There have been several changes at eBay over the last week that haven’t made their users happy. First there was the announcement that they were lowing their listing fees but raising the final value fee, and then there was the announcement that sellers will no longer be able to leave negative feedback. As a result, there’s a group of people who are working on organizing a boycott of eBay for the week of February 18th through the 25th. They say that it means absolutely no buying, selling, or searching. With this boycott and the simple fact that people are upset over the changes, users are looking for eBay alternatives. A few days ago, CyberNet Reader Michael Dobrofsky asked about alternatives and we mentioned eCRATER. It’s one alternative worth taking a look at, and today we’ll be briefly explaining what they’re all about.
So what is eCRATER? Well, they describe themselves as a free web store builder and a free online marketplace. They say that sellers can create their own online store in a short time for free while buyers can shop for all kinds of products. Additionally, they’ve teamed with Google as an eCommerce partner to allow buyers and sellers to use Google Checkout for payments. They’ve been around since late 2004 and have been growing since then. Certainly they’re not as big as eBay, but that’s to their advantage. They’re definitely one of the places buyers and sellers turn to when they eventually determine they’ve had enough with eBay and their constant rising fees.
I haven’t used the site yet, but I just did several searches for different products and their selection seems to be good. The overall main theme I noticed on the site is simplicity. Everything is simple from setting up a store to a listing. Searching for “Apple iPhone” yielded 202 different results which isn’t bad at all. Of course I did come across a few fraudulent appearing listings (one said they only took Money Gram as a form of payment, big red flag there!), but I don’t think you’ll be able to stay away from fraud no matter where you go.
If you’re a seller on eBay and you’ve just about had enough, why don’t you checkout eCRATER and other sites like it? And for buyers, the next time you need something, instead of going to eBay right away, why don’t you checkout alternatives like eCRATER. There are options out there, it’s just a matter of finding and using them. Like I said, I haven’t used the site yet to vouch for it, but it is definitely a site I will be checking in the future when I need something. If you’ve used them, be sure to let us know how your experience was.
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Nice find!
I like that they use Google Checkout. I have a client that is looking for an economical ecommerce option and this may be the way to go. I am going to be looking in to this some more.
It’s a shame eBay is so damn big, but we just need these types of sites to catch on and give them some competition so they don’t have so much power cos power corrupts
Thanks, nice find.
You got that right! After 9 years I’m so sick of selling on ebay. If you looked at my auction results you’d be thinking I make a lot, but after ebay and paypal get done taking out their fees I’m lucky if I get to keep even half of what I make selling, and then of course you have to deduct what we paid for it in the first place and all the time involved.
I already opened a store at ecrater and am starting my own website.
If anyone’s interested in finding where their favorite ebay sellers are going - and viewing how much the feebay fees are taking out of sellers pockets - come on over to PowerSellersUnite.com. It’s a free, and great informative site.
Looks very good. With eBay cranking up their fees and screwing sellers, I’m sure eCRATER will grow.
@Ashley:
I liked the site which is cleaner and more intuitive than eBay. However, I was disappointed that two sellers that I selected were not offering their products outside the United States.
I’m sure a lot of business is out there, outside the U.S borders.
Regards,
Omar.-
Omar, if eCrater can reach critical mass, sellers will almost certainly _have_ to expand their customer base by selling/shipping ex-CONUS. I’d give it another several months to see how things shake out.
On a related note, I’ve been on eBay since ~1998, and don’t even like the “improvements” that they’ve made to the site, such as revisions of category structures. It seems that they continually change crap for…the sake of changing crap. Maybe all of those programming gazillionaires who work there have to justify their existence by tweaking features that already work fine. I don’t know. What I do know is that I no longer visit there as often as I used to, and selling a textbook on Half.com almost makes me feel as ripped off as selling it back to the bookstore, after I see the pittance that I get after fees are deducted.
Many sellers on eBay only sell within the United States as well simply because of the hassles that come with international shipping and customs. Just as eBay ended up opening up in other countries, if eCRATER catches on, I think they’ll end up in other countries as well.
Wow, 9 years! I did it full time for a little over a year and that was enough.
I have been selling on eCrater.com since March 2005. Unlike eBay where you paid dearly and hope the eBay name brings you a buyer, on eCrater.com it’s up to the individual store owner to do their own promotions and get out there and find their customers. Comparing eBay and eCraters is like comparing apples and oranges. Sure, they are both places you can sell your products but that’s about the end of the comparison. One thing eCrater.com is not is an auction site! Everything is fixed price store listings – no best offers, no auctions.
One SUPER GREAT thing about eCrater.com is they do the feed to google of all the products on the site - 986,715 items at this time. The Google ranking on most stores is superb! This helps bring the shoppers to your items a great deal.
The forum community is full of great people willing to share ideas and help sellers get started.
Thanks for the clarification Pat. I definitely plan on selling on eCrater in the future, and seeing that they are on the Google product searches is definitely a nice incentive.
The thing with eCrater is that it is strictly a storefront. It makes a great alternative to eBay stores and Prostores, but not for the auction side of eBay. I’ve tried a few others, and my favorite so far is ebid. It’s got a great interface and really could be a great supplement if not a replacement to eBay eventually.
I assume you work for eBid?
Good article!
eCRATER is really a good alternative to ebay. In it you can post all your stuffs at no cost. A lot of ex-ebayer now are coming to ecrater as their new market place. Ebay sucks up all your earnings.
Good luck and more power!
I’m slmost up to 2 year anniversary on ecrater and 16 months exclusive. I don’t pay the rent with what I make but didn’t on eBay either except for a couple of months when they had stores in search. I rarely ran an auction on eBay so switching to an all fixed price format was easy for me.
It is a very nice and friendly place to do business. Real effort is made to discourage and toss fraudulent sellers and the price more than makes up for its limitations.
This is a great site for buyers and sellers of used/vintage/antique and artisans. With low profit margins, the 0 fees makes it worth it. They even offer bulk upload although since I have never used it I can’t speak for the specifics.