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With online sellers checking out alternative venues in earnest, AuctionBytes will be reviewing some the new - and more established - online auction sites. UBid has been around since 1997 and takes a different approach to online auctions http://www.ubid.com. It takes on the role of "seller" as well as auction house. uBid offers three models for selling goods:
1) uBid DIRECT: uBid acts like a liquidator and purchases merchandise directly from manufacturers.
2) uBid PREFERRED PARTNERS: uBid sells merchandise FOR manufacturers, which retain ownership of the goods and must warehouse and ship the items to the buyers.
3) uBid CONSUMER EXCHANGE: uBid allows individuals to sell on the uBid auction site in a manner similar to the eBay model.
When buyers do a search for an item on uBid, results are sorted into these three categories. This way, the consumer knows if they are buying directly from uBid, from a manufacturer or from another individual.
uBid offers 16 different product categories slanted toward computers, consumer electronics and fashion:
Computers; Computer Peripherals; Computer Components; Off Lease Computers; Home Office; Consumer Electronics; Digital Cameras and Video; Home Improvement; Housewares; Apparel & Linens; Sports & Hobbies; Travel & Events; Jewelry and Gifts; Collectibles; and Everything Else.
uBid Consumer Exchange is similar to the eBay auction model. However, there are no listing fees, and there is a flat-rate final value fee of 5% no matter how high the selling price reaches.
uBid has the look and feel of the Internet version of a mail-order catalog more than an auction site. uBid and Preferred Partners use professional pictures and descriptions from the manufacturer. It appears that Consumer Exchange results always show up last.
Small sellers may be concerned about competing with uBid items. At quick glance, uBid shows nearly 1.1 million items for sale - many with multiple bids. However, a more careful look at the listings shows most of the items with bids are being sold by uBid themselves. Consumer Exchange sellers are listing AFTER all the uBid and Preferred Partner items, and sell-through rate drops dramatically. All sellers would also be concerned about the fees, since once an item gets above a selling price of $25, the final value fees are higher than on other auction sites like eBay. Finally, uBid seems pretty mainstream, so if you are selling collectibles or off-beat items, you may not see much action.
For example, entering the search term "stamps" came up with 12 results, none of which were postage stamps. Searching for "stamp" netted 14 results, only three of which were postage stamps.
Compare this with a search on eBay for the word "stamps," which netted 12,352 results, the majority of them being postage stamps.
Please let me know what you think - leave a posting in the forum http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/index.php , especially if you have any uBid buying or selling experience.
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