eBay al­tern­at­ives for bargain hunters

eBay is the largest online platform for trading in used goods. Usually, in­ter­ested parties bid at an auction for a certain product, and the highest bid wins. Some sellers, on the other hand, set a fixed price for an immediate purchase. Permanent shop pages are also possible. With eBay clas­si­fieds, the market leader covers regional requests. Despite the ubi­quit­ous presence of the US company, some eBay al­tern­at­ives manage to achieve business success with target group-specific offers or regional anchoring. We compare al­tern­at­ives to eBay that can be in­ter­est­ing for different needs.

What began as a digital flea market under the name Auc­tion­Web in 1995 grew into an in­ter­na­tion­al company with various sub­si­di­ar­ies. Initially, only private in­di­vidu­als bid in auctions from private sellers. In the meantime, a number of companies have spe­cial­ised in the sale of used or new products and compete with private sellers. In addition, eBay is sometimes cri­ti­cized for not doing enough to protect buyers. The con­stantly in­creas­ing sales com­mis­sion and the al­loc­a­tion of the shipping costs to the providers caused problems for sellers. Anyone who prefers to avoid the market leader will find numerous eBay al­tern­at­ives on the net. Among the online mar­ket­places in our com­par­is­on, some rely on the regional reference, others on curi­os­it­ies or Fairtrade.

Despite eBay's supremacy, there are numerous online mar­ket­places on the net. However, some platforms pay little attention to buyer or seller pro­tec­tion, which opens the door to fraud­sters. Others attract only a few members, which reduces the range of offers. The following eBay al­tern­at­ives, on the other hand, are con­vin­cing with security in payment trans­ac­tions and their own focal points.

The online auction platform bonanza.com was founded in 2008, pre­vi­ously called Bonanzle. The business model positions the company as a direct com­pet­it­or to eBay. Both private and com­mer­cial sellers offer all kinds of products on the market place, in addition to new goods. Private sellers advertise free of charge and the website claims it takes less com­mis­sion. Those who want to give their listings that certain something – with a prominent placement, a second photo or boldface – can pay extra.

The offer ranges from elec­tron­ics to fashion, leisure articles, col­lect­ibles, and interior design to vehicles and travel. The re­spect­ive cat­egor­ies can be filtered by brand, colour, or material. Product reviews, leaflets, and a sub-function make the decision easier.

Special features:

• Excellent design
• It is commended by lots of reviews, and has won awards
• No listing fees
• You can create a bonanza webstore

Vinted is a second-hand sales platform for fashion, ac­cessor­ies, and beauty. Initially the offer was limited to women's fashion, which could not only be sold, but also exchanged or given away. Meanwhile, the men's de­part­ment also has a lot to offer.

Members can both buy and sell. A forum un­der­lines the basic local concept of the website. Sellers upload photos from several per­spect­ives so that you know exactly what they are buying. In addition there is a de­scrip­tion with size details and man­u­fac­turer as well as a price chosen by the customer.

Potential buyers signal their interest by favouring the article (sometimes there are several potential buyers for in­di­vidu­al articles). Questions about the product are also possible via the messaging function. In the past, this was also the way people traded; in the meantime, however, Vinted has switched to immediate purchases. The principle is sup­ple­men­ted by elements known from social media: Buyers can follow sellers whose choice of clothes they like. When the seller uploads a new product, it appears in the sub­scriber­s' feed. In addition, sellers promote their articles via “Best Matches,” a function that places articles matching another member's search in a clearly visible position in the feed.

The platform offers various shipping options and payment systems. The function "Create a package," for example, bundles several orders from a catalogue and saves packaging and shipping costs. The in-house buyer pro­tec­tion allows customers to choose the payment system of their choice, even if the seller does not offer it – all they have to do is activate the secure payment system. Buyers, on the other hand, pay a small surcharge per trans­ac­tion. Vinted stores the amount in an encrypted, digital wallet until the customer receives the product and accepts it without complaint. Then it is available as a credit note for the seller.

Special features:

• Business model focuses on simple com­mu­nic­a­tion
• Exchange possible
• Fees apply only for buyer pro­tec­tion

The Hoarde spe­cial­izes in vintage and art pieces. The customer service is good, and it is an intuitive platform for sellers and buyers alike. Important to note is that “Members must be full time and pro­fes­sion­al dealers and carry suf­fi­cient stock to be able to regularly con­trib­ute to the site. Items must be of good quality, in good saleable condition and as described. Good, clear pho­to­graphs are very important and we run a strict policy on such.“(From The Hoarde’s website). The website is aes­thet­ic­ally pleasing, matching the lovely items it has to sell. The Hoarde doesn’t take a com­mis­sion, but it does cost to join as a member, and the team are selective: you have to send in pictures of what you want to sell, and have to be a fulltime pro­fes­sion­al to join. This ensures the quality of the listings.

