ThatYank Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Over here Craigslist has become very popular for selling. There is no cost. You are totally on your own using it so proceed with caution. People looking for specialist items know to look on craigslist first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahjane Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 Over here Craigslist has become very popular for selling. There is no cost. You are totally on your own using it so proceed with caution. People looking for specialist items know to look on craigslist first. So is that like ebay but without the back-up? I guess you are at more risk of being ripped off but if a person is willing to to take that risk then at least it's free. It looks pretty similar to gumtree....which ebay have bought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vague_Boy Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 QXL used to be quite strong in the early part of the decade, then eBay annihilated them. The market (i.e. the people) decided in favour of eBay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neeeeeeeeeek Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 There are alternatives, Ebid does ok but they just don't have enough of the market. The problem with Ebay is they are now screwing the people who made it sucessful, it's just interested in ebay shops and not the little people. Asd a small seller the charges are so high it's just not worth the effort. What we need is Google auctions, they could have a massive impact on ebay and I don't understand why they don't do it. They have the infrastructure and people know and trust them, offer free buying and selling for a 3 month period and watch everyone desert ebay. Come on google, do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahjane Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 There are alternatives, Ebid does ok but they just don't have enough of the market. The problem with Ebay is they are now screwing the people who made it sucessful, it's just interested in ebay shops and not the little people. Asd a small seller the charges are so high it's just not worth the effort. What we need is Google auctions, they could have a massive impact on ebay and I don't understand why they don't do it. They have the infrastructure and people know and trust them, offer free buying and selling for a 3 month period and watch everyone desert ebay. Come on google, do it! I agree about the fees. A 10 per cent final value fee makes you seriously question whether or not to bother selling something in the first place. Then people increase the starting price to try and cover the fees etc etc. Ebay, in my opinion, is living on the reputation it created a few years ago and I agree that it only seems interested in shops and businesses now. Saying that, I still use it because it's easy and familiar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltheof Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 I've used ebay for quite a while and sold stuff on it, and even got a few bargains, but I'm getting hacked off with it. As already said, it's lost interest in the small or occasional private seller, and increased its prices. My principal gripe is that it practically forces one to offer payment, and receipt of payment, through Paypal, which is supposed to have such wonderful qualities...presumably ebay gets a commission or a rakeoff from that, which we as ebay customers pay for. I resent being told how I want to be paid and refuse to have a Paypal account, but have to tell buyers that I prefer payment by cheque or postal order. I've also heard of a lot of problems people have had with Paypal. I had one of my listed items pulled by ebay because "Unfortunately, we had to remove your item because the way it was listed breaches our policy:You stated in your listing "I do not have an account with Paypal." eBay requires all sellers listing on eBay.co.uk to offer payments through PayPal. Sellers must always accept payment from buyers through the payment methods they have selected in their Payment Details section of their listing, including PayPal. They must not act in any way to discourage buyers from paying by one of the methods that they offer." Well, they don't offer one a chance to opt out of Paypal, do they? I think they have grown too big for their boots and it's time some competition came in. If they were a company trading in the High Street they might be investigated as constituting practically a monopoly. I still use it, but much less than I used to, especially when buyers assume they can pay through Paypal and then have to be told to cancel such a payment. If I get fed up with it they will be losing one more customer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooky3 Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 But have they?? And if so, what stopped them from succeeding. Surely someone could do it! You'd need an astronomical advertising budget and do it for a good few years now! Other than that you'd need a few (!) key sellers. The the bit to take from amazon market place is the standard delivery structure. Also i'd suggest an API for the site and get a few books written about it and how to make money from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooky3 Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 You could look into the bidding system and if you can sex it up. No that i'm sure you can... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction_theory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahjane Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 You'd need an astronomical advertising budget and do it for a good few years now! Other than that you'd need a few (!) key sellers. The the bit to take from amazon market place is the standard delivery structure. Also i'd suggest an API for the site and get a few books written about it and how to make money from it. But would you need an astronomical advertising budget? If there was a 'genuine' threat to ebay about to be launched tomorrow morning, it would be all over the net! A few leaks and Yahoo news etc would be running the story in a way that made it sound like the world was about to end! That would only be the case though if it was set up in a way that would cause a 'genuine' threat to ebay. Wish I had a few million...might give it a go! Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooky3 Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 But would you need an astronomical advertising budget? If there was a 'genuine' threat to ebay about to be launched tomorrow morning, it would be all over the net! A few leaks and Yahoo news etc would be running the story in a way that made it sound like the world was about to end! That would only be the case though if it was set up in a way that would cause a 'genuine' threat to ebay. Wish I had a few million...might give it a go! Lol What could possibly pose such a threat? (especially instantly) OK, question asked, find 100 smaller sites of whom all have n market share, buy them out and announce the conglomeration and integration, throw in some free sweeties and your up and off... Add nectar points and airmiles and your smiles as sweet as that one you see in the mirror! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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