Ebid V Ebay

tigeress289

No contest, eBay and Amazon are light years ahead of eBid.

bargainsniffer1

Thanks to all.

MissGivings_2

timekeeper wrote: »

hi i apologise for hijacking this thread but do not know how to open my own thread about this
(maybe a guide can help)

i don't know anything about selling on either one of these but having read loads of success stories on here, i thought i might look at enrolling with ebay and maybe use paypal
i had both many years ago but the accounts closed when i moved from UK
so my question is, whats needed to enrol with these two these days?

good luck with your enquiry by the way
thanks

I suggest registering an account on eBay.

There is information about buying and selling in 'help', help topics on the top right of your page in your account.

clear instructions are given about PayPal once you open an eBay account.

You must accept payment by PayPal if that's how the buyer wants to pay, so selling without PayPal would restrict you.

It's a good idea to buy say 10-12 items to build up a feedback score see for yourself how eBay works nowadays

eBay has made big changes in buyer protection, so don't sell before you've become aware of what an accurate returns policy is.

New sellers can have limits put on selling for a while until feedback and stars build up.

In 'site preferences' in postal preferences you can choose countries you don't post to. (It's not enough to mention things in your description in your listing, you must actually choose these options in site prefs)

In 'buyer preferences' you can block bidders you don't want etc.

Send items out as quickly as possible as buyers expect really fast postage.

Best Wishes

PS-just above and to the left of 'threads in forum there's a blue button that says 'new thread'

patman99

The main diff is that Ebay have grown by buying smaller competitors, not by being the best. Ebid are growing by recruiting new sellers rather than simply buying them in.
When I first started using auction sites, Ebid had twice the user-base of Ebay (which had, at the time been running for 2 years), Ebay then bought FSAuctions and by doing this, they gained 137,00 new users (myself included). Since then, Ebay have aquired several other sites.

Ebid did miss a large chance to gain themselves over 100k users when Tazbar decided to call it a day. They could have bought the whole operation for peanuts, but instead, stood-by and watched it disappear forever (or until someone else resurrects the name/site).

I have had an Ebid account for a while, and have sold only 1 item, a YSL coat that Ebay removed when I listed it on there.

RFW

patman99 wrote: »

The main diff is that Ebay have grown by buying smaller competitors, not by being the best. Ebid are growing by recruiting new sellers rather than simply buying them in.
When I first started using auction sites, Ebid had twice the user-base of Ebay (which had, at the time been running for 2 years), Ebay then bought FSAuctions and by doing this, they gained 137,00 new users (myself included). Since then, Ebay have aquired several other sites.

It seems to me that Ebay vs Ebid isn't a fair fight at any level. They are now two completely different entities albeit they may have started from the same place. If Ebid were to put themselves as a main rival to Ebay then they would be seen as a failure, they started the same time (actually earlier in the UK) and have got a tenth or less of Ebay's traffic, listings or sales. Ebay had the clout to buy up other companies where Ebid are happy (or appear to be) with what they have, a nice little business. At this stage Ebid are never going to rival Ebay on a like for like basis, only if they were bought out by another big company (Amazon, Facebook, etc) could that happen.

Ebid are in the same market as Ebay in a similar way to a corner grocery store being in the same business as Tesco. Some people shop in both, some choose one or the other.

Crowqueen

eBay have succeeded by having money to buy advertising spots on national TV, thereby getting the traffic in and making it attractive to list there. eBay is much more attractive to buyers, which is how the money is ultimately generated - so although eBid once had twice the userbase, it hardly has that now.

If they were such a threat, why didn't eBay buy them out then? I would have thought it would have ripe for exploitation, as you suggest. Why don't they do that now? It might actually help them out. Give them some tips in bringing in revenue, needed for buyer protection and advertising beyond the small community they muster?

I've yet to really see eBid take off, sure they are getting sellers in, but it means nothing if there are few buyers.

How do you think Amazon and Play got so good then? Or any other large company? B.U.Y.E.R.S.

RFW

Crowqueen wrote: »

If they were such a threat, why didn't eBay buy them out then?

I think it suits Ebay to have Ebid around.

Crowqueen

RFW wrote: »

I think it suits Ebay to have Ebid around.

Putting the kibosh on conspiracy theories for one thing .

patman99

Ebid's founders would rather shut-up-shop than sell to Ebay.

One thing I have found out via a stamp and coin collector friend, all the trade mags for stamps, coins and medals warn their members to steer-clear of Ebay and only sell on Ebid due to the excessive number of frauds committed by buyers on Ebay.
I have sold a few coins and stamps on Ebay and have had no problems whatsoever. My friend did the same, but also tried Ebid. Sales of items were 30% less than if he had listed on Ebay, but the value of each sale was on average, 18% higher, so overall he made more while selling less.

I will still sell the odd thing on Ebid just to claw-back the lifetime sellers fee, but once done, I might even close the account completely.

RFW

patman99 wrote: »

Ebid's founders would rather shut-up-shop than sell to Ebay.

If that is true it says a lot about Ebid, whether good or bad is open to interpretation.