Any Ebay Alternatives That Work?

choille

I have recently found searching for stuff on Ebay quite difficult - trawling through reams & reams of tat from China & loads of stuff from USA.

I think they've been tinkering with their site & it's all a bit broken IMHO.

Flyonthewall

choille wrote: »

I have recently found searching for stuff on Ebay quite difficult - trawling through reams & reams of tat from China & loads of stuff from USA.

I think they've been tinkering with their site & it's all a bit broken IMHO.

Yeah, I keep finding the same. Don't find it difficult, just annoying, but there does seem to be more US and China stuff recently.

It is very glitchy at the moment. Odd glitches and problems are bound to happen with such a massive popular site but it does seem rather bad right now. Hopefully they'll get it sorted soon and stop messing with so many things.

Brooker_Dave

lovinituk wrote: »

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.

Alibaba is bigger than Amazon and ebay combined.

A decent website will pull in the punters and give you a level of control that you just don't get with ebay/paypal.

Contains_Mild_Peril

lovinituk wrote: »

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.

Amazon's not very suitable for vintage stuff though, is it? Etsy is worth a go. It's better known for selling new hand-crafted items but is also a marketplace for vintage. My local Facebook group doesn't seem particularly good for vintage stuff, though things like modern electronics and furniture sell well on it. Most FB and Gumtree customers are looking for local items they can easily collect in person, so if you live in the middle of nowhere they might not be worthwhile for lower end items.
I sell mostly vintage stuff and mostly on eBay, not because it's my preferred market but simply because it's often the only one where my stuff sells well enough.

soolin

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote: »

Amazon's not very suitable for vintage stuff though, is it? Etsy is worth a go. It's better known for selling new hand-crafted items but is also a marketplace for vintage. My local Facebook group doesn't seem particularly good for vintage stuff, though things like modern electronics and furniture sell well on it. Most FB and Gumtree customers are looking for local items they can easily collect in person, so if you live in the middle of nowhere they might not be worthwhile for lower end items.
I sell mostly vintage stuff and mostly on eBay, not because it's my preferred market but simply because it's often the only one where my stuff sells well enough.

You echo my own experience exactly, I have a strong overseas market so ebay works for me. I am beginning to pick up a lot of private sales though by a judicious use of wording in my emails or packing labels suggesting I have unlisted stock that might be of interest. I get a lot of people email me to ask about similar items, I have had TV companies approach me about supplying props , and I even had a Spanish buyer who I used to send auction catalogue details to when I knew I was attending an auction and basically buy on his behalf for commission.

Through facebook I have sold quite a bit more modern 'vintage' (if that makes sense), but people expect extremely low prices and I tended to do it to shift bulky stock like tea pots, coffee sets etc.

EDIT: I believe I supplied a few tiny weeny bits of railway items to the drama on TV about the Great Train robbers, it was quite a while ago and I don't know how long it took to film, but they sent a bike courier to collect items from me having bought one item on ebay and then asking about more.

lovinituk

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Alibaba is bigger than Amazon and ebay combined.

A decent website will pull in the punters and give you a level of control that you just don't get with ebay/paypal.

Oh Dave, really!! We worked out a long time ago that you don't have a clue!

Alibaba is a completely different platform to Amazon and eBay. Alibaba is a wholesale marketplace selling wholesale lots to trade customers with most of the sellers based in the Far East! So there is really no point in comparing them is there!

Yes, you get more control on your own website but you also don't get the same level of traffic on your own website (I'm starting to get bored of repeating myself!). If a serious seller has any sense, they will sell on their own website and eBay (and Amazon if its fits). As I said before - its really not rocket science, although you do seem to struggle with even the most basic principles!

lovinituk

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote: »

Amazon's not very suitable for vintage stuff though, is it?

I'm not sure to be honest. You can list anything you like on Amazon but you may have to purchase or rent barcodes if the items don't already have them. A lot of the stuff I sell is very niche and I was the first to sell some of it on Amazon but I do very well out of it. Amazon usually outsells eBay for me these days.

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote: »

Etsy is worth a go. It's better known for selling new hand-crafted items but is also a marketplace for vintage.

I've just started on Etsy last week and I'm actually pretty pleased with the initial results. I need to get some more stuff on there and see where it goes.

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote: »

My local Facebook group doesn't seem particularly good for vintage stuff, though things like modern electronics and furniture sell well on it. Most FB and Gumtree customers are looking for local items they can easily collect in person, so if you live in the middle of nowhere they might

These are sometimes useful as additional platforms but if you're a serious seller who wants to sell worldwide then they only represent a micro portion of potential buyers. I personally don't have the time to put in to local Facebook groups that would only bring me a handful of sales and I've never bothered with Gumtree for my business.

Brooker_Dave

lovinituk wrote: »

Oh Dave, really!! We worked out a long time ago that you don't have a clue!

Alibaba is a completely different platform to Amazon and eBay.

"the privately held Alibaba Group currently employs more than 20,000 people around the world and has more than 70 offices in Greater China, Singapore, India, the United Kingdom and the United States"

"Taobao Marketplace - China's most popular C2C online shopping destination"

"Tmall.com - China's leading B2C shopping destination for quality, brand-name goods"

"Alibaba.com - Leading global e-commerce platform for small businesses"

"AliExpress - Leading global e-marketplace for consumers

Launched in April 2010, AliExpress (https://www.aliexpress.com) is a leading global e-marketplace made up of small business sellers that offer a wide variety of consumer products with good value for money. It is dedicated to bringing unique products in more than 20 major product categories to its millions of registered buyers in more than 220 countries and regions."

"Alipay - Most widely used third-party online payment platform in China

Launched in December 2004, Alipay (https://www.alipay.com) is the most widely used third-party online payment solution in China. It provides an easy, safe and secure way for millions of individuals and businesses to make and receive payments on the Internet. On November 11, 2013, Alipay set a record for the highest number of single-day transactions, processing 171.3 million payments during the 24-hour period."

HTH

RFW

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

"the privately held Alibaba Group currently employs more than 20,000 people around the world and has more than 70 offices in Greater China, Singapore, India, the United Kingdom and the United States"

Launched in December 2004, Alipay (www.alipay.com) is the most widely used third-party online payment solution in China. It provides an easy, safe and secure way for millions of individuals and businesses to make and receive payments on the Internet. On November 11, 2013, Alipay set a record for the highest number of single-day transactions, processing 171.3 million payments during the 24-hour period."

HTH

Not sure why this is relevant on a thread asking for alternatives within the UK to sell vintage goods. Are there any UK sellers on Alibaba or any of their offshoots?

Brooker_Dave

RFW wrote: »

Not sure why this is relevant on a thread asking for alternatives within the UK to sell vintage goods. Are there any UK sellers on Alibaba or any of their offshoots?

Yes.

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?IndexArea=company_en&SearchText=uk&atm=&f0=y&country=UK

World's biggest online marketplace - and growing (unlike ebay)...