Fed up with eBay fees? Wish there was a better way to sell? Serena Cowdy looks at the alternatives.
In Is eBay Worth It?, I recently had a look at all the fees faced by those trying to make some cash on the site.
If you're a disgruntled seller, you might want to take your business elsewhere - and there are lots of other websites keen to help you make a few quid.
Some don't charge listing fees, at least one has a free secure payment system, and a few don't charge you anything at all.
But could it be out of the frying pan and into the fire? I'm going to look at three of these alternatives in a bit more depth.
eBid
eBay may dominate the online auction market, but eBid is one of the more sizeable auction sites in hot pursuit.
Many sellers are now choosing to list items on both sites, and some have ditched eBay entirely because eBid costs are lower.
Free listing: It costs nothing to list items on eBid.
What you pay: The site makes its money in two main areas - final value fees and subscriptions.
Sellers can subscribe to eBid in two different ways.
Basic seller: You can subscribe to eBid for free as a basic seller. You'll then be charged a final value fee of 3% of the sale price of each item you sell.
This approach generally makes financial sense if you only plan to sell occasionally.
Seller+: In this case, you pay a subscription fee for a chosen period of time (7 days = £1.99, 30 days = £6.99 and so on).
You can even subscribe for life - normally at a cost of £99.99. Seller+ status also allows you to access various additional site features.
Seller+ subscribers don't pay the 3% final value fee. This could, therefore, be a good choice for you if you think you're going to sell regularly.
Photos: It's usually free to list a photo with your item, although if you choose ‘Gallery' format (only available if you're a seller+), you'll have to pay a final value fee of 2% of the item's selling price.
Payment system: eBid's preferred secure payment partner is Pp pay (several other means of payment, including PayPal, are also available).
As with eBay, you'll have to pay the relevant Pp pay/PayPal transaction fees.
Downside: If eBay's a whale, eBid is still a tiddler - and far fewer buyers currently use it.
However, many sellers are coming to resent eBay's market domination - and eBid and others are feeling the benefit.
Seller fees are far lower, so if you want to encourage some healthy online competition - and send eBay a wake-up call - it's definitely worth a look.
Here's a full breakdown of eBid fees and charges.
Amazon Marketplace
Amazon Marketplace has fast become one of eBay's biggest online rivals. It provides a venue for you to buy and sell new, used and refurbished items - on the same page that Amazon displays the item new.
However, unlike eBay and eBid, it's not an auction site - sellers set the price of each item they list.
Free listing: When using Amazon Marketplace, you don't pay a listing fee. So, if your item doesn't sell, you don't lose any cash.
Plus, listings generally last 60 days (most items on eBay can only be listed for a maximum of ten days before you have to pay to relist them).
What you pay: A completion fee of £0.86; and a closing fee - which is 17.25% of the sales price (11.5% when selling electronic and photo items).
Postage: Amazon sets the postage costs, not you. It takes a fee from the buyer, keeps an ‘administration fee' for itself, and passes the rest on to you as ‘postage credit'.
This can work out as more or less than the actual cost of postage and packaging, so sellers need to accommodate this variance in their product price.
Photos: You can't usually list your own photos next to your item, because Amazon uses single detail pages on the site, where the product details already exist.
With certain products, you can provide a photo link - but they still won't appear next to your advert (they'll be made generally available to anyone browsing in that category).
Free payment system: Amazon operates a secure payment system of its own (the equivalent of PayPal). Unlike PayPal, this service is free for all sellers to use.
Downside: What you can list is somewhat constrained by the choices of category available. For example, there's no section for ‘vehicles', so selling a car or motorbike would prove difficult.
And although you can list an item Amazon doesn't have in its catalogue - you'll have to create your own page for it first.
Here's a full breakdown of Amazon Marketplace fees and charges.
Gumtree
Gumtree was started in 2000 as a local London classified ads and community site. It now covers 60 cities in six countries, with millions of people listing everything from flat rentals, jobs and dating ads to CDs, furniture and motors.
No fees! It costs nothing to sell an item on Gumtree. You just type out the ad, attach a photo (if you want), and post in the relevant category.
What's the catch? Just stay safe when buying or selling stuff in this way. Face-to-face payment - and item handover - is recommended to avoid getting ripped off (either as a buyer or a seller).
For example, Gumtree offers no protection if you post an item and then don't see the cash. For this reason, selling locally is probably the best way forward.
Worrying developments? In 2005, Gumtree was bought by eBay. Its fee-free status, thankfully, remained unaffected.
However, Gumtree is now introducing a facility called ‘Featured Ads'. These are ads that appear in a special section at the top of the listings pages for either three of seven days.
And guess what? You're charged a fee to use this service. The price depends on how long you'd like your ad to appear in this format, and which category it's in.
Of course, there's nothing inherently sinister about this. The prominent placing will probably mean that more people read and respond to your ad.
But let's just hope the free listing option remains firmly in place, too. Gumtree (and eBay) - we're watching you!
More: The Highs And Lows Of Online Shopping | Money Talk: How To Make A Mint From eBay
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