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Is There An Alternative to Ebay?

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Is There An Alternative To Ebay!

I have been a great fan of Ebay for a number of years and have bought and sold on it almost on a weekly basis. But as a seller, one of the big drawbacks I have found with Ebay is the high cost of their fees. It is true that ebay does allow eBay Store owners to reduce their fees by referring their customers by a special url (although only Ebay.com users can do this), but still the fees can take quite a chunk out of your profits.

The problem is that Ebay dominates the online auction market and has milliions of visitors every day. This has meant that it's sellers often get a raw deal when it comes to fees, especially it's international customers. These fees can be a deterant to anyone who wants start up a business selling in online auctions.

But there is an alternative to eBay. It's a online auction site just like Ebay, only it allows you to list your items for free! You only ever pay a fee for a sale, or if you decide to upgrade your listing. This alternative ebay auction company has a number of international websites, and their traffic is growing daily. Who is this online auction site like Ebay? Their name is eBid.Net

In this lens I will talk you through all of the features of eBid.Net and show you how you can make use of this website to start your online business. This lens will also be helpful to Ebay sellers too as it will open up a new market for them to try. In fact they can try it it zero cost!

Listing On eBid Couldn't Be Easier

List As many Items As You Like - FREE!

eBid online auction website for you to join. Plus you can choose to have your items sold internationally too!

One of the biggest differences between eBid and ebay is the amount of traffic they receive. Whereas Ebay gets millions of hits; eBid only gets hundreds of thousands. But nevertheless it is still an extra market to plug into, so it is well worth the effort. Acording to Alexa.com Ebid is ranked 12,631 in the world and 900 in the UK (stats 21st September 2010)

Listing on eBid is as easy as listing on Ebay the only thing is, you pay nothing until your item sells, unless you decide on 'extras' but even the extras won't cost you anywhere near as much as Ebay charges.

My Ebid Store's

Kaazoom's Home and Leisure Store

Ebid allow you to have up to five free stores. This is one of mine that concentrates on home and leisure products

Making The Most Out Of Ebid

A Different Way Of doing things

Although eBid is a auction site like eBay, they are not the same. EBay gets huge amounts of traffic everyday and has a huge marketing budget. Making sales on eBid takes a bit more work. Most of eBid's traffic somes directly from google, all items that comply with Google's terms of service, and have a BUY Now option, are loaded directly to google base.

Make Your Title Search Engine Friendly

As most of the traffic come directly from Google, it important to think very carefully about what keywords you will be using in your auction title and in the listing itself. This will help to give you the best chance of your listing being found when someone makes a search on Google.

Make The Most Of Your All About Me Page

Ebidgives you loads of room for you to tell the world about yourself. Share with your potential buyers what makes you tick, give them details of your terms and conditions, in fact include anything you can think of to help build up your buyers confidence in buying from you.

bGive Plenty Of Detail In Your Listing/b

Let people know what your terms are in your listings too. According to Alexa the majority of people who visit eBid only view a listing for 38 seconds, so you have 38 seconds to draw your customer in and make a sale. The more detail you give about returns etc, the more chance you have of making a sale. Ebid is a much younger less well known auction site than Ebay, so it is important to give your potential customer as much info as possible. The objective is to inspire confidence.

bAlways Give Your auction A But It Now Option/b

Giving your auction a Buy It Now option means that it will get listed on Google. I and other users find it best to list items for between 7 and 10 days and set it to auto repost the maximum of ten times. This means your auction will run for at least 10 weeks. Remember, if you haven't bought any upgrades like gallery picture, it will not cost you a penny no matter how many times you list. But be careful if you upgrade your listing, as you will be charged the same fee every time it is reposted! The best thing to do is to take out one of their packages for a small fee. I have a Seller+ account which allows me to list as many items as I like. I have gallery pictures and have up to five stores. This is an optional one off fee. Listings are always free on Ebid unless you have optional extras.

