.
Clients and prospective buyers respect and appreciate his acute knowledge of
the RV industry, each product brand name, product awareness
from
an ex RV mechanics view point. In-addition his brutal honesty and candor, as
expressed in a testimonial e-mail,
click here.
You will find all the information, policies, and prices here: http://rvup.com/ta
In short, Michael is a web site developer, web master, search engine optimization
manager, marketing expert and one of the best recreational vehicle auctioneers
in the world.
For a consultation as to what your RV will sell for on our web sites or eBay,
you can phone Michael Boland at: 888-706-5508. 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM P.S.T.
View this member's Reviews & Guides.
View this member's My World page.
To create your own About Me page, click here.
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