AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketplaces Coverage!

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August 26, 2009

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketplaces Coverage!

By: Ina Steiner

Wed Aug 26 2009 21:01:56

To the Editor:
If you notice I don't post much on AB anymore. Just the typical short comment about Ebay the loser site. I am not angry with Ebay heck more apathetic than anything else. I did a few listings on Ebay a couple of weeks ago and was amazed at how truly dead the site was. It's sad to see what little remains of Ebay and then of course know the direction Ebay is taking. Anyway would you please try to do more articles on other sites?

You and David have been the biggest supporters of small and midsize sellers and I want to thank you. I know it's a thankless job. With Ebay's preference and relationships with Diamond sellers there will be less and less AB can do for Ebay sellers. I doubt Ideeli, Dell, and Buy management read AB. Whereas tons of small sellers do and you help other sites take traction when you expose them to your readership.

I know you have done articles about other sites but keep them coming please. I usually just gloss over the Ebay stuff because not much is happening. I can't get excited about Ebay knowing the policies coming down only favor the Diamond sellers. PLEASE, please do more articles on other sites and build AB in other directions besides Ebay.
(Name withheld by request)

Comments (36) | Permalink

Readers Comments

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: kw

Wed Aug 26 22:42:10 2009

I agree 100%!

I'm currently selling on Bonanzle and having a ball, but would love to hear more about other alternative sites too. I can't even stand going to the ebay boards anymore because they have become so negative and nasty. Ebay is dead but other sites are growing fast and show great promise for the future of small to mid-size sellers.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Kristoffer

Wed Aug 26 23:05:37 2009

I agree. It seems that most of the stuff about ebay is negative, most of which is caused by their stupidity. Of course I greatly appreciate all the coverage we get it would be nice to see more about some of the other sites and how we can help them become the next "old" ebay.

I have listed most all of my inventory on Bonanzle with no luck. I tired online auctions also with no luck. Amazon seems to do ok for me when it comes to my higher priced items. I would love to hear more about Bonanzle especially - like stats on what their buyers tend to be looking for (maybe I have the wrong type items listed) and what they are going to promote themselves. I would do anything I can to get off ebay and never look back.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Kathy

Wed Aug 26 23:16:26 2009

I also agree. eBay is definitely not what it used to be, there was just too much wrong with it. Small and mid size sellers need to hear about what else is out there.

If you make handmade goods, try Etsy.

Good luck everyone!

Kathy

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: banrigh

Wed Aug 26 23:39:53 2009

eBid is growing. I would like to see more about them.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Michael Pierre

Wed Aug 26 23:44:38 2009

You are all welcome to join YARPOOL MArketplace. I hope to bring back the old eBay through this site. We can all turn YARPOOL into a household name. No fees to list or re-list. That's the key-keep re-listing while others are listing. This will give shoppers a reason to keep coming back;-) Thank you for reading this. I was an eBay power seller just 3 years ago. Started YARPOOL after reading many sad stories of sellers being tossed to the wayside.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Tina

Thu Aug 27 00:19:21 2009

I too sell on a variety of sites including ebay (but probably not for long). Not much luck on bonanzle, ioffer,and ebay this summer. I think it has just been dead. I subscribe to Skip McGrath's newsletter and he said this July and August have been horrible and he can't wait until Labor Day. It made me feel a little better anyway. I am looking for other places to sell. I have had a little luck with ecrater, a google store that is totally free and they upload to google base twice a week.

I would like to hear more about bonanzle. I know some are having great success and some ideas would be nice. I love the way Bonanzle has set up the site and how they talk to you, like a person, not like any other site I have been on.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Patricia

Thu Aug 27 01:53:12 2009

I'm beefing up promoting my Esty shop. Bonanzle is absolutely dead...at least for me. Doing okay on Overstock and I'm going to try online auctions for the coming holiday season. I had a shop there before and sold some then it died. We could use more exposure of the other sites. The sellers are there, the goods are there...we need to get the buyers to at least try something other then Ebay!

I haven't listed on Ebay in weeks....I just don't have the stomach for it anymore. Each new ridiculous and arrogant policy that came out turned me off more and more. Now...I simply don't care much about Ebay at all.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Bill E.

Thu Aug 27 04:33:32 2009

I agree also.. I'm tired of hearing about "E".. it's done.. gone.. buried..
Lets get busy with other sites for the forgotten and abused sellers.

How about promoting.. comparing.. reviewing... sharing..what sells for some on which sites..
There's plenty out there...
Etsy also has Vintage, there's Ola, Bonanzle, Ebid, Ecrater, Blujay,Ioffer... and more...

We need to focus on some positive things... and move forward... No looking back.

Can you help us out Ina and David? You've both been Super.. bringing us up to speed with all that has gone on at "E".. but at this point.. it's like beating a dead horse. That place is done. I wouldn't go back if it were the only place to sell.

