Ebid vs Ebay

TurkishDelight

Who would want to buy on ebid? The site has a reputation of being sellers that have been kicked of ebay, and none of the popular payment options secure your money in the same way that paypal on ebay does.

And the fees... well if sellers are passing on all discounts to their customers then the item will be 7% cheaper than ebay. Big deal :rolleyes:
Most of the sellers will probably just put the items on at the exact same price anyway.

I'd love for there to be a viable alternative to ebay, but ebid really isn't it unless they have a major shake up.

HTML200

As I've only just heard of it, I've no idea what Ebid's reputation is, but when you're as skint as me 7% makes all the difference

They've got a Paypal logo on their front page, so hopefully you'd get the same protection as you get on Ebay. I'm pretty sure Paypal offer the same protection everywhere, so it would be a bit naughty if they excluded Ebid.

TurkishDelight

HTML200 wrote: »

As I've only just heard of it, I've no idea what Ebid's reputation is, but when you're as skint as me 7% makes all the difference

They've got a Paypal logo on their front page, so hopefully you'd get the same protection as you get on Ebay. I'm pretty sure Paypal offer the same protection everywhere, so it would be a bit naughty if they excluded Ebid.

No you don't get the same protection. Full paypal protection is only offered on ebay sales. The only dispute you can raise is non reciept and if the seller has emptied and closed their account then you won't get any money back. With ebay they will pay out of their own pockets if they have to and you have the significantly not as described option too.

Mistymaid

TurkishD (my favourite)
Would you mind letting me know who is saying eBid is where all the buyers go who have been kicked off eBay? Which is of course a defamatory statement and needs to be rectified immediately.
Thanks.

I would think a lot of it depends on what you sell and what your expectations are.

I leave the majority (well, all, actually) of my stock on eBid during the summer months. This is because it has become very easy over recent years to actually lose money on eBay due to the slow buying comparative to the costs involved.

Although it's usually very quiet on eBid, I have noticed, particularly during the last couple of months, that sales have most certainly increased. In fact, I'm nearly inspired!
BUT, you certainly aren't going to get the same volume of sales.
Then again, eBay is crap for me in the summer so I'd rather go to a site where I have less risk of actually losing money.

I then move a lot of my stock over to eBay come October time where I get more money for it and a much quicker turnover of stock. However, this year, I really don't know - still thinking about it.
Indirect increase of fees, increasing legislation, and the problems with the postal strike - dunno.
To be honest, if I was better located I'd be off to the boots and fairs quicker than you could spit and wouldn't give eBay a backward glance.

Depends on your expectations, but if you are willing to spend the time listing on eBid that is all it is going to cost you.

You can still use eBay for your faster turnover and if the hassle proves not to be worth it, simply stop.

TurkishDelight

Mistymaid wrote: »

TurkishD (my favourite)
Would you mind letting me know who is saying eBid is where all the buyers go who have been kicked off eBay? Which is of course a defamatory statement and needs to be rectified immediately.
Thanks.

It's just a reputation it's got, you know how these things spread. When people are kicked off ebay it seems a natural progression, and is even suggested here often enough such as http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1898089&highlight=ebid

I'm not saying that eveyone who sells on ebid have broken ebays rules- we've given it a go, and know some of our competitiors from ebay have as well. (even bought some supplies from one of them on ebid, although it did take ages to turn up because they didn't realise that they'd made a sale :rotfl:)
But in this business you have to think how a buyer will think, and I am not comfortable buying from ebid for those reasons.

HTML200

TD: If that's the case it's a shame. I think the idea of Ebid appeals to my cheer-for-the-underdog nature. Barely any of my stuff is shifting on Ebay at the moment and if things don't pick up the constant relisting fees might make the whole thing unworkable. Most of the time I'm just about breaking even against the fees. (I rarely seem to get a relisting credit for some reason, I don't know why, I really should go and read the smallprint some time)

soolin

patman99 wrote: »

Most of the 'I've been banned' people find themselves quickly added to other peoples blocked lists, after all, who wants to deal with those banned for ripping people off.

Go and read the forums again unless some posts have been pulled there have been some in the past week being congratulated at seeing the light but it being a shame they had to get kicked off ebay first.

patman99 wrote: »

There are a lot of Ebayers who also list on Ebid (myself included), in almost every case, I can pick the same item up from the same seller 10% cheaper on Ebid.
.

Again I'm not sure that this actually helps the ebid image suggesting that sellers can't achieve the same prices there as they can on ebay?

I would add as well that I have more than 10 + feedback and still can't sell anything..but I am trying again.

Mistymaid

Yes TD, but I'm asking where this information is in fact - not silly gossip.

Because I'm actually sure there would be hell to pay if you substituted the eBay name for eBid in your statement, yet it seems quite acceptable to say it about the sellers on eBid. Which, means me and that affects my business reputation.

You really should be aware that making such statements, just by passing the gossip on, makes you liable not just the person who originally made the statement.
After all, what's that old saying, 'The only thing that gives a lie it's strength is the fool who believes it.'

And on another positive note, although buyer protection via PP is not as strong as it is on eBay, the speed with which eBid react to both non-paying bidders and non-performing sellers is spectacular.
Email them and tell them your problem and the individual concerned is usually suspended immediately until the matter is further investigated.

Mistymaid

Yes, Soolin, but people are being 'kicked off,' eBay for all sorts of strange reasons at the moment, aren't they????

Little things like having a scoring system rating 1-5 where eBay have decided that a 4 rates as bad and a 5 rates as good. What the hell 1 indicates I don't know.

In the rest of the real world this is usually a gradient system ie. 1 - poor, 5 - great.

If a customer rates a seller as merely 4, which is normally associated with being good, eBay decided that is a BAD seller and can impose sanctions.

I wonder what a court would make of it, assuming of course that you use the 'reasonable man,' as a guideline.

soolin

Ebid themselves though allow talk of banned ebay users on their forums and that has always been my problem. Why does ebid do themselves a diservice by allowing thse posts..that just gets carried back to other forums. So the gossip starts from ebid itself.