Alternatives to Ebay: More Places to Sell Your Stuff

While we all know Ebay and most of the world has either been a buyer or a seller on Ebay at some point, it is worth taking a look at some of its competitors. Why would you want to do this? Well, firstly some are cheaper, although some recent changes in Ebay's pricing policy that gap is narrowing. Secondly, some items are just better suited to a different marketplace. Finally, you may find that some your items just will not sell on Ebay, perhaps due to there being too much competition, so in these instances you may find that exposing your item to a different set of buyers increases your chance of success.

I have featured just three sites here; there are many many more, but the traffic for many of these is too low for you to make many sales. These three are the sites that I consider to be the main competitors to Ebay.


Amazon Marketplace

Amazon works in quite a different way to Ebay. Basically you can sell anything, as long as it is something that Amazon already sells. Listing is extremely easy in that you use the standard Amazon description and they also work out the postage and packing charges for you. Some people may find this restrictive and getting your listing stand out amongst the many others is tricky when the only variables available to you are price and condition. However, if you want fast and hassle free listing then Amazon could be for you. All sales are handled by Amazon's secure payment system and credited by Amazon to your bank account.

Another key consideration is that it costs absolutely nothing to list your items on Amazon - you pay nothing until your item sells. So if you have something that absolutely refuses to sell on Ebay, provided it is an item sold by Amazon, you can stick it on the Amazon Marketplace and leave it there until it finally sells!


eBid

Ebid is an auction site that has its similarities to Ebay. The key difference though is that the basic listing is completely free! You do, of course, have to pay a final sales fee. If you want to to upgrade your listing in any way (such as a gallery picture) then you do have to pay. However, what Ebid do offer is a subscription option, so you pay a fee and this covers all your auction costs for a given period, or for life if your prefer. So, potentially, the savings with eBid are huge. Payments for auctions are via Paypal, PPPay or Google Checkout.

www.CQout.com

CQOut is another site that is similar to Ebay, but the fees for sellers are much more competitive. Firstly, it is free to list and many of the enhancements to your listings are also free. There is of course a final value fee, but this is cheaper than Ebay. Also the fees for a CQOut shop is cheaper than that of Ebay. There is a very small one-off registration fee, but what you save in sellers fees more than makes up for this. Payments for auctions are made via SecurePay escrow.

Do you know of any other alternatives to Ebay that are worth trying?