I am writing this on February 20, 2008, the day EBay is overhauling the site in a way that will lower entry fees, while at the same time making the site a hostile environment for smaller and beginning sellers. While entry fees are now lower removing some of the risk for listing items for fear they will not sell, EBay is also raising post sale fees and also taking away sellers rights to leave bad feedback for buyers who behave badly.
Many online sales and auction sites are taking this opportunity to increase their membership by courting the EBay refugees. If you are quitting EBay and looking for a new place to hawk your wares, here are some sites to consider.
Amazon.com: This is not an auction site, but it does allow sellers to put items up for sale for millions of customers as those items show up in searches right along with items from Amazon. Costs to sell on Amazon.com is a monthly subscription fee ($39.00) and an after sale referral fee. Like EBay, only customers can provide feedback. If you sell in large volumes, and/ or books, selling on Amazon may be worth a look.
Overstock.com: Overstock.com has a semi-hidden action site that they plan to bring back to the forefront of their site. In fact, Overstock has run a listing fee sale for the week of the planned EBay Boycott. In the past when I have used Overstock Auctions, I have found that listing items was quite simple and very much like EBay’s process. The site traffic however slowed after a while. That should change if former EBayers continue to flock to the site. Selling listing fees are quite low in comparison to EBay’s. There are also closing fees.
Ioffer.com: This is not an auction site, but more of a virtual swap meet.Although I am not a regular EBayer, I went ahead and tried out Ioffer.com again. (I had last used my account in 2003 as EBay had better traffic). Ioffer has no listing fees and allow users of negotiate prices and to swap items. Sellers also get a free store that they can customize and you can transfer your rating from EBay. I had trouble doing this however as I had transferred my rating several years ago when it was much lower.
Etsy.com: Etsy.com users sell one of a kind art and craft type items. It is an online sales site for home crafters where sellers list their items for 20 cents each for an entire 4 months. This is not an auction site, so buyers purchase items outright. Online stores are free and an after-sale fee of 3.5% is charged. I have used Etsy in the past, but nothing has sold. Other people have hung in there and had great success. If more Ebayers move to Etsy, it could make a difference.
eCrater.com: This is a free online marketplace where sellers receive a free sub domain for their free online stores. All products are posted on Google products so this is a real rival for EBay’s traffic. Sellers have the option of using Paypal or Google checkout, and there are many business tools that some along with this service. Ecrater charges neither listing fees nor commission. If you want to gain top listing positions, there will be a fee. While eCrater is not a popular name, it is certainly worth a look.
OnlineAuction.com: This is a membership based site (the first one million Founding Members will pay only $196.00 the first year and then $96.00 per year thereafter) where users are allowed to list an unlimited amount of auctions each month. This is a growing site with a bit of promise. I suggest checking the site if you are looking to make purchases as bidding competition is still low right now.
Bidville: This is another online auction site taking advantage of EBay’s loss of popularity. While it is a subsidiary of UBid, a site that offers closeout bulk auctions, this site is relatively new, but EBay was new once too. Bidville does not charge listing fees, but it does charge final listing fees on a sliding scale starting with 5% of the first $25.00. There are additional charges for bold and highlighted listings and other features.