b Learn From More Experienced Ebid Users/b

The forum is a great place to get tips and advice. What I have found so refreshing about ebid is the sense of not being alone. People help each other on Ebid, even those who are your potential competitors!

bAdd a Gallery Picture/b

Pictures in the buyers searches help to sell your item. Adding a gallery picture costs nothing unless your item sells, but even then it is only a 2% final value fee if and when the item sells. There are no fees to pay on listings that have no gallery picture and and upgrades.

b Be Patient!/b

As I have said before, although Ebid is a good alternative to eBay they are not the same. It takes far longer to make a sale on Ebid than it does on Ebay, BUT it costs less so you get to keep more of your profits! So it is probably best to think of Ebid as another option rather than the only option.">

Here Are Some Great Books About Online Auctions like Ebay!

Ebid Versus Ebay

Comparing The Two

There are definitely a number of differences between the two auction sites. Below I have listed some of them.

Traffic

There is no way of getting round this, eBay gets much more traffic than Ebid. But eBay have started to alienate many of there sellers by increasing their fees to an extent it is hard to make any money, this means there are many people looking for an alternative to eBay. Hopefully this will result in more traffic to Ebid.

Ebay Stores Vs Ebid Shops

There is a monthly fee for having a eBay store and you have to pay to list items on it. I know this is at a lower rate than regular listings but it still costs money. Also these listings do not show up in the normal searches. Whereas ebid lets you have up to five stores for FREE! And everything you list in your shop does show in the normal searches. The only way to get traffic from normal Ebay listings is to keep paying high fees to list in the regular listings, this can cost a fortune, especailly if you a lot of your items do not sell.

One way to think of your Ebid shop is to think of it like it being your online store. No hosting fees, very little SEO needed and a ready source of traffic that you can convert into sales.

Selling Low Value Items

Ebay seems to hate it's small sellers, especially those who sell low value items. Ebid loves, welcomes and encourages small sellers and sellers of low priced items. No fees unless something sells and you have upgraded to a gallery listing ,and then the fee is only 2% of the final sale price!

Feedback

Ebay gives buyers far more rights to buyers than to sellers, but Ebid's feedback system gives an equal amount of control on feedback to both sellers and buyers. It is easy to get negative feedback removed once an issue has been sorted out. Ebid does answer questions if you have them, where the best you get from Ebay is a copy and paste answer.

I think Ebid is well worth checking out. It isn't good that Ebay has very little competition. The more competition Ebay gets, the more they will take the needs of their own community to heart and perhaps even lower there fees! So go and check eBid out, sign up and give it a try. It will cost you nothing, and who knows it may even provide you with an additional income!

My Ebid Software And Games Store

Getting More Help

Making a success out of Ebid does take time and knowledge. I have put together a few links to places where you can get more help if you need it. Remember - on Ebid you are not on your own!

Ebids Forums: This is probably the best place to go to learn more about the benefits and challenges of selling on Ebid
Ebid Help: Ebid help has been written by experienced Ebid user Kimbo. It has a wealth of information about selling on Ebid
Ebid Tips And Tricks: A Excellent place to learn more.

Other Auction Sites Like Ebay.

Add your links

Have you found any other auction sites like ebay? If so add them here! You can even add your affiliate link to it if you like! Those of us who are addicted to online auctions, or rely on them to make money, need more choice.And Ebay needs more competition, so add your links here now!

Is There An Alternative to Ebay?

Is There An Alternative To Ebay!

Listing On eBid Couldn't Be Easier

List As many Items As You Like - FREE!

My Ebid Store's

Kaazoom's Home and Leisure Store

Making The Most Out Of Ebid

A Different Way Of doing things

Here Are Some Great Books About Online Auctions like Ebay!

Ebid Versus Ebay

Comparing The Two

My Ebid Software And Games Store

Getting More Help

Other Auction Sites Like Ebay.

Add your links

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