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Owner sells used copiers internationally
Repair technician Rajan Saini refurbishes a machine at the Town Business Center warehouse.
Steve Libenson, takes a call in the warehouse of his Town Business Center in Exeter.
S. John Wilkin photos/The Times Leader
EXETER – Steve Libenson knows copiers. And thanks to him, many people in emerging nations are using them.
The Shavertown man started Town Business Center shortly after his family-owned Union Paper and Supply Co. shut its doors in Wilkes-Barre in 1993. He sensed there was a market for used copiers and wound up being way ahead of the curve.
In the days before the World Wide Web, many of his sales were domestic and made to small businesses that couldn’t afford new copiers.
“They wanted $20,000 machines but had a $4,000 budget,” said Libenson, who noted sales were often made on the phone or via fax when he began.
But the Internet literally opened up a whole new world. It took his enterprise global and now the majority of his business is done in Vietnam, China, India and Singapore. Customers find him through business-to-business directories and simple Web searches. He handles thousands of copiers a year.
“I now do more business in a month than I did in a year back then,” said Libenson, 53. “It’s been a quantum leap.”
The copiers are purchased and brought to his Penn Avenue warehouse, where they await shipment overseas for a new life of copying.
The inside of the non-descript building looks like a copy machine factory, with row after row of the behemoths. This week there were about 800 in stock awaiting export. Purchased new, some machines would cost buyers about $12,000. But Libenson sells them for $800.
“Cost-wise, the difference is huge,” said the 1974 graduate of Wyoming Valley West High School.
Though many of the machines are in working condition, some need work. He has a staff of seven, including technicians, who will handle repairs. They go out the door in working condition unless the buyer specifies otherwise.
The copiers he sells are both black-and-white and color, but he only ships color printers to certain countries because of counterfeiting concerns.
Business has picked up in recent years as more countries are entering the world of technological demands.
“The potential still looks pretty good,” said Libenson. “I think there’s always going to be a demand for used equipment.”
He said technology has changed, the times have changed and the world has changed. But one thing hasn’t.
“There are still people looking to save money. That’s the same factor then as it is now,” he said.
Libenson’s isn’t the only company doing this, but his is the only in the region. Firms in Philadelphia, Syracuse and New Jersey are also getting a piece of the niche market.
He said he often gets calls from people trying to sell him their used machines, but he is more apt to purchase a tractor-trailer load of used copiers being discarded by a school, or large company or government agency.