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Picture eBay in the early days and you'd be looking at a pretty good description of the PlunderHere auction site. Although they've been at it for a couple of years, they still consider themselves an "up-and-comer" with a chance of challenging the auction giant. And they think they can do it with an approach that's pretty much the same game - only with rules that favor the players instead of the house.
A free basic membership comes with 41 onsite privileges including those you'd expect like buying, selling and member-to-member communication - and a few that you might not - such as use of personal avatars or banners (they even have templates to help you create them), photo hosting services for four photos per item, and the ability to bring eBay listings as well as eBay feedback statistics onto the PlunderHere site.
PlunderHere imposes a flat rate 2.5% final value fee on any item that sells. There are no listing fees for posting an item on PlunderHere.com. In fact, there are no listing fees, no reserve price fees, no gallery fees, no Buy-it-Now fees and no second category fees. There are, however, nominal charges for other auction posting features such as bold or highlighted listings (.25), featured item listings ($2) and main featured placement ($5), should you wish to use them. These seller costs are low compared to eBay, which charges $5, $19.95, and $39.95 respectively for those same services. For store owners, preferred placement is $5 per month and featured placement is $2.50, otherwise basic stores are free.
There's one thing you do pay for at PlunderHere that you don't at eBay (only because they don't have them). They're called attention grabbers, and for a nickel a listing, you can add these cute little icons to your heading copy on the listing page. There are tires, tools, flags, arrows and even a pretty pink package among the symbols to choose from. The auction site also allows "wanted listings" and has a "parts only" sale section.
The founder of PlunderHere.com created the site for those looking for a new venue to sell their merchandise or services and for buyers to have more options, writing: "Although we are new, we hope to rapidly rise to the point of being on an equal level as that "other" competitor, and eventually overshadow them all together by excelling in every possible facet of this industry, with customer service being our top priority. We wish to finally be able to offer all sellers and buyers an honest "WE CARE ABOUT YOU" attitude, as opposed to the "take it or leave it" canned responses you are forced to accept elsewhere."
Like eBay, there is an active member community including bulletin boards, newsletters, buyer/seller guides and a section with favorite recipes. Signing up is easy, listing items to sell is a breeze, and navigation on the site is simple and direct.
That's the good news. The bad news is the same for every auction site that isn't eBay: significantly fewer buyers.
PlunderHere has under 5,000 members and currently offers approximately 70,000 items for sale through active auctions, fixed-price sales and store items combined. Compare that to 276,000,000 registered user IDs on eBay and 113,000,000 listings.
But PlunderHere clearly has a sense of humor. It ran a contest for funny listings and some of them were gems. OnAngelsWings posted an auction for "Preschool Protectors." The auction offered the services of two tough looking little boys who could be shipped out to serve as playground bodyguards for the weak and the bullied. (The copy clearly states that this is not an actual auction - although the selling price, $99,999,999.99, might have been a pretty good indication of that fact.)
A few other listings included "A truck load of snow" for $999, an $899.99 "foolproof alarm clock" that comes complete with a "cold nose, four paws and a rather loud bark," and one for "a used and broke ex-husband." The header on this million-dollar bargain warns that the purchase is a "parts only" deal since "some parts don't work."
Visit PlunderHere.com here:
http://www.plunderhere.com
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