I have been doing a little research as to what alternatives are out there for eBay sellers and buyers. I will be updating this post throughout the day with my findings.
Auction Sites
iOffer is the closest that I have found to eBay. I really like it. It's easy to list items, no fees unless something sells and even those fees are reasonable. You can use HTML in your listings no problem. You get a free iStore as long as you have 2 items or more. I really don't have anything negative to say at this point about iOffer. They are the second in line behind eBay with 2 million listings and growing. They also accept both Paypal AND Google Checkout which is a huge plus in my book. If I were to suggest any site to go to as an alternative to eBay, I would definitely start with iOffer.
Mommyauctions.com
What is eCrater.com?
eCrater.com is both a free web store builder and a free online marketplace. Sellers can easily create their own free online store in minutes. Buyers can easily browse and compare between thousands of products.Sellers receive free website hosting, a free subdomain and a powerful admin tool to manage their free online stores. All products are posted to the world's most famous product search engine as well.
Checking out their stats makes them a viable alternative, especially since it costs nothing to list, you are given your own link to your store (e.g., mine is http://bellagraysboutique.ecrater.com/) , you can sell basically anything and they even give you tools to help maximize exposure for your store and your listings. Fees are fairly minimal when items do sell.
Pros: Set your own pricing. Costs minimal. Exposure for site is growing.
Drawbacks: Not an auction site - only Buy It Now pricing. Obviously not as much exposure as eBay.
Bidville is pretty close to eBay as far as their offerings. Their prices are cheaper. No listing fees and minimal charges for enhancements like bold titles, highlighting and extra pictures. Although, several auction platforms do offer multiple pictures for free. You can also earn enhancement credits so these enhancements will end up not costing you anything. Final Success Fee (equivalent to the FVF @ feebay) is
$0.01-$25.00 : 5%
$25.01-$1000.00: $1.25 + 2.5% of amount over $25.00
Over $1000.00: $25.63 + 1% of amount over $1000.00
The actual appearance and layout of Bidville leaves something to be desired but the functionality is there and they are ranked the third in volume of listings behind eBay so there is something to be said for that.
For their list of FAQs, here is a link:
http://www.bidville.com/help/topics/index.asp?index=12
Payment Sites
checkout.google.com
- Process transactions for free when you advertise with Google
- Google Checkout is a fast, convenient checkout process that brings you more customers and allows them to buy from you with a single login -- and you can process their orders and charge their credit or debit cards for free.
- Increase sales.Google Checkout users click on ads 10% more when the ad displays the Checkout badge and convert 40% more than shoppers that have not used Checkout in the past.
- Process sales for free.Get free transaction processing when you use Google AdWords and pay no monthly, setup or gateway fees.
- Protect yourself from fraud.Checkout's Payment Guarantee protects 98% of Checkout orders on average – when an order is guaranteed, you get paid even if it results in a chargeback.
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