Whatever your reason for looking for an alternative to eBay, the important thing is knowing where else to go where you can start making money again. Knowledge is power, so here is some information about a few eBay alternative marketplaces that you may want to look into (in no particular order):
Although I'm not listing these in any particular order, I'm starting with Amazon because the are the largest of all of the sites I'm reviewing. That also means they have the largest customer base. You'll find when trying out some online marketplaces that no matter how nice the interface may be, or how easy it is to sell, it doesn't matter if that marketplace is not putting buyers in front of your products.
Another great benefit of Amazon is there are no listing fees. Unlike eBay, where you pay an insertion (listing) fee on everything you sell, Amazon only charges fees for items that are sold. This can save you a lot of money in the long run! Overall, the final fees on Amazon marketplace listings is comparable to what you'd pay eBay for final value fees plus Paypal fees.
You may have heard about Amazon's 'Fulfillment By Amazon' program, also known as FBA. I've had some great success with this program. Instead of going into detail about how it works, I'll refer you to another article that does a great job explaining FBA: Click here for that FBA article.
For the remaining websites, keep in mind you will not find anywhere near the number of buyers that you will on eBay or Amazon.
2. ioffer.com
ioffer is one of the more established ebay look-a-likes. Established in 2001, a large portion of the shoppers on ioffer seem to be from Europe. That has been my experience in the months I spent selling items on their website.
Like the name implies, ioffer focuses heavily on a "best offer" type of system. Most buyers make offers on products rather than buy them outright. If you are OK with this type of haggling, then you could do fairly well on ioffer.
They do have bulk listing options and other features that make selling fairly easy. One major drawback is their "COPS" program, which is similar to eBay's VeRO program, in that listings are pulled without warning or explanation. This can be problematic, especially for sellers in the media category. I had several listings pulled because ioffer's COPS program thought they might be bootleg copies of DVDs. What they based this on, I have no idea, because I was selling legitimate US releases that I purchased from a very major US retail store.
3. Bonanzle.com
Bonanzle is like the popular new kid in town. It has become quite popular with sellers, because it is very easy to use, and offers bulk listing capabilities, and an automatic feed to google products, which gives your items more visibility. However, so far the buyer base is pretty small.
There is also some controversy around some of the revenue generation tactics that Bonanzle employs. Throughout their website, they link to Amazon's affiliate program, which can drive your potential customers away if Amazon is offering the same thing you are for a lower cost.
Overall, Bonanzle has a lot of promise, and in a few years, it may turn out to be a strong eBay alternative.
4. eBid.net
On paper, eBid looks like a pretty big operation. At the time of this article, eBid had about 2.4 million active listings, compared to eBay's 29 million. Looking only at the number of listings can be deceptive, because that doesn't indicate how many sales are actually taking place. Looking at eBid's website, they seem to focus more on their UK counterpart, but in recent years the US side has grown in popularity.
eBid's fees are fairly low, and you can use paypal or google checkout as a payment vehicle. If eBid ever really takes off, it would be well worth the cost of a lifetime membership at $49.99. Time will tell.
5. more coming soon! Start leaving your comments below with your own experiences.
