Another thread made me think about this, so I thought I'd ask here. Over the last few years, eBay has become so hard on small sellers. It used to be that you could sell and buy almost anything on there, but now it seems like that the site is overrun with wholesalers. And never mind the fact that they limit how many items you can list or that 4 stars is considered bad! Ugh, I could go about how annoyed I am with the site after ten years of being a loyal seller with 100% positive feedback. So, has anyone been successful on any alternative sites? There's one called Bonanza that I signed up for, but I never really listed anything. I'd love to hear what others in my situation are doing.
Etsy is a great site for small-sellers! I've purchased a few things off of various people on the site, but I haven't put anything that I've made up myself, so I can't give you my opinion on that end.Log In
I do not use any bid-for-item sites. If I am going to buy something secondhand I usually look on Craigslist. It is always helpful to see something in person before making a final decision.
iOffer, DHGate, AliExpress are the ones I've tried. All of them have Chinese/Taiwanese sellers on them so you can get a bunch of great deals in there.
What do you sell? As mentioned above, Etsy is awesome if you're a small craft or art seller at all. You might also want to think more locally by using consignment and resale shops if you're more into selling clothes and household goods.
I would suggest trying the following: webstore.com; ebid.net; listia.com All the 3 are similar to eBay, but they do not charge insertion fees & all those other ridiculous fees that eBay does. I have used all 3, and while they may not get at as much traffic as eBay, they are great to use.
The alternatives I have used are Etsy, Craigslist, and Listia. Etsy is my favorite, but it is only for handmade and vintage items. Craigslist can be hit and miss and you have to do dealings in person, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your situation and perspective. Listia is another decent alternative, however, you sell for credits and then use the credits to bid on other's stuff and the stuff available is not always that great and I gave up on the site after having to keep dealing with disputes as a buyer and a seller even though I always won them.
It's not an auction site, but what about the Amazon Marketplace? I have sold a lot of things there and done pretty well. Amazon does take a cut of your earnings, though.
I tried Amazon for books and doing okay for a while but had a disgruntled customer who claimed to never get their book (even though tracking said otherwise), and I stopped. I guess I could go back to that. Thanks for the ideas. I've put a few things on Etsy but no sales. I sold everything on ebay - books, clothing, toys - mostly kids' items. Like someone said, with Etsy, it's only handmade and vintage items, so I have to switch up what I buy to resale. I really just feel like ebay is running itself into the ground by trying to adopt this new image. That's their right, but it makes me sad.
Don't let one disgruntled customer ruin the whole experience for you! It's possible a neighbor got the book or the book ended up lost in their home before they realized it even got delivered, etc. It happens and it sucks they threw a fit, but that's the minority of sales. If you have a lot of books, I sell on Half.com. I know it's owned by Ebay and you're wanting to get away from them, but as a book sale site, I've had a lot more luck with the half.com part than I did trying to sell them on Ebay itself.
eBay has been so diapointing lately. I have listed tons of items in the past few weeks; two of them have sold. The first was returned becuase the customer changed her mind and the second has still not been paid for because the buyer decided it is "actually not for him". Ever since sellers can't leave negative feedback, it has become less of a sellers world. Not to mention they put a cap on sellers listings, apparantly, that's a new thing they are doing until buyers re-establish themselves. I am getting less interested in eBay by the day. So far since I started listed again, I have incurred nothing but fees and headaches! Amazon has been a better experience for me, but their fees can be outrageous. To be honest, depending on what I am selling, I have had my best experiences with Craigslist! I am definitely going tolook into the other auction sites listed here (thanks for sharing!) and I will come back with feedback on my experiences! Meanwhile, I would love to hear more on this topic.
I always start at Google shopping as it encompasses all the internet sellers, then I can narrow it down from there. Let us know if this helps.
I believe you can also use Buy.com as an alternative to Ebay for selling things. They don't do auctions but you can sell anything on there. I consider the site basically like Amazon but it accepts Paypal. A lot of people use Paypal and want to buy things online but they cannot since amazon does not accept Paypal. So most of these people go to Buy.com where they can hopefully buy some of the stuff you're selling!
One site that I did not see mentioned at all, but I have done really well on selling with is eCrater.com. This is a free site to use and does not even charge you any fees for listing! The only time I have to pay fees is when the item sells and this is the normal PayPal fees. The only downside is you have to get to learn more about the Internet marketing aspect as you have to take care of all the marketing on your own.
Wow! Nice suggestions guys! I'm slowly discovering sites where I can potentially get good deals from! However, do all of these sites ship internationally? I'm from Asia and was wondering about that.
I use Quibids as my auction site. I think it's better than eBay because you can get items cheaper. The only downside is you have to pay for your bids, but this stops people from bidding that goes on forever. I just bought a stereo set from there, and it was only $100 brand new in the box. The bidding can get pretty intense and I suggest using your bids wisely. When I was new to the site I would waste all of my bids, and I would never win any auctions. I learned my own method of bidding that has been successful for the most part. Give it a try if you want an alternative to eBay.
I've only used Bonanza and Amazon in substitution for Ebay. And honestly, I'd use ANYTHING in place of Ebay. I've had too many bad experiences with them.
Lista.com is a great alternative shopping site. Although you need to pay for bids, the items are extremely cheap. You can also earn bids by trying out products like Netflix. Ebay is the only site I know that doesn't charge for bids. Lista is a great alternative with trusted sellers.
