by HowardH » Sat Mar 26, 2005 6:24 pm
Since ebaY decided it could throw its weight around with impunity, I looked around to see if there was any viable competition.
The survey was dissappointing.
Waggle...popped. Site owner got his feelings hurt, went off and hid.
Bidcents...mysterious disappeared. Poof.
Overstock.com -- I thought that Overstock might actually be some competition, but they are just as stuck up as ebaY, and much less useful. I tried them for about 6 weeks. Aside from the very low sell-through rate, I got non-paying-buyers, which is something I don't get on ebaY. Utter waste of time.
Ubid. Can't find out what the seller's fees are without registering with you credit card. No-go.
Bidville. For such a small site, they sure are slow...
Liquidation.com. Hmmm. Interesting, but definitely not for everyone. Large lots only.
BluJay.com Here's one that looks promising, but it's not really an auction site. I've got several listings there, but I haven't had any buyers yet. But the price is right (free), and they are rapicly improving the site. Still has a few glitches, but I'm patient.
I saw in this thread that there is a new one called TheHighBidder.com, so I went to check it out. Looks nice, but it's obviously pretty new. I may want to give it a whirl, but I have some suggestions:
First, I know that you want to attract sellers, and that's probably why you have no basic listing fee. I hope that you eventually plan to charge something for the listing, so that 1) you'll make some money, and 2) you'll weed out the trash listings.
Second, the optional charges are a bit complicated, and it's obvious that you want to make all your money with add-ons. Back to my first suggestion: I would eventually like to see a charge for basic listings, and then maybe one or two categories of upgrades. For instance, an enhancement package with a few features, and a deluxe package with everything.
Third, I didn't see a final value fee -- which is GREAT! FVFs just encourage sellers to play tricks like reversing the sales and shipping prices.
After I have a chance to read up on your TOS, I think I definitely will give it a whirl.