Sunday, February 3, 2008

eBay Alternative: Finding Auction Sites like eBay

There has been quite a shake up in the eBay selling community. Now that eBay is implementing changes, unhappy sellers are trying to find an eBay alternative.

Unfortunately for its competitors, eBay has a very large stake in the online marketplace. However, there are some auction sites like eBay where you can sell your goods.

The two main alternatives to eBay I use are Amazon.com, and Craigslist.

  • Amazon.com is a great place if you are selling books, music, DVDs, video games, or other electronics. It is very easy to use compared to eBay. All you have to do is find the item you want to sell, write a couple sentence description about its condition, and set your price. One of the best things about Amazon is that it is very straight forward, and you have to spend almost no time answering emails from buyers. This is my number 1 alternative to ebay!
  • If you want to sell a small number of items on a personal level without having to deal with eBay fees, or PayPal holding your money, then I recommend Craigslist. It is very easy to use, you get paid in cash, and you don't have to ship anything. I like to use craigslist for all of my larger items.
There are several auction sites like eBay that are increasing in popularity as eBay sellers flee:
  • Bidville is the second largest online auction site after eBay, and is a true eBay alternative. They do not charge you a listing fee, so you can list as many items as you like. They do charge a Final Value Fee, but it is low at 5% for items that sell for less than $25. If you love the auction format, but hate eBay, Bidville may be right for you.
  • eCrater is the third largest online store front. They are very easy to deal with, everything is completely free, and they help you set up an online storefront in minutes that will connect to froogle.com
  • Blujay is the fourth largest, but fastest growing online marketplace. The items posted their also show up on froogle, and it is free. Sellers on Blujay can post unlimited ads, 4 photos per ad, with up to 180 day listing periods all for free. And like eCrater, every blujay member gets an online webstore to showcase their items.
Just remember, when looking for an eBay alternative, make sure to do your research and find somewhere you can really be happy with. The best thing about eBay is the free traffic. With most of these other sites you are going to have to work harder to get eyeballs on your listings.

If you have any experience with these eBay alternatives, or use other auction sites like eBay, please let us know about your experience.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

One alternative that you missed that is worth a look is ebid. It's very similar to eBay, but without the huge fees. It's still relatively small, but certainly has the tools to become a great supplement to eBay if not a replacement eventually.

Anonymous said...

Here is a comprehensive list of online auction/classifieds sites. Not free though. http://www.digi-go.biz/dml.html