So eBay's in trouble, and whether or not the auction format was indeed a fad, you may feel the inclination to find a new place to sell your stuff. Online sellers are increasingly finding the web to be a more competitive market, and with management and rules changes at eBay, many are in search of a new home as well. Where are they going? And where can you go as a buyer to find alternatives to the online auction format that has been so dominant the past ten years? Below are six options.
One thing many sellers are doing, is sticking with eBay. Rather than change horses mid-stream, some sellers are transitioning their auction businesses to the fixed-price model that is now favored by the ecommerce giant. Others are listing their wares at eBay's cross-town (on the web, anyway) rival Amazon.
New York based Etsy is part of a new breed of online marketplace startups targeted specifically at the needs of independent artists and crafts makers. With more and more people pledging to buy handmade goods, marketplaces like Etsy are taking center stage and becoming important hubs for small merchants. We've even wondered if Etsy might be the next eBay. Be sure to check our lists of Etsy alternatives here and here, as well.
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Craigslist has been accused by some of single handedly sinking the entire newspaper business by doing for classifieds what eBay did for auctions in the 90s -- putting them online and making them dead simple and accessible. Craigslist started as a local events email list for San Francisco in 1995 and has grown to an online classifieds powerhouse serving more than 500 cities in over 50 countries across the world. 40 million people visit Craigslist each month, generating more than 10 billion page views, according to the company. It's no wonder that an ad on Craigslist is an extremely effective way to generate sales, especially in large local markets.
If you're like me -- and that would be a bummer for you -- you're often awake at 4am. If you happen to flick on the TV, you'll quickly notice that in the wee hours of morning, the airwaves are dominated by a certain variety of program: infomercials. Most of the time, it's hard to wonder how anyone could be suckered into ordering stuff peddled by late night hucksters. But infomercials have inundated the television airwaves since the 1970s, so they must work. Could they also work on the Internet? One company thinks so. Talk Market lets anyone host their own video sales channel on the web. Amazon thinks enough of the idea to have invested in it.
Yes, it doesn't seem that any of the big social networks have yet figured out how to monetize all that traffic. Facebook gave up on Beacon, and MySpace isn't living up to Google's expectations, but that doesn't mean you can't try to sell to your friends, family, and fans via social networks. Buy.com thinks they have the best way, with their Garage Sale application for Facebook. The best part of this option, though, may be the irony of their intro video which calls eBay a "thing of the past" -- apparently Buy.com's top brass didn't get the memo... they closed a huge product listing deal with eBay last month.
Sellers with an adventurous spirit may opt to set up their own storefront. There are a number of free or open source projects, such as osCommerce, that can be used to power an online shop. There are also all inclusive small business hosting solutions, such as Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, that can get sellers up and running with their own stores with a lot less headache. We like Shopify, an all in one hosted ecommerce suite that has become one of the showcase apps for Ruby on Rails (don't worry -- we've never heard of anyone having trouble scaling their store on the service).
How else do you sell online? Let us know in the comments.
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Big Cartel is a good option too. No by product - commissions and no hidden fees plus a friendly user interface. http://bigcartel.com/
Posted by: Israel Avila | June 9, 2008 2:04 PM
I think that it really depends on what you're trying to sell and how your visitors can find you.
eBay's advantage is not just being able to do the sale itself, but to let millions of shoppers look for products. Then, they also make it possible for you to sell.
Shopify and osCommerce are all about building flexible stores, along with shopping cart, product catalog, etc.
If your buyers find you via Google search, you're better off creating having own check-out system (like using Shopify and osCommerce or a lower-level PayPal account).
If they find you from within a platform like eBay, you'll use their check-out process.
Posted by: Amir | June 9, 2008 2:10 PM
I have to admit that I haven't actually bought anything from Etsy (yet), but I love the feel of a bunch of cute little boutiques all in one searchable site, especially the fact that I can look for vendors close to me.
Posted by: Emily Williams | June 9, 2008 2:17 PM
A new Social Networks website to sell stuff has been launch recently and it is fun to sell stuff on it as well as meeting people. Here's the url: http://www.bonanzle.com/
Have fun!
Posted by: Patrice Fiset | June 9, 2008 2:34 PM
I love Etsy, just reading the comment above makes me want to go buy something there!
Posted by: Marshall Kirkpatrick
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June 9, 2008 3:47 PM
Etsy is a great place to buy handmade crafts. The artists there are super talented. If you sign up as a seller on Etsy, you can easily find a seller group to help you market your shop.
Posted by: HeyStephanie | June 9, 2008 4:18 PM
If you're interested in running your own storefront, another alternative is GoodBarry.
GoodBarry is an integrated solution that, like shopify, runs your website and online shop from a central, easy to use console.
Where we are different from both Shopify and Yahoo Stores is that GoodBarry also includes a simple, pre-integrated CRM (or Customer Database) to track contact form submissions, orders and more. You can also create and send email marketing campaigns to your customer database in just a few clicks.
