eBid vs. eBay review
It is no big surprise that eBay is king of the auction marketplace. To many of us, eBay and auction marketplace are synonymous. Starting out as a source for people to sell their used computers, computer parts, electronics, etc, they quickly dominated this selling niche. However, with both buyer and seller satisfaction at an all-time low, many sellers are looking elsewhere to offer their wares to internet buying public. Buyers are seeing this and beginning to follow suit. One alternative is eBid, an internet auction and fixed priced site with many of the features buyers and sellers have grown accustomed to-Often at a much lower price.
eBid and eBay both offer offer a variety of items in different categories: clothing, shoes, computers, electronics, you name it you can get it here.
Let us Compare briefly the two auction sites. We will look at prices/fees, Quality of items, item variety, site security, and overall buying/selling experience
Fees and Prices: eBid
Quite simply, eBid wins in a landslide.
Depending on the item, selling fees at eBay are now anywhere from 9% to 16% when listing fee is added. If you want special enhancements like extra pictures, it will be even more. Add the cost of pay pal, and sellers are looking at fees approaching 11%-18%. Many industries are lucky to get a margin of 10-15% above wholesale. Because there aren’t too many people or companies who like to lose money, prices go up.
eBid’s pricing is lower-and far simpler. For a low monthly, yearly or lifetime fee, eBid sellers can list as many auctions as they want. After this, the base price for individual auctions is free, as are the final value fees. However, sellers do have a few options. They can choose to add a gallery picture (base auctions do not have pic) for 2% final value fee. So, a 100.00 item sold in this manner would cost 2.00 +pay pal fees vs. 10-14.00+ Pay Pal Fees on eBay. Sellers can also put their item on the feature page for $1.00 with no Final fee
Bottom line: Seller fees are significantly lower on eBid, which results in lower prices
My eBay listing for a new 5th Generation iPod nano (16 GB) is $170 @ eBay and $155.00 at eBid. My profit is roughly the same, but customers are getting a better deal on eBid-and are more likely to buy again
Quality of items: eBid (slight edge)
I have bought and sold on both sites. What I have found on eBay recently is a small but growing number of sellers not being 100% honest on all their listings. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of eBay sellers are honest companies/individuals with quality products. However, it seems more and more people are being squeezed by fee increases and deciding to try to embellish their listing a bit. Also, given that legitimate sellers are being forced out of business or to go elsewhere, there are less quality stable companies on eBay. The void, it seems, is being filled by more fly-by night sellers offereing inferior products. Many of the quality sellers have gone elsewhere, and a growing number are choosing eBid.
Bottom line: Many Legitimate Retailers who buy wholesale from manufacturers cannot absorb a 15% off the top fee. As a result, many eBid sellers are eBay refugees who can no longer survive (honestly) at eBay.
Selling and Buying Features: eBay
eBay has many more “neat” features that eBid doesn’t. eBid doesn’t have a best offer feature, nor do they have as many ways to search or list items. This makes sense, given the large fee difference. The sold items interface, as well as the auction interface are not as good as found on eBay. However, in terms of practicality, eBid does the job fine. Additionally, they have recently upgraded their site with more options and a more user friendly interface.
Bottom Line: eBay gets the nod for features and “Bells and Whistles.” However, eBid is what they say they are, which is a market place offering a venue for auctions and fixed price format. eBid is not lacking anywhere that impedes this process.
Buying and Selling Experience: eBid
This is largely opinion, but eBid seems to be what eBay once was. That is to say, it has a community feel where sellers help other sellers with tips, advice, suggestions-even promo tools. The reason for this is likely because sellers recognize that their success depends on the overall success of everyone associated with eBid. As far as buying, I have had nothing but positive experiences. I know that there are bad apples everywhere, and unfortunately there will be some less than positive experiences for some members-but so it goes with e-commerce no matter what the venue.
Safety, Security, Buyer/seller protection: EVEN, Wash
Yes, that’s right-no difference. Despite the fact that eBay has done a nice job promoting themselves as the “safest” option, the fact is that both sites accept pay pal as well as credit cards. Yes, I know eBay owns it, but pay pal is the real cash cow in the eBay enterprise. They offer buyer and seller protection on both eBay and eBid. It doesn’t vary in terms of site to site.
Going a step further, Pay Pal is not exactly as safe as many believe. In fact CREDIT AND DEBIT CARDS ARE FAR SAFER THAN PAY PAL. Banks are subject to the Truth in Lending Act, which states that the max liability for cardholders is $50.00 when card is used fraudulently. For online Transactions, that number is 0, zero, nada. Look it up.
Pay pal, on the other hand, is not a bank and is not subject to these rules. Basically, if they can recover your money, great-you get it back. But if they can’t-you will likely be out of luck. Look it up.
Bottom Line: There is no difference in security, as the same pay methods are offered.
Variety of items: eBay
eBay wins this one. One complaint I hear from buyers is having a variety of choices in terms of purchases and vendors. However, eBid has experienced a sizable jump in the number listings offered, as well as overall traffic.
Bottom line: eBay wins, but eBid gaining
Overall: eBid*
I give the Advantage to eBid based on 1) Prices and 2) Overall experience, especially for the buyer. However, I have added an asterisk because it remains to be seen if the recent momentum translates into increased sales volume for sellers. Many people still use eBay out of sheer habit, while others may still abide by the illogical fear that other sites are less safe. It is curious that eBay still is successful, despite the fact that their advantages are limited to the bells and whistle features and overall number of items that are offered. Don’t get me wrong, I still sell on eBay, and it is not as if they are doing anything wrong by continuously increasing selling fees.
If people continue to use their service, why not raise prices?
However, in this economy, price is king. The bottom line is that sellers in ecommerce eBay work very hard-eBay is not the easy millionaire in your underwear endeavor that many claim it to be. It should also be noted that buyers work equally as hard in their respective professions, and money is harder than ever to come by. All things equal, I