This Story Posted:
May 24th, 1999

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We had link problems with this story on Monday. We apologize to anyone who had difficulty reaching the story.

[1:42 PM]
Successful Online Mac Business Places Itself Up For Auction
In a surprise announcement, the good people at MacCPU have announced that their business is for sale. They have done it in a very unusual way by placing themselves up for bid at online auction powerhouse eBay.com. Better yet, the bidding started at US$1, though there is a reserve price on the auction. A reserve price means that the auction is not final unless a secret minimum price is met. According to MacCPU:

MacCPU is a successful two-year-old web-based business that has built a well-respected name for itself in the growing business of selling upgrade cards for Macintosh computers. Bob and Barbara Moriarty formed the company in early 1997 and have done nearly $5 million in sales in two years, earning a tidy profit of more than $750,000.

The business went up for sale Sunday night on the eBay auction site, with an opening bid of $1.

"I suppose it's the entrepreneurial spirit," said Barbara Moriarty, president and co-owner with her husband Bob of MacCPU. "We had a lot of fun and good success building a valuable business. Now, we're ready to turn it over to a new owner and to move on to something else."

"The Macintosh market is stronger now than it was when we started," Moriarty said. "The Internet is a great marketplace for this type of product. What we found is that good service really stands out on the Web. Anyone can sell cheap, so we carved out a reputation for customer service and as the highest quality vendor of Macintosh CPU upgrades."

"Even when Apple went through tough times in 1997 we saw a bright future and we invested heavily in advertising. Today, Apple's healthy and profitable and there are thousands of satisfied MacCPU customers who are always ready for the next upgrade."

The company is selling its website and domain name, a database of more than 5,000 customers, and a wealth of goodwill behind the MacCPU name. The auction on eBay is open to the public, but identity of the bidders is withheld. The auction address is: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=108116420.

As of this writing (10:15 PM, CDT on Monday, May 24th) there have been 39 bids brining the total to US$88,600.

The Mac Observer Spin: This is a brilliant move by the owners of MacCPU. They simultaneously get exposure for their web site, while assuring they get the maximum dollar for their business (the reserve price we mentioned above assures they get the bare minimum that they will accept or there will be no sale).

The real importance here is that the national main stream media outlets are likely to get a hold of this story. Profitable Mac businesses in the news are a good thing. :-)

MacCPU



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