AuctionDrop store closes in Menlo Park AuctionDrop store closes in Menlo Park (August 11, 2004)

After just 11 months in Menlo Park, the AuctionDrop store -- a place where people drop off goods to be sold on eBay -- closed its doors on August 8.

The store, located in an 800-square-foot site at 1283 El Camino Real, was closed due to a new company partnership with UPS, AuctionDrop spokeswoman Andrea Roesch said. AuctionDrop customers can now take their goods to any UPS store, of which there are already two in Menlo Park, one at 405 El Camino.

"It would be a little redundant," Ms. Roesch said of the possibility of keeping the store open.

Customers won't be able to get all the same AuctionDrop services at UPS stores, such as having staff check eBay to see what items similar to theirs have been selling for. But AuctionDrop has expanded its online and telephone customer service departments, so such assistance will be more readily available on the phone or Internet, Ms. Roesch said.

AuctionDrop stores still remain open in San Carlos (where the company is headquartered), San Jose, San Rafael and Los Altos.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.