EBay Alternative Sites for Sellers
Over the past several years, more and more eBay sellers have been asking if there are realistic alternatives to eBay. I can answer that question with a definite "yes," but I can't know whether or not moving from eBay to some other marketplace would be best for you. Much of the answer will depend on how well you are doing and your general level of satisfaction with eBay. The point of this article is not whether eBay is good or bad. It is no secret there is a growing number of sellers, some of whom are quite big, who are unhappy. The point, here, is whether you have options, and if so, can they make you money?
alternatives to eBay
Are there viable alternatives to selling on eBay? As I mentioned above, "yes," and people are making money in these other venues, but it is very important to keep in mind that not all marketplaces behave the same way. They are all different, have their own characteristics, and their own kind of traffic. That is to say, one marketplace may favor certain categories over others and the kind of visitors it gets may generally prefer certain kinds of goods over others. Moreover, goods that tend to sell well on auction sites may not do so well in non-auction ecommerce venues. Because of this, it may be necessary to experiment and test each site to determine which items will do well and how to best present your range of products.
For our purposes, we can think of eBay alternatives falling into two basic categories, auction and non-auction sites. There are actually sub-categories of non-auction sites but rather than worry about classification, I'd like to list a few examples. The most obvious is simply listing products on your own privately hosted ecommerce site. Here, you have to create your own marketplace and you are entirely responsible for driving traffic and handling all of the logistics of sales and shipping and handling. However, there are also hosted merchant programs, such as Amazon.com, and some eBay sellers do well selling on classified advertising sites, such as Craig's List. At this point, I'll mention once more that we must remember these marketplaces have their own characteristics of buyer and seller appeal, and you must figure out how to "go with the flow" of the site.
There are many new auction sites popping up each day due in part to the perception of growing dissatisfaction with eBay. Nevertheless, even though there is some heavy hitter competition in the playing field, eBay continues to hold the lead in traffic numbers and revenue. In addition, there is a steady flow of new sellers itching to make their mark on eBay, so eBay is not going away. What this means for you is that if you are serious about finding a truly viable alternative, then you are looking for a site with huge traffic number, as big a piece of the market share as possible, and a better treatment for sellers. My own research finds that although there are some very real and tasty competitors out there, the only site that comes close to matching eBay in terms of traffic, revenue muscle, choice of goods, and global name recognition is Amazon.com. Amazon has a non-auction merchant program reported to be very successful and. One fact I can report is that Amazon seller fees are much, much lower than eBay. I have personally looked and compared. So, hypothetically, if (and this is a big if) you sold the same volume through the Amazon merchant program as you do on eBay, you would keep a much greater portion of your income.
Google Product Search (http://www.google.com/products) is another market to consider. You can find details and instructions on how to list your products at http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/products/submit.html. Listing is free, and it is up to you to promote your listings. Although the shopping traffic may not be as great as eBay, it is Google, after all, one of the most highly trafficked sites in the world. And speaking of Google Product Search, you may want to check out Bluejay.com. This is another non-auction venue. Again, not as substantial as eBay but not to be ignored, either. Bluejay provides its own marketplace plus access to its online site builder for no cost. However, Bluejay also submits your listing to Google Product Search, which is an added punch. One more player in the field is eCrater.com. ECrater is big enough to provide its own marketplace, and it, too, includes a free site builder, and allows you to import all of your eBay products into your store.
There is no shortage of auction sites, and though I don't want to discourage you from playing the field, keep in mind that many of these sites will have only a tiny amount of traffic. For that reason, you may want to start out by giving your attention to sites that currently have good market share and solid traffic numbers. One such site is Overstock.com (http://auctions.overstock.com). Although not as big as eBay or Amazon, Overstock is big business and has been selling low cost goods for many years. Overstock may not be known to you as an auction venue, but it is, and certainly one of the eBay alternatives you should look into. One of the other big names in online auction is Ubid.com. Again, not as big as eBay, but this should also be on your list of options. Site promo reports Ubid has 5 million members, so this is large scale business. If you are unhappy with eBay--or even if you are not--there are hosted ecommerce additions and alternatives with which you can expand your business.
eBay alternatives