Liquidity Services Inc Acquires eBay PowerSeller Dyscern

[eBayNews]

Liquidity Services, which operates B2B online-auction liquidation marketplaces in the U.S. and UK, including Liquidation.com and GovLiquidation.com, acquired Dyscern LLC in July. Dyscern sells direct to consumers via eBay, Amazon.com, Overstock, Buy.com, uBid, RedTag and on its own website. It also operates TradeUps.com as part of a joint partnership with Market Velocity where consumers can trade in their used electronics.

Rob Caskey, Vice President of Marketing for Liquidity Services Inc. (LSI), said the acquisition maximizes recovery for clients. It allows LSI to be more aggressive in going after inventory that had not been previously available to them, including from clients who may have channel conflict issues, and offers clients a more robust solution.

Dyscern founder Jennifer Canty along with her husband Bill Frischling and a number of other principals remain at the company, which, according to its website, had peak revenues of $9.3 million. Mr. Caskey said Dyscern has not changed its focus or channels, but simply has greater access to inventory.

Liquidity Services' internal channel optimization group makes the determination of where to sell assets - via Liquidation.com or Dyscern, for example - based on a number of factors such as condition and brand. They may go 100 percent B2B liquidation, or they may place a percentage of inventory in the B2C channel using Dyscern.

When asked if LSI planned to launch its own B2C marketplace, Mr. Caskey said the company always looks at a range of options, but has no plans to do that. "We're quite happy with the Dyscern acquisition," he said.

As for the possibility of acquiring other eBay and online PowerSellers, Caskey said LSI makes acquisitions fairly frequently, but said there are no immediate plans to add additional B2C capability. He also said that Dyscern's trade-up capability, which lets consumers trade in and recycle electronics, was an attractive asset and complementary to the business.

Of the Dyscern acquisition, Mr. Caskey said the opportunity aligned nicely with what LSI is trying to do, and does not signal any shift in focus. "We're active in the secondary market - that's what we do - we've been in it for 10 years."

He said he was not terribly surprised that the secondary market is getting so much attention lately. "LSI has long recognized the tremendous opportunity in the reverse supply chain and, given the current economic conditions, understand why retailers, marketplaces and others are looking here as well in an effort to maximize return/recovery for their assets."

See related article, "eBay and Others Eye Opportunity in Secondary Market."