Alternatives to ebay

Flyonthewall

AG47 wrote: »

Openbazaar is going to change the world
eBay are very scared

Imagine free and international with no restrictions or currency exchange problems only Bitcoin for all transactions

No, they're not.

"OpenBazaar is a different way to do online commerce. Instead of visiting a website, you download and install a program on your computer that directly connects you to other people looking to buy and sell goods and services with you. This peer to peer network isn't controlled by any company or organization - it's a community of people who want to engage in trade directly with each other."

So it's open for people to scam and possibly send viruses because no one is controlling it and you have to install a program and directly connect.

People just aren't going to do that for so many reasons before you even start on the Bitcoin only. I bet at least half of ebay buyers/sellers don't even know what Bitcoin is, much less know how it all works and want to use it.

There's still going to be restrictions if sending items in the post. Marketplaces can't change how the postal system works.

"Can I get a notification when my item has received an order, or when my order has been processed? No, but this is an important feature we will be working on in the future."


Right now they don't even have the basics.


"How will you keep illicit goods off of OpenBazaar?
OpenBazaar is a protocol for trading goods online, and a decentralized network for people to communicate with each other. Since the network isn’t centrally controlled (by us or anyone), we cannot directly prevent people from selling illicit goods."


Followed by "Sellers on the OpenBazaar network host their own products and are therefore directly responsible for complying with local laws (and their own conscience) when listing items or services."


So basically only scammers will be using the site. So they can all just scam each other. Not a bad idea!


However, anyone with even the slightest bit of sense wouldn't touch this. No protection for each side, a paradise for scammers and dodgy goods, lack of basic selling features and more.


Even if they add more features the thing is not designed to protect those that use it in anyway. No one has or will ever have any control of what goes on with transactions.


Only thing that'll scare ebay about Openbazaar is that they won't even be able to stop laughing at how someone could ever hope to compete with them with that.

RFW

lovinituk wrote: »

It's not as simple as that, apart from the fact that you can't actually advertise your own website directly on Amazon or eBay. With every eBay order we send a 10% off code for our website (our website prices are the same as our eBay prices). We've been doing this for the last 4 or 5 months and do around 50 - 100 sales a day on eBay.

Out of those thousands of eBay sales, the 10% off code has been used.... once!!

We've had plenty of repeat buyers but it appears they would rather pay the extra 10% for the security of buying through eBay.

I have a similar pick up rate for a similar scheme.
It is worth making sure your website has a better deal than Amazon or Ebay. I've been buying supplies on Amazon from one seller, I had a 10% off deal for their website and it was still 10% more than they were selling for on Amazon!

RFW

AG47 wrote: »

Openbazaar is going to change the world
eBay are very scared

Imagine free and international with no restrictions or currency exchange problems only Bitcoin for all transactions

I'd wager Ebay haven't heard of them. If your target market is 14 year old boys then using Bitcoin is a great idea, otherwise it stops anyone buying, most people don't know what it is. A marketplace, previously known as DarkMarket, born out of one that was predominantly known for selling drugs (Silk Road) is hardly going to be seen as a safe place to shop (whether it is or not).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenBazaar

Flyonthewall

RFW wrote: »

I'd wager Ebay haven't heard of them. If your target market is 14 year old boys then using Bitcoin is a great idea, otherwise it stops anyone buying, most people don't know what it is. A marketplace, previously known as DarkMarket, born out of one that was predominantly known for selling drugs (Silk Road) is hardly going to be seen as a safe place to shop (whether it is or not).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenBazaar

My reply on that was going to be a quick one based on the Bitcoin issue. Then I Iooked at the FAQ for OpenBazaar and my reply ended up a bit longer lol.

It's far from safe. It'll never be safe at all. Ever.

As you read the FAQ it just gets worse and worse. I can't understand why anyone would ever think it is a good idea.

RFW

Flyonthewall wrote: »

My reply on that was going to be a quick one based on the Bitcoin issue. Then I Iooked at the FAQ for OpenBazaar and my reply ended up a bit longer lol.

It's far from safe. It'll never be safe at all. Ever.

As you read the FAQ it just gets worse and worse. I can't understand why anyone would ever think it is a good idea.

If anything Ebay would quite like it, it would move any dodgy chancers from their site.
It seems to be the internet equivalent of the back room in a very shady pub.

soolin

RFW wrote: »

I have a similar pick up rate for a similar scheme.
It is worth making sure your website has a better deal than Amazon or Ebay. I've been buying supplies on Amazon from one seller, I had a 10% off deal for their website and it was still 10% more than they were selling for on Amazon!

Same here, I add a thank you slip to all my packages and have tried various marketing techniques. I used to have a small website, nothing grand- but selling considerably cheaper than ebay. I did get a few sales, barely worth the effort though to spend time updating the photos and such like- most repeat buyers just bought again on ebay. I then tried adding a direct link to my ebid stores- again selling the same goods cheaper, and didn't ever get a sale- people preferred to buy on ebay. I now just tell them if they want to reorder, or if they want anything from my shop to contact me on my email address (which I supply) as I will give them a discount on the ebay prices. I do get a few sales that way but it is quite time consuming as they ask questions- they change their mind, they want variations, whereas on ebay they press BIN, pay and I ship.I have recently though had some very good sales away from ebay where I've made up packages of goods, mainly to shops or production companies and they have just paid via a paypal invoice.

AS for the openbazaar site, I clicked, read perhaps a paragraph or two and decided it is a not with a bargepole site as far as I'm concerned.