General Info:
HotWheels Transactions was co-founded by Jeff Means and Jeff Harvey in December, 2003. Jeff and Erik had both recently finished their landscaping seasons, and and were pondering what the future had in store. They were buying and selling on eBay just for fun when a mutual friend stopped by one day and asked them to sell some musical equipment for him. He offered them a percentage of the sales, and after several successful eBay listings and a few dollars in their pockets the idea was born.HotWheels Transactions was started with a $400 investment and a $10 ad in The Seven Days local weekly newspaper. That first spring and summer every weekend was spent at garage sales searching for items to sell on eBay. Sales and advertising steadily increased, and by the fall of 2004 they had enough people coming through the door to keep them busy around the clock. The Company has now sold millions of dollars worth of merchandise on eBay and Craigslist, and runs one of the largest drop-off stores in the country. In 2008 alone, the Company sent over $250,000 worth of checks to Vermont sellers.The first HotWheels Transactions employee, James Simmons, was hired in February, 2005 to write auctions and perform client intakes, and a second employee was added in April, 2005 to pack and ship boxes. Over the years the Company has fine tuned their consignment system, streamlined store operations, and developed a custom software program.HotWheels Transactions was created because we were tired as buyers and sellers of not having a way to control our transactions. Other payment services and methods would take someones hard earned money and give it directly to the stranger without any way of checking if the transaction is legit. That's why there's over $183 million reported internet fraud to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). In 2005 according to a Wilkening Group report, they found that only 1% of people actually report the fraud. 1%! How much is that other 99%? We estimate in the billions and it's our job to make sure that number goes down. At HotWheels Transactions, we feel it's smarter to verify the buyer and their money on behalf of the seller and provide the buyer a way to approve the item before the seller receives the payment. So next time you win an auction on eBay or find a great deal on Craigslist, use HotWheels Transactions to pay and you can control the transaction.