Are there any sites like Ruby lane giving any kind of discounts or options to anyone.... or sites like that...

Would appreciate it. I too agree a couple of commenters.. that even though we really enjoy your site.. any 'new" information or news about "E" isn't enough to keep us coming back.

Help us all get a fresh start.. or at least a chance to get our legs under us..
Thank You kindly.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: just me

Thu Aug 27 07:23:48 2009

Asking to cut down on the Ebay noise. HAHAHA Isn't that just the opposite of what everyone is whining about. The noise that won't go away. HAHA

Ebay is the only important game in town. Play by their rules or go home.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Tita49

Thu Aug 27 08:16:43 2009

After doing some research about the traffic at alternative sites, I decided to try Etsy. I needed a good place for my treasured old books and the Bay was costing me a lot. At Etsy, you can sell anything handmade and vintage items (including books) as long as they are at least 20 years old. The total cost is 20 cents for 4 months! Etsy is really easy to use and the items show up well on Google product search. There are helpful forums and how-to's on the site. I've only just started there but have been really happy so far and recommend it especially to people looking for a place for vintage collectibles and books. You can see my stuff at http://www.greenatticvintage.etsy.com.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: B.O.B.

Thu Aug 27 09:02:49 2009

I also agree 100%, I tried eBay for 1 year and my conclusion is eBay is not good for business. I mostly sell tabletop/dinnerware and if you do not have a top recognized name you will not do well. To do well you have to sell cheap list high and hope to make a couple bucks to sell your item, so no profit in the end. eBay if for liquidators, dump your produce to recoup some of your investment. We ran the numbers, some up, some down, but overall even or less then even.

We tried Bonanzle with no luck, to cliquey, too much inter promoting, not enough organic traffic coming in. We checked out the top alts, and landed on ecrater.com, Free listing, free selling, free store, free google listing, free everything. I would have to also say, they do have some limits, but easy to over come. Out of all the alt sites, we have found they have the highest organic traffic coming in.

Here are some Unique Visitors stats we found on top alts sites:
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/ecrater.com+bonanzle.com+Es
ty.com/

Check out listing rankings http://www.powersellersunite.com/auctionsitewatch.php

Site - Unique Visitors - Monthly Change - Yearly Change

#2) eBid.Net: 117,685, -0.13%, +37.11%
#3) eCrater.com: 1,655,212, +10.03%, +192.29%,
#4) Bonanzle.com: 491,585, -2.88%, +16,248.02%
NL) esty.com: 34,697, -5.39%, +142.96%

As you can see eCrater has the highest Unique Visitors, over 1.6 million Unique Visitors as month, and monthly growth, year change has not much weight as some sites are relatively new.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Francois

Thu Aug 27 11:23:51 2009

I've been selling on Delcampe for almost a year now and am very satisfied with the results.
Delcampe have over 24 million listings and close to 500,000 sales a month. No listing fee, reasonable FVF, auctions and fixed price.
No electronics, mostly collectibles.
Also allows you to advertise all types of payments.
Delcampe = respect for sellers.
eBay = contempt for sellers.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Francois

Thu Aug 27 11:28:42 2009

I've been selling on Delcampe for almost a year now, and am very satisfied with the results.
Delcampe have over 24 million listings, almost 1/2 million sales per month.
No listing fees, very reasonable FVF fees.
No electronics, mostly collectibles. They allow you to advertise all payments methods.
Delcampe = respect for sellers --
eBay = contempt for sellers.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: John the Tool Seller

Thu Aug 27 11:55:30 2009

Francois, I see you have duplicate posts.

Maybe Auctionbytes is having the same problem Ebay is! LOL

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Ebay Pays My Minimum Monthly Payment

Thu Aug 27 15:41:05 2009

To: John the Tool S

''Maybe Auctionbytes is having the same problem Ebay is! LOL''

Ya, but Auctionbytes doesn't charge for it.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: m

Thu Aug 27 15:58:22 2009

Regardless of the negative aspects, the fact remains that I sell far more on eBay than I do on the other sites- Bonanzle, Atomic Mall, iOffer, etc.

As long as eBay remains profitable for me, I will remain..and all eBay-related stories meant to help keep sellers abreast of changes are always appreciated by me.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Ebay No More

Thu Aug 27 16:04:49 2009

Boy do I agree. There are so many other sites for small and midsize sellers that I would love to see you do more articles about those places. If the owners of places like Ecrater, Bonanzle, Etsy, Craigslist etc would sit down with Auctionbytes like Ebay's management does it would help AB readers learn about the alternatives.

I would encourage the owners of Ebay's alternatives to please do some interviews and tell me why I should shop your site. I try to shop sites where small and mid size store owners are plentiful. I want to patronize these sellers versus the megaretailers on Ebay.