The objects you can buy on The Hoarde are united through their vintage status, but other than that, it’s a diverse shopping ex­per­i­ence, where you’ll find one-off gems. Antiques, vintage col­lect­ibles, fine art, furniture and lighting, jewelry, vintage fashion, dolls, glass, pottery and porcelain, and sil­ver­ware, among others: All this can be found on the site. The quality of the offers is high, and so it’s not the place to look for things if you’re counting pennies at the moment – but if you’ve been saving a while you might be able to snag a vintage ring at a better price than you’d find at a jewelers!

In order to offer or purchase goods, mar­ket­place visitors need an account.

Special features:

• Vintage only platform
• Great quality of the listed products due to selective listing criteria
• Gorgeous user friendly design
• No com­mis­sion for sellers
• Great security

Perhaps one of the best known UK online mar­ket­places, Gumtree offers free listings for private in­di­vidu­als wanting to sell all sorts. If your cat had a litter, and you want to find a loving new home for the kittens, Gumtree is the go-to to list the little ones. You can find almost anything on Gumtree, and you can list almost anything too. A good al­tern­at­ive to eBay, as there are no fees for most trans­ac­tions. Fur­ther­more, you can find local buyers, so you can avoid paying postage – either as a seller or as a buyer. Fur­ther­more, because there isn’t a rating system on Gumtree for accounts, the at­mo­sphere is more relaxed, whilst still trust­worthy.

The cat­egor­ies are broad: Motors, ‘For Sale’, Property, Jobs, Services, Community and Pets are the bigger or­gan­isa­tion­al cat­egor­ies, which are then broken down further. The fact that anything can be listed also means that some listings are not the highest quality, and for this reason it is advisable to be scru­pu­lous when buying something. Fur­ther­more, it is of the highest im­port­ance to consider your safety when meeting up with someone to either buy or sell your listing. In this regard, opting for postage may be a better option.

Special features:

• Well es­tab­lished, lots of people use it
• Large selection of items
• Suitable for private persons, not just busi­nesses
• Detailed cat­egor­ies in the catalogue

Better World Books (BWB) is a good al­tern­at­ive to both Amazon and eBay for buying and selling books. It is a great platform for second hand books, which is kinder to the en­vir­on­ment and your wallet. It is easy to sell with BWB: Just send them the books you want to sell, they do all the selling, and you’ll get paid. The books are sold in over 30 mar­ket­places, and you can choose to benefit a non-profit literacy partner with each sale.

The mar­ket­place is huge – pretty much any book you want can be sold and bought via the BWB platform. This is even the case for textbooks, which many physical book­stores won’t buy back. For this reason BWB have a “Give Back at Buyback” service to cater to students. Other than that, there are dozens of cat­egor­ies, ranging from antiques and ar­chi­tec­ture to children’s books to self-help to true crime. Even within these cat­egor­ies, there are sub­cat­egor­ies, allowing for a good browse to discover new titles, even when you’re looking for a specific one. If you want to cut to the chase, a reliable search function is also present.

Special features:

• Ex­per­i­ence as an online book mar­ket­place
• Large selection of in­ter­faces and upload formats
• Depending on the provider free return, shipping discounts, or price sug­ges­tion possible
• Detailed cat­egor­ies in the catalogue
• Ethical mission

The market leader eBay offers some ad­vant­ages. In­ter­na­tion­al reach and a very large offer are just as much a part of it as the joy of having made a bargain at an auction. Due to its size – 177 million users worldwide by 2018 – there are also po­ten­tially more fraud­sters in the network. In addition, the sales com­mis­sion of 10 percent for private users is set above average.

These are already good reasons to try out al­tern­at­ives to eBay. You may also be looking for a more sus­tain­able business model to support (Better World Books), or regional companies. Those looking for special product groups such as fashion or books will find what they are looking for at Vinted or Better World Books.

All these eBay al­tern­at­ives have their own merits, often com­ple­men­ted by an active community of like-minded people. In addition to the usually low fees, good data pro­tec­tion reg­u­la­tions as well as secure shipping and payment systems should be mentioned as positive points. So if you want to hunt down bargains with a clear con­science, make sus­tain­able purchases, or gain more reach for your online shop via the better known mar­ket­places: eBay is just one of many al­tern­at­ives, and the com­pet­i­tion has a lot to offer.