message
Hello everyone and a big HELLO for all the New members….we appreciate your joining us in this boycott against ebaY.
As most of you know, there have been numerous changes on ebaY since the beginning of January 28th. Most of these changes have had adverse effects on most sellers. I made a conscious decision at that time that I would no longer buy or sell on ebaY.
The problem for many sellers and buyers was finding alternate selling and buying venues where there was a good variety of goods offered, fair fees and SEO available.
Recently I have decided to start selling again and am in the process of getting pictures taken and getting all my ducks in a row.
The three sites that I have found that I think will do the most for my business of selling vintage collectibles are:
1) Bonanzle.com
2) Atomic Mall.com
3) CHS shops.com
I have not found any auction sites that I want to be a part of as of yet.
The 3 sites listed above are for fixed price items and the fee structures are more than fair.
There are NO fee sites such as blujay.com, eCrater.com and others that charge absolutely nothing to list and sell on with no final value fee. These free sites work well for many but I have found CraigsList to work for free in my local area better than the above listed free sites.
Maybe I am old school (and getting older every day…lol) but I would rather choose a site that does charge some kind of fees so that site has some money to spend on SEO and advertising.
At Bonanzle.com, there is no listing fee and you only pay a final value fee when your item sells. You can also haggle the price with a prospective buyer via email or instant messaging in real time.
At AtomicMall.com, no listing fees and a final value fee.
At cshshops.com, you pay $5.00 monthly and there is NO final value fee. The owner of the site is more than decent and will help you or will even make you a custom banner for your store….for free.
For others who sell handmade items, there is Etsy.com, which has experienced a huge growth since ebaY decided to implement all the changes on their site. You do pay a small listing fee and your ad stays up for four months. There is also a fair final value fee. Etsy puts out advertising and they have a good buyer base. They also have a vintage section where collectibles can be found.
With the economy in the dumpster at the present time and the high cost of living with the price of fuel, utilities and food, watching where you spend your money for selling items online needs to be a place where it will work for you.
Good luck to all of you who are still working from home and trying to sell quality items online. It has definitely been a rough year for many of us but remember…the economy is such that many people will be looking for what you have and with the high price of gas and with affordable shipping options, I expect many will be buying online.
If you need or want your ebaY feedback numbers for when you go to a new site to sell, go to http://www.repatoo.com and make a copy of your feedback. At least you can steer new customers to look at your feedback so they know you are NOT just a new kid on the block when it comes to online selling.
Take care and if you have found a place that is working for your selling online, post it here so that many can have the information to make an informed decision to where they might like to sell.
Later on…….Meredith