Shopify in particular are doing really well, and they've done a great job in really simplifying the store-building process. I think that the key difference though is that GoodBarry takes a slightly different all-round business approach, helping you manage your entire online business, customers and marketing activities from a central place.
Posted by: Brett | June 9, 2008 5:42 PM
The selling price in Ebay is getting more and more competitive. Profit margin is more and more slim.
May try local internet classifies, or Amazon?
Posted by: Andy T | June 9, 2008 6:18 PM
If you're a eBay seller and you're not getting the results you want and you are tired of paying fees, then it makes sense to take a look at other options.
Online classifieds are a great choice for casual eBay sellers who want a quick turnaround and profit on the goods they sell.
It's important to list your items in as many different places as possible - you just never know what website is going to be your key to success and sales. Luckily posting on classifieds website is quick and easy - if you spend a little time to post each week, you'll soon have exposure to a large number of potential customers.
If you are a small business or store or a casual eBay seller looking for free alternatives to eBay, then I encourage you to visit http://whypayfees.info for more information.
Why pay fees? Sell for free!
http://whypayfees.info
Posted by: Lookcube | June 9, 2008 9:31 PM
Yes, excatly, I agree. and I wanna recommand a famous trustful site: http://www.G o t h i c m i n g l e. com !!! it is very nice
Posted by: prettygothic | June 10, 2008 12:57 AM
I am not sure of other online sellers, but I suggest eBay rival Amazon & Big Cartel as a good option.
Posted by: Deepa | June 10, 2008 2:54 AM
Hi there...check out Listasaurus.com, it's a fun site and they actually PAY you to list your ads...it's only 25 cents per listing, but it can add up to a lot if you have several items. Better than paying fees in my book!!
Also they offer video classifieds, which is a really cool feature. Really lets you include more detail. And the site said video auctions are coming soon...
Posted by: Ziggy | June 10, 2008 6:55 AM
Hi. You mention Shopify, but without explaining why you like this service. Please forgive my curiousity, but did you get paid in any way by Shopify to write this blog article? I hope not.
Posted by: Terje Hauger | June 10, 2008 7:30 AM
@Terje: No. You will never see any articles about any company that we have a business relationship with on RWW. (Unless an advertiser has worthy news -- in which case we'll almost always label the post with a disclaimer that the company in question is an advertiser).
I've never had any contact with anyone at Shopify. Their service is just easy to use, well put together, reliable, and well-reviewed based on everything I have seen and heard.
Posted by: Josh Catone
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June 10, 2008 7:40 AM
I agree that it is almost impossible to make a living on ebay as a small business owner. The fees are out of this world now. Ebay has a great service, tools, and bring customers to you but you definately pay the price.
I've had a lot of success with oscommerce but it does take some time to setup and configure. The nice thing is, it has a great support community with a ton of plug-ins.
Wordpress and drupal also have ecommerce plugins that are worth a lot as well.
Good luck
Posted by: Bailey | June 10, 2008 8:21 AM
I have noticed the more successful market places on Facebook are the groups set up as local flea markets. The group is set up by a local, people know each other (built in reputation system) and the goods can be seen before the purchase is completed.
Posted by: DealArmy | June 10, 2008 9:21 AM
Amazon offers a good solution that I use for both, selling on Amazon.com as well as having your own storefront/e-commerce site. To set up your own storefront, there's http://webstore.amazon.com. Your "WebStore" storefront can pick and choose from the exact same inventory you make available on Amazon.com, so inventory management is pretty unified and completely in your control. Of course you can categorize your products differently than on Amazon, set up different look and feel, etc.
Posted by: Abhishek | June 10, 2008 10:38 AM
I second the motion to try Bonanzle. It's still small, but it has a great interface, listings are free, everyone gets their own storefront, and it has the fastest item listing process of any of the sites I've tried (OK, Amazon is about as fast, since you don't have to enter any information, but Amazon is just a lowest-price-wins marketplace, which isn't the best).
It's actually sort of fun to sell stuff on Bonanzle, since buyers look at your stuff as a whole and can chat about it with you and with other users.
http://www.bonanzle.com
Katy
Posted by: Katy | June 10, 2008 3:48 PM
Unfortunately in latin america there are only a few buy-sell sites that are taking advantage of the users by charging ridiculous comissions for selling anything. These companies are: www.deremate.com and www.mercadolibre.com . Check them out and take note of that thieves.
Posted by: rainbow | June 10, 2008 6:30 PM
OLA.com (aka: 'Online Auction.com')
I am an ex ebay who not only bought ... but sold on ebay... but Have found the next best Greatest place to do both... OLA.com (aka: 'Online Auction.com)
They are still in the 'growing' phase.- but already have a huge variety of sellers and merchandise...... OLA.com is wonderful!
It's a great place to shop! And it's still in it's infancy stage.... but some great deals..
*****As for selling... they offer various options for a seller... even if a seller wants to "test" the water... it costs only $8.00 a month.. no other fees.... that's it ... Should a seller decide to stay..on OLA.com.. their are fantastic other options...
