Alternatives to selling on eBay, other eCommerce and retail channels to consider.
Friday, May 12, 2017Lauren Macdonald
There’s many features that make eBay a top choice for merchants who want an independent online selling platform where they can sell their products, fast.
The advantages to selling on eBay are:
- eBay has brand recognition and built-in trust
- The ability to auction off products makes it the best place to sell rare items or items for which you aren’t sure of the value
- They offer seller and buyer protection
- Many eBay users means the ability to easily get your product in front of a lot of potential buyers
If you like these features but want to sell in more places and are looking for some eBay alternatives, here is a list of some of the most popular eBay competitors:
Bonanza
Bonanza is similar to eBay in that a huge range of products are being sold on both, so the sky’s the limit for what you can sell. Unlike eBay, however, many items on Bonanza tend to be unique and quirky, so if you’re a merchant with some extraordinary items, you’ll likely do well on Bonanza.
Another advantage of Bonanza is that it doesn’t make money unless its sellers do, meaning you’ll see higher profit margins. Not to mention, the average fee per sale can be as little as 3.5% which is considerably less than eBay.
One major difference between Bonanza and eBay, however, is that Bonanza is a fixed-price marketplace, meaning that buyers pay the listed price, as opposed to bidding against other buyers the way they do in eBay’s auction-style listings.
eBid
eBid is another marketplace similar to eBay in the sense that you can sell almost anything. It also has an auction-style format for product listings. The difference? eBid is a lower cost option than eBay, but the profitability rating is also lower. There’s no listing fees and low 3 percent commission charged per sale, so eBid is a relatively low-risk option.
Remember though that eBid is not as well known as eBay and has much less traffic, so you’d be selling to a smaller pool of buyers.
Etsy
Whereas you can sell pretty much anything on eBay and some of its competitors, Etsy caters to sellers within the handmade/vintage/boutique niche. eBay has mass-sold items and big brands, while Etsy’s buyers enjoy the unique nature of the products they’re ordering.
While eBay gets more traffic and a larger market and audience, Etsy reportedly has better support, coming out several places higher than eBay on their
Sellers Choice communication rating.
Newegg
Much like Etsy, Newegg is a great alternative to eBay, but probably only a good fit for a very specific type of seller. Newegg is a great platform choice for a seller whose specialty is in new electronics. However, it is gradually expanding its offering with categories such as apparel, arts and crafts, jewelry, and home goods.
It’s also growing fast. As of 2016, Newegg had over 30 million registered users and over 20 million SKUs.
uBid.com
With over six million active members, uBid is a popular eCommerce site that offers a wide range of over 5 million products (new, used, and refurbished). Just like eBay, these goods are sold directly by uBid and its pool of certified third-party merchants through auction listings or fixed-price listings. It’s not as big as eBay, but it could be a good option if you’re looking for more platforms to sell on!
Walmart Marketplace
While Walmart is best known as a general merchandise discount giant, the retailer it ramping up its online marketplace significantly. On the marketplace, which is integrated with Walmart.com, Walmart sells a wide and growing selection of merchandise from third party sellers.
Walmart.com is the 2
nd most visited eCommerce website in the United States with 88 million unique visitors per month. This means if you decide to sell on Walmart Marketplace, you’ll be reaching a massive audience. Unlike eBay, you can’t sell products auction-style, but Walmart is definitely another online marketplace to consider.
Amazon
Amazon is by far eBay’s biggest competitor. It stays away from the auction-style selling that eBay is famous for, which typically makes it much more ideal for new items. Whereas eBay charges sellers for listing on the site, you can list on Amazon for free. But, you will pay $0.99 per item sold on Amazon on top of the commission for the sale if you have a basic, free seller’s account.
If you’re looking for an alternative to selling on eBay, and the items you’re selling are new as opposed to used, you should definitely consider the eCommerce giant that is Amazon.
Next Steps?
Once you’ve decided on the alternative platforms you want to explore for your business, don’t forget to reach out to eBridge Connections and learn how you can integrate each of them with your accounting/ERP system or CRM application.
We make selling online and in store easy.