eBay sellers are looking for additional or alternative places to list their wares - just read the eBay discussion boards to confirm this. A few years ago, eBay was perfectly poised to retain sellers through eBay Stores and ProStores, but management seemed unable to let go of the idea that they needed to keep people selling on the core platform alone. Meanwhile, Amazon has no such reservations, actively promoting WebStores to their Marketplace sellers.
The search for "St. Elsewhere," as sellers call eBay alternatives, isn't easy. There is no clear number-two auction site. There's no denying that smaller auction sites lack the traffic of eBay, but I often hear that it depends on what you are selling as to where you will have success.
AuctionBytes' purpose is not to advise you on which sites you should be selling, or to organize movements from one venue to another, as in the case of the recent boycott. We're here to present information, and let you decide the best course of action for your own business.
In that light, we will continue to write about niche and smaller selling venues in both AuctionBytes newsletters, and urge smaller site owners to keep us informed of news and promotions. AuctionBytes has a 4-page chart of auction sites and their fees (http://auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/charts/chart.pl?Auction_Site_Seller_Fees).
Meanwhile sellers on eBay are continuing to cope with the changes that are rolling out. eBay delayed the launch of its Expanded Seller Protection program, and said it would send email invitations to eligible PowerSellers to enroll in the program when it launches.
eBay is using a number of factors in determining the sort order under Best Match. It will be a moving target as eBay adjusts the dials on Best Match criteria, and several sellers told me they believe people will figure out how to "game the system."
I'm finding the AuctionBytes Blog to be enormously helpful in getting news out quickly and will continue to follow issues such as Best Match. And the nice thing about the blog is that I don't have the final say: you can post your own comments on the blog.
Thanks for reading.
About the author:
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
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