If you’re new to the world of online auctions, you may be under the impression that there’s nothing out there but eBay. While eBay is massive and constantly advertises the fact that you can find “it” on eBay, there are other services available. Whether you’re just starting out as an online seller, want to switch sites, or diversify your sales pipeline, it may be worth looking into alternatives.
However, you should be aware that using eBay has its advantages. It is much larger than its competitors (see http://www.powersellersunite.com/auctionsitewatch.php), which translates to an abnormal amount of traffic. And it’s a well-known brand that spends a lot on marketing.
However, eBay also has its drawbacks. Rates for sellers are relatively high, many categories have fierce price competition, and there are recurring glitches and dubious “upgrades” (such as giving sellers overly optimistic arrival dates during the holiday shipping season).
Where can you find alternatives? Here are some URLs to get you started:
As you can see, there are many other sites out there. Before hiring one (or several) of them, you should ask yourself some questions:
The last question is particularly important. A low cost or even free auction site will be useless to you, if there is little traffic in your category. Even a free list costs you the time it takes to create it!
Once you have answered these questions, you can decide to go with one of the established competitors (yahoo.com, overstock.com), choose a smaller site (bluejay.com, ecrater.com), or go for a niche site that is specialize in items such as pinball machines (pinballmachines.com) or beaded jewelry (justbeads.com). Of course, there is always the option to build your own web store to sell your items.
