Why Aren't People Joining Ebid?

linbadd

I've just posted a reply on another thread, and thought it a good idea to put the information into this new thread.

If, like me, you sell on ebay, you're probably fed up with fee increases and still having to pay listing fees when items don't sell.

The more competition ebay get, the more they'll have to think about reducing fees and improving service.

You could try selling on ebid.co.uk.

It's free to sign up for a 'buyer account', then upgrade to a 'seller account' member. You can then list items with one photograph without any charge as long as you opt for a 'standard' auction.

If you use the 'start auction on first bid' option, your listing will stay on until someone bids, unlike ebay, where you have to specify a starting time and the auction often ends without any bids.

If no-one buys your item in an ebid 'standard' auction, you don't pay any charges at all - not like ebay, where you pay listing fees even for unsold items.

With a 'standard' ebid auction the only fee you pay is the 'final value' fee, which is 3%. For lower value items this is just over half of the ebay final value fee.

Always start your auction with a starting price that is the minimum amount you are prepared to sell for, so you don't end up giving things away for much less than their value.

Although ebid member numbers are growing slowly, it doesn't yet have anywhere near the kind of following that ebay does, so, as yet, things can take a long time to sell and usually go for the starting price. They don't spend lots of money on TV and poster advertising - hence their low commission charges. Hopefully sales rates (and prices!) will increase as more people (like me) get fed up with ebay's regular price increases for service which could be a lot better and fees for unsold items.

I've found the service at ebid excellent so far and they've been very helpful in answering queries and sorting out any problems. Hope this continues as member numbers grow!

Why not give it a try? The more of us that join, the better the auctions will get. And the more ebay will have to think about giving sellers (and consequently buyers) a better deal.

Syman

i have registered with Ebid, though only as a buyer, to see if there are any better deals on there. Unfortunately it seems to be a bit of a catch 22 situation.

people will not use it as there is a far wider range of goods on fleabay - so buyers stick to that. there are less buyers so sellers will rather put stuff on ebay. and so the circle continues.

there is also the stigma that lots of the sellers on there are possibly sellers that have been banned by fleabay for one reason or another. whether this is true or not, reputations are hard to shake off.

i will keep looking when i require something but if it is cheaper on fleabay then i will buy from there

soolin

Hi Linbad and welome to this board.

Many sellers here are also registered with Ebid and it is one of the sites mentioned in the sticky post at the top of this forum. I don't know if you are new on ebid but I just wanted to clarify that Ebid is by no means a new site, it has been going for approximately 8 years.

peter_the_piper

I had an auction (plants) running for over 6 months with no watchers and no buyers. It seems most of the successful auctions were dvds, electrical and craft related, if this is for you then its worth a try.

ormus

ebid is a complete joke compared to ebay.
only qxl seems worse than ebid and even thats debatable.

frivolous_fay

'Why Aren't People Joining Ebid?'

They're not? Darn, that's kind of a deterrent to doing so, wouldn't you say?

CHR15

Perhaps people get fed up with Ebid owners registering with different usernames to advertise their site all over forums.

A few years back Forums seemed to default with IP addresses at the bottom right of each post. Made it simple to see if people had more than one username.
These days with all our privacy laws we could never show the IP addies, but I reckon we would see a lot of remarkably similar IP addresses on threads about ebid.

ormus

yep.
i see our OP has posted more spam in other threads too.

linbadd

Hi CHR15 and ormus.

I did start by saying that I'd already put this post as a reply in another thread, which made me think of starting this thread.

I assume you are implying that I'm somehow connected to ebid.

Afraid you're wrong. I only have one user name and one IP address. I'm just a frustrated ebay - and ebid - seller.

I only list on ebay on cheap listing days now, as I sell a lot of low-priced items and the usual fees make it unworthwhile.

I see that ebay have even managed to stop me doing that this month. The cheap listing is only for payments by Paypal (owned, as we know, by ebay), for which you need a Paypal business account (and hence have to pay Paypal fees in addition to ebay fees), rather than a free personal account, which is what I've got.

I'm afraid Syman is right. It is a catch 22 situation. Ebay has the seller and customer base (including me!) and will carry on while other auction sites fall by the wayside.

Ah well, looks like I won't be making my fortune through internet selling. Any better ideas?

d123

eBid is useless, it's pointless having free/cheap selling when there are virtually no buyers around. You can list items at half the price that they would sell for on Ebay and they dont sell.

I'm sure the original post has been posted on MSE previously, almost word for word but by a different poster. It reads like an advert.

Dave

linbadd

If you read the original post, I said I'd just posted it as a reply in another thread. I said it again in the post before yours!

You can check all the posts which mention the site in question. Just search the forums. I've just done so, and can't find anything by "a different poster" which is "almost word for word".

I was pointing out, for anyone who hadn't come across the site, that there is a cheaper alternative to ebay, but I did mention disadvantages too - that there are far less people using it than there are using ebay and that things can take a long time to sell and usually only get the starting bid price.

Not the best of adverts!