An eBay Revolt and Some Alternatives

There is an eBay revolt in progress, led by a large number of eBay Power Sellers. They are boycotting eBay because of a change in their recent policies including much higher seller's fees. These have been brought about by the new CEO of eBay, John Donahoe. One of his most controversial changes, besides fee increases, is the elimination of negative buyer feedback. The first boycott occurred in mid-February and eBay claims it had no effect on revenues. The second organized boycott began on May 1 and its effects are still unknown.

Obviously, the fees are the biggest gripe that Power Sellers have. They claim on their semi-official boycott Web site that a seller can lose anywhere from 30%-60% of their profits to eBay fees. I agree with them there as I have personally not used e-Bay lately because I thought their fees were way too high. It is hard to figure this out at first as eBay has very cryptic, multi-tiered fee schedules that are difficult to discern at first. But, if you take the time to figure it all out, you may be surprised at how high these fees add up to be.

It will be interesting to see what this will do to eBay's business. I don't think it will have much effect initially, but over time, buyers and sellers will become very aware of the high fees as sellers will have to raise their prices to try and stay more profitable. Eventually eBay's revenues will begin to shrink as more and more competitors come on line to fill in the void. Whenever you get away from the basic core concept of your business to increase revenues, you will eventually pay the price.

In the meantime, thanks to a great, fairly new Web site called AppScout (an offshoot of PC Magazine whose goal is to "search of the best software, sites, and Web apps") , here is a list of eBay alternatives that you might find of interest:

Amazon: As the Web's number-one retailer, Amazon is the obvious choice for disillusioned eBay sellers. Although the site doesn't offer an auction feature anymore, its Stores section is a terrific place for sellers to pawn new and used goods. Best of all, no listing fee.

Audiogon: This audio site features a place for members to buy and sell used hardware. One former eBay seller who has given his business almost entirely to this site and Amazon noted that Audiogon, whose tagline is "The High End Audio Community," offers listings for a flat fee of $8--unlike eBay, which takes a percentage off of the final sales price of products.

Craigslist: Next to Amazon, Craigslist seems to be the obvious choice for former eBay sellers, thanks to its huge built-in user base. Craiglist is localized, though, which may prove a mixed blessing for users, depending on the kind of wares they're hawking. Of course, as one seller pointed out, eBay has a stake in this popular classifieds site.

eCrater: You can't talk about this online auction site without noting the similarities its name shares with that other popular site in the same space. The biggest difference? eCrater refers to itself as "100-percent free," stating, "Your eCrater store is offered to you at no charge. It will remain free, which means sellers will always get a 100% of their sales. A step in the development of the site is the introduction of premium product positions. With that, charges will apply only to sellers that are willing to advertise their products so they appear in premium positions in the corresponding categories."

Etsy: Etsy is the go-to site for sellers of handmade arts and crafts. The site's homepage showcases a large cross-section of goods, including pottery, jewelry, glassware, and crochet, among others.

iOffer: "This is not an auction. It's better!" reads iOffer's front page. The site is a bit more like a flea market; it does away with auction end times and focuses more on haggling.

Neoloch: One seller who has been actively looking for good eBay alternatives pointed us to this site, saying, "Right now, my favorite one is Neoloch, just started by a Power Seller in response to this eBay nonsense. It's small, but growing." Perhaps attempting to contrast with big, bad eBay, Neoloch is touting itself as "The Friendly Auction Site."

Onlineauction.com: That's about as straightforward as Web site names get. Four users who contacted us have switched to the site. Users pay a flat $8 month to list auctions, as opposed to eBay's per-item fee. One user reported success after the switch, while another has yet to sell anything through the site.

Overstock Auctions: According to one former eBay seller, Overstock's auction arm is, the "most similar to eBay in structure." An offshoot of the popular retail bargain site, Overstock Auctions is also one of the best-looking sites on the list.

Trocadero: More of a storefront than an auction site, Trocadero is an outlet for antique and fine art sales. Says one seller, "A basic store with them is only $4 more a month than at eBay and they take no commission. A medium tier store is $45 monthly, again with no commission."

Wagglepop: Wagglepop's tagline is "Join the Revolution," and from the comments left on this post, early this morning, clearly a few people have headed the call. The site charges a flat rate of $9.95 a month for unlimited listings. Said one commenter, "they get indexed on Google and you get real help from real people who care about helping others sell. No back stabbing[...], no high fees, and Wagglepop will give you peace of mind because you are in control of your auctions and store."

Powersellers Unite, one of the centralized boycott sites, features even more alternative sites as part of its Auction Watch. It also offers its very own storefronts for disillusioned users.

eBid: This familiar-sounding auction site was created in the U.K. in 1998. Since then, eBid has gained a considerable amount of popularity and opened up shop in nine more countries, including the U.S. "It's improving all the time," one commenter told us, "but just needs a big boost in terms of sellers and buyers."

eCrater: Like eBid, eCrater offers free listings. On top of that, users get "free website hosting, a free subdomain and a powerful admin tool to manage their free online stores," according to the homepage. Said one Appscout reader: "I've been with eCrater for nearly two years... sales are slow compared to eBay but [I] ship several sales a month and adore the increased profitability on eCrater since the site is completely free to use."

Ewaey: As far as names are concerned, Ewaey is perhaps the most blantant eBay ripoff around--even its multicolored lowercase logo looks pretty familiar. But as one of our readers put it, "It is very easy to list on and the customer service is great. Check it out, could [really be a] competitor to eBay in the future." The first 5,000 users get free listings forever--not sure how many they're up to at present, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

Google Base Beta: Google Base is a powerful and free service for getting your sale items listed in the country's most popular search engine. One reader put it this way: "That Google search box is some prime real estate, and it's free."

Hoobly: As evidenced by its blank About page, Hoobly still has a ways to go before it catches up with Google--and really, the site is more of an online classified site, comparable to, say, Craigslist. However, according to a PR rep who contacted us after the last eBay alternatives story, 500,000 people have already signed up for the site. So they must be doing something right. Right?

PlunderHere: Yaaaarrrr. Here be a pirate-themed auction site. The design leaves something to be desired, but still--pirates!

Ruby Lane: This site is geared toward users looking to sell things like antiques and jewelry. Items cost 30 cents to list, and the site doesn't take a commission on your sales.