Any Ebay Alternatives That Work?

choille

Getting rather fed up with Ebay what with fees on postage, more INR claims than is normal, low visibility etc.

Anyone have any suggestions of alternatives as a selling platform for vintage stuff?

PS: I should add that I live in the middle of nowhere so car boots are out of the question.

Stoke

Gumtree...

spacey2012

Facebook selling pages are all the rage now, type in selling and your town, most have many pages

highjewelgreen

Have a look at:

https://www.preloved.co.uk

I have never sold on there but have bought a few things.

soolin

I sell vintage as a business and for me eBay beats every other platform I have tried, I have a steady stream of overseas buyers al year round. I've tried Gumtree with no success , I sell a little on Facebook and a lot to repeat buyers who contact me via eBay about other stock I might have. I have been doing vintage fairs, but I did my last one yesterday as I don't make anywhere near enough to make it worthwhile and locally stalls are now around the £35 -£45.

I know you say you can't easily do car boots, but I do quite well there on occasions, but inly for the lower priced goods.

bxboards

I'd recommend getting your own website - the fees can be so high on Ebay (you can pay up to 75 pounds fees plus another 4% Paypal), whereas you can get a decent webhosting package for around 30 to 40, so even with just one fee-less sale, it's paid for itself.

I don't think Gumtree or Facebook are really viable, unless you only want to sell locally, and as you say you a fed up with postage fees and not received claims, I'm assuming that you post a lot, so local sales wouldn't be adequate.

If you are selling vintage items, presumably with some value, why are you not sending them tracked?

soolin

bxboards wrote: »

I'd recommend getting your own website - the fees can be so high on Ebay (you can pay up to 75 pounds fees plus another 4% Paypal), whereas you can get a decent webhosting package for around 30 to 40, so even with just one fee-less sale, it's paid for itself.

I don't think Gumtree or Facebook are really viable, unless you only want to sell locally, and as you say you a fed up with postage fees and not received claims, I'm assuming that you post a lot, so local sales wouldn't be adequate.

If you are selling vintage items, presumably with some value, why are you not sending them tracked?

Vintage does not equate to expensive , I hardily ever sell anything over £20 and use standard 2nd class. For my higher end stuff the market died a bit, but if I do sell expensive then I would quote for special delivery or MyHermes as appropriate.

A personal website would also not protect a seller from INR claims or SNAD claims as I would still need to use a merchant service to take payment, and PayPal would probably suit me.

Obviously OP may be selling higher end things, but if they are getting fees of £75 on a single item then the stuff may well be better off at a bricks and mortar auction where although the fees would be higher they wouldn't have to worry about posting.

lovinituk

The only other platform that has the customer base and potential sales as that of eBay, is Amazon and their fees are higher than eBay. Still the best 2 platforms available. The fees are small price to pay for the number of customers you are exposed to.

lovinituk

bxboards wrote: »

I'd recommend getting your own website - the fees can be so high on Ebay (you can pay up to 75 pounds fees plus another 4% Paypal), whereas you can get a decent webhosting package for around 30 to 40, so even with just one fee-less sale, it's paid for itself.

...and pretty much zero customers! To get the same traffic on your own website as you do on eBay would cost a lot more in SEO than you would pay in eBay fees!

bxboards

lovinituk wrote: »

...and pretty much zero customers! To get the same traffic on your own website as you do on eBay would cost a lot more in SEO than you would pay in eBay fees!

I get people fine my site through Google and I've never paid penny in search fees. Many hosting services offer a decent google adwords incentive.

Webhosting is so cheap, that is seems incredibly defeatish to dismiss it, because it might not work. Let's assume you do 10,000 pounds business a month, say 5 to 8 fees to Ebay, and another 2.5% Paypal (merchant rate) - that's a grand in fees right there.

Well worth a little effort to put that saving in your pocket rather than Ebay or Amazon...

mrcol1000

Selling on Ebay is a headache and full of hassles but for the price is a cheap way to reach a very large worldwide audience. You can make it work for you if you are willing to put the effort in.

Lots of people say they would never sell on Ebay or even buy but Ebay seems to be struggling along alright.