OLA! OLA.COM !
To shop... take a look around... just sign up as a "basic buyer"... no fee... just shop ....
and tons of categories....
User friendly....
Ola.com has been around for a while... and there's all kinds of goodies there... so go look ... check out the home page.. and look....
OLA.com.... 'come into the light'--> come to OLA... and don't be surprised if you find your favorite seller that used to be on ebay...
There's new, collectible, vintage, antique, clothing, eclectonics... just about everything
Posted by: Happy Shopper | June 11, 2008 12:17 PM
If you want to know how much less Fees (and % of Sellers Total Profit) that Etsy charges Sellers as opposed to eBay Inc., Please feel free to check out this free Online Profit/Fees Calculator here:
eBay & ALTERNATIVES Fee & Profit CALCULATOR
Note: This Realistic calculator takes into consideration Sell Through Rate (this is if you sell a decent amount of items, you almost always have some non first time sellers that you have to Relist a few time(s) before they sell. This relisting does Realistically cost you more in Listing Fees and the calculator accounts for this.
If questions, click on the Calculator's Discussion Link.
If you like it, please let others know about it. :)
Posted by: Near Earth | June 13, 2008 9:55 PM
Whether auctions have had their day may be questionable, but many sellers dissillusioned with the changes at eBay are moving to ebid.net which is growing at quite a rate, judging by the comments from lots of new users who are appearing in the forums, having deserted eBay for better pastures.
Posted by: Ken | June 14, 2008 11:21 AM
Online Auctions are not dead, they are just moving. The strongest contender is OnlineAuction.com
I was a PowersSeller at eBay. I needed to find places that would enable me to reach that level of sales fairly quickly. OLA is the only Auction Site that I have found that shows immediate promise. There are others, and ultimately I expect there will be a handful of truly viable sites. Right now it looks like OLA will be the top of the heap in the US. They are way ahead of the competition in breadth and depth of products available. As a seller, I found a good test is to shop a site...if I do a number of searches for things I normally buy online as a consumer can I find those things on that site? Can I find things that interest me browsing the categories? Looking at OLA from a buyer point of few I was pleased. They have a broad enough base that is deep enough not to completely frustrate buyers. Once someone can find items they like on a site they will keep coming back.
For Fixed Price venues I have found eCrater.com and BuyitSellit to be the best for the type of items I sell. They have beautiful setups. Each seller is responsible for their own SEO, but there are no fees other than merchant fees from whatever payment processor you use.
I am a traditional eBay seller, I sell unique items, collectibles, vintage goods, and many new items I find. In short, the "flea market" type seller - I think these 3 sites hold the most promise for sellers like me. If I sold crafts, I think I would go to etsy. If I sold widgets, I would be at Amazon. This upheaval is splitting the market, but for anyone selling items at auction I think OLA is a great place to go.
Even if you have the bulk of your items somewhere else it would be useful to have a presence on OLA. They allow, and indeed encourage sellers to have a link to their off-site webpage on every listing - it's a field on the listing form. OLA is not just a venue - it is a marketing tool!
Posted by: Elizabeth | June 14, 2008 2:19 PM
I agree. The online auctions are not fading away, they are now moving to another level - reverse auctions. The concept is pretty cool; check it out.
Posted by: online auction | June 15, 2008 8:26 AM
uShops is a great site for shopping. I purchased Motorola Q Global from there before going to Australia. I bet its a great buy. Now I have decided that whenever I would buy gadgets it will be through uShops.
Posted by: John Joseph | July 2, 2008 10:56 PM
I think uShops is the best place on earth for buying jewelries. It is so strange because I never thought that I would buy jewelry from a site. But it is so easy! and the collections... no other word to describe them just WOW. I don't think you would find such variety in your favorite jewelry shop.
Posted by: Elizabeth Powell | July 2, 2008 11:22 PM
Online auctions are great and uShops.com is the best for them. I had the experience of selling in other online sites also but only uShops is the site that helped me in selling my products quickly. I sell handmade items and I truly feel that uShops is the best place for reaching out to maximum reliable customers.
Posted by: Godfrey Daniel | July 3, 2008 1:39 AM
What a great online shopping site uShop.com is. I have not seen a better site for buying gifts for my friends and family. I bought a wonderful painting from there for a friend of mine. Never seen such wonderful gifts in any other site
Posted by: Claude Roger | July 3, 2008 2:46 AM
hey I agree to this completely. uShops.com is indeed the best site for online shopping. What gifts they have in store!
Posted by: Edward Daniel | July 3, 2008 2:49 AM
uShops.com, the best online marketplace- for both buyers and sellers. I had been members of few other sites too, but this one beats every other online shopping sites hands down. My handicraft business got the real boost after I started selling from uShops. And my wife says, well I believe she is the most frequent buyer in uShops, that it is the best site for buying kids items and jewelries.
Posted by: Edgar Allan | July 3, 2008 4:32 AM