I have been using eBay since 2001 and have never really been tempted to try out any of the other online auction websites. To some extent, this is due to complacency - I’m familiar with eBay so why come out of my comfort zone to try something new? - but the main reason I’ve stuck with it is the indisputable fact that the amount of traffic attracted by eBay far exceeds that of any other online auction site.

However, I am less than happy with several of the policy changes that have been made over the past few months, and I feel that eBay’s attitude to it’s sellers has become increasingly contemptuous, so I decided to take a look at some of the eBay alternatives.

CQOut

First on my list was CQOut. A UK based site launched in 1999 with users in more than 57 countries, they claim to have gained a reputation as the “Most Trusted Online Auction Site”.

At the time of writing they charge a one-off registration fee of $3.45 (£2.00) but there are no listing or relisting fees, no reserve price fees and no Buy It Now/Instant Buy fees. However, there is a charge of $0.09 (£0.10) for listing in a second category. Final value fees are on a sliding scale ranging from 5.29% to 1.76%

The majority of their upgrade fees are less than those on eBay but they charge $0.17 (£0.10) for gallery image (now free of charge on eBay) and $0.09 (£0.05) for cross-promotion.

A Store/Shopfront is available for $163.88 (£95.00) per annum reduced to £60.38 (£35.00) for CQ Trusted Sellers.

The site boasts no less than four bulk uploading tool options but I was unable to access details of these without signing up and logging in.

The total number of auctions on the day I checked out the site (October 14) was 875,694, the majority of which were in the Books, Comics & Magazines category (222,869).

The site was easy to navigate and user-friendly.

eBid

Next, I went to look at eBid. Established in 1999, they were recently voted Best eBay Alternative by Webuser Magazine. When I visited the site in mid-October there were 1,384,969 auctions in 7,610 categories.

Here, they have two types of seller account - just plain Seller which is free to register, and Seller+ for which registration fees range from $1.99 (£1.99) for 7 days to $49.99 (£49.99) for lifetime registration.

A plain Seller account gives access to “standard” auction format which is free to list with a 3% Final Value Fee. The “standard” auction excludes many of the features which come with a Seller+ account, but the seller can opt to pay $0.05 (£0.05) to list a Platinum Auction which then gives access to the additional features.

A Seller+ can use the Free Auction which is exactly what it says on the tin, with zero listing fee and zero final value fee, but it does not include a thumbnail image in the search results. Alternatively they can choose the Gallery Auction which includes a thumbnail image in the search result and all listings. This is still free to list but is subject to a 2% Final Value Fee.

Available upgrades include Featured Auction ($1.00/£1.00) which is listed above all free auctions and includes a thumbnail image, and Frontpage Auction ($2.50/£2.50) which stays on the front page for 24 hours then moves to the Featured section.

There are also ‘extras’ available such as bold ($0.07/£0.04), highlight ($0.18/£0.10), subtitle ($0.15/£0.08), extra photo ($0.05/£0.03) and extra category $0.05/£0.05).

ePier

Next on my list was ePier. This is a global online market run by “8 eager to please young entrepreneurs wanting to set the internet free”. Global it may be, but unless I missed something, the list of fees and the items for sale are all priced in US$.

On the day I visited (October 18) the homepage stated that they have 122,093 members, over 206,300 visitors per month. Between the auctions and storefronts they had over half a million listings.

There are no listing fees on ePier but your item can only be listed in one category at a time. For items selling at upto $25 the fee is 5% of the closing value. For items with a closing value between $25 and $1000 the fee is $1.25 plus 2% of the balance over $25, and for items selling at above $1000 the fee is $20.75 plus 1% of the balance over $1000. However for “Premium Service” subscribers (see below) the first $9.95 of final value fees will be waived.

The Premium Service costs $9.95 per month and includes a shopping cart enabled customizable storefront plus a host of other features such as 200Mb of image storage space, unlimited use of classified ads and priority customer service.

Additional listing options include Home Page Featured ($5), Category Featured ($1), Photo Gallery (Free), Bold ($0.50) and Reserve Price ($0.25 upto $25 and $0.50 for $25 upwards.

The site has a friendly atmosphere with users being encouraged to get to know each other and become part of the community.

Bonanzle

Finally, I went to check out Bonanzle, a new site which I was curious about as it seems to have created some interest among online auction users. In the absence of any information to the contrary, I believe it is only open to residents of the USA

Bonanzle is “an online marketplace for buying and selling items faster while having more fun”. They specialize in helping you buy and sell items that “aren’t shiny, new and mass-produced”.

When I visited the site in mid October there were a total of 203,515 items listed for sale, and they say that traffic has increased by 3-5 times per month since their launch in June. I couldn’t get details of the current user count as this information is only available to registered users.

Listing is free, as are final value fees on cash transactions.  For sales that are paid by check or through Paypal or Google Checkout, the final value fees are straightforward with no percentages to work out. The fee on an item with a final value of less than $10 is $0.50, on $10-$50 the fee is $1, on $50-$100 the fee is $3, on $100-$1000 the fee is $5 and on a final value of $1000 or more the fee is $10. It should be noted, however, than any shipping cost over $10 is included in the final value when calculating fees.

It will be interesting to see how this infant site has progressed by this time next year.

Conclusion

So what now? Will I be leaving eBay and taking my custom to one or more of the other online auctions sites? Unfortunately, the answer is no; at least not in the foreseeable future.

In spite of the shoddy way in which eBay treat their customers, Auction Count Charts at medved.net show that listings have increased in number from around 15.4 million at the beginning of September to just over 24 million by mid October. The sell-through rate has remained steady at around 40-43%.

So in spite of there being lots of other internet auctions online it seems that most sellers, myself included, are prepared to tolerate whatever eBay throws at us simply because that is where the buyers are.

If you have tried any of the other online auction sites we would love to hear about it and invite you to leave a comment below.

Posted in Moving Beyond eBay