If I wanted to shop with GM or Dell I would go to their own websites. I shop Buy but I do it on Buy's website not on Ebay. The prices are cheaper on Buy's own site plus why should I strengthen the ties between Ebay and Buy? Randy how about sitting down with Ina and doing some interviews please. You have picked up as the seller contact person for Buy so let's hear what you have to say.

Line them all up Ina and give us some articles about those other places. If you own a site and are reading this how about doing an article with Ina and tell me why I should shop it. I'll give you a few others. Patrick at Overstock I would love to read an article about ''O''. Ebid I forget you even exist what's new with you? Dimitri at Ecrater when you going to put up some subcategories on that site? I like shopping but your search needs some work. Come on shop owners talk to me. I am BORED, bored, bored with Ebay news

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Stefano Neis

Thu Aug 27 18:41:44 2009

I was a past top tier powerseller on ebay. I left ebay out of frustration with their endless changes...

Through experimentation, I moved to a system of websites : Delcampe.com, Playle.com, ecrater.com and my own site scartists.com to sell on , in the last 2 years.

At Present I have 121,000 items listed online with the bulk being in the Delcampe system.

So far to date this year alone I have sold 15,198 items on Delcampe.com ($178,863 in gross sales).

I am never going back to ebay.

My smaller sites drive traffic to my main Delcampe website. ALL of my sites load into Googlebase weekly. All my smaller sites have links back to Scartists.com which in turn links back to my Delcampe listings.

The net result are good sales, traffic and surprising totals. So far this month I have sold $39,0628 & Euro 32.73 on that site (Delcampe)..... alone.

INFO: Delcampe

Delcampe just passed 419,000 active members and has 24,580,230 items listed as of today (24 August 2009).

To date for this year Delcampe has sold 3,800,000+ items so far....

These actual numbers seem much better than the sites I hear asking for customers here on Auctionbytes based on what they have actually done in sales..

It took me a while to find Delcampe. At first I tried all the "latest" and "cool" up & coming auction sites... most failed miserably (Exception ecrater.com).

Then I found Delcampe by thinking outside of the box and when I went looking for established auction sites outside of the USA.

I found Delcampe... thank god.

Perhaps it is the fact That Delcampe is based in Belgium and not in the USA that results in many US buyers not being aware of it.. yet.

But rest assured, The Worldwide community Outside of the USA & Ebay is aware of Delcampe....

But My sales on Delcampe did not take off until I started a system of smaller websites on various venues designed with the goal of driving traffic back to one main venue (For me Delcampe).

It is this system of sites that I attribute to mt overall success. Delcampe is but the base for my system...

The point of all the detail above?

The numbers are real. The system works for me and will work for anyone else willing to put in a little work to create a system of their own.

Forget Ebay... lets get some articles on auctionbytes on "working" sites with substantial sales, OUTSIDE of the USA-centric sites . that one can sell on.

There are many.

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Michael Pierre

Thu Aug 27 20:01:07 2009

I think you ALL are waiting for a site to appear out of nowhere and be as big/popular as eBay. It's not gonna happen. Pick one site and stick with it. You keep using multiple sites and you'll keep shoveling shit against the tides!
These complaints about eBay have been going on and on for several years now and we still don't have a dominant eBay alternative! Whatever site you would like to see go head to head with eBay, promote it and stick with it. I think the best anyone of us can do is take advantage of sites that allow importing feedback and listings from the bay. This makes it so much easier to balance all your accounts with all these different venues. Try YARPOOL (Yes it my site) but i sold on ebay and was a power seller for a while, so i know what works and what doesn't. I'm not going nowhere and i welcome all sellers. At least you won't have to worry about careless suspensions, bogus fees, buy it now plastered everywhere, search features catering to the platinum and titanium sellers, a one-sided playing field (bold, highlighted and all that garbage ebay uses to suck you dry! The list goes on my friends. Pick one or two worthy contenders and stand by there side. Please do this for everyone..

AuctionBytes: Less eBay, More Alternative Marketpl

by: Michael Pierre

Thu Aug 27 20:15:47 2009

I think you ALL are waiting for a site to appear out of nowhere and be as big/popular as eBay. It's not gonna happen. Pick one site and stick with it. You keep using multiple sites and you'll keep shoveling shit against the tides!
These complaints about eBay have been going on and on for several years now and we still don't have a dominant eBay alternative! Whatever site you would like to see go head to head with eBay, promote it and stick with it. I think the best anyone of us can do is take advantage of sites that allow importing feedback and listings from the bay. This makes it so much easier to balance all your accounts with all these different venues. Try YARPOOL (Yes it my site) but i sold on ebay and was a power seller for a while, so i know what works and what doesn't. I'm not going nowhere and i welcome all sellers. At least you won't have to worry about careless suspensions, bogus fees, buy it now plastered everywhere, search features catering to the platinum and titanium sellers, a one-sided playing field (bold, highlighted and all that garbage ebay uses to suck you dry! The list goes on my friends. Pick one or two worthy contenders and stand by there side. Please do this for everyone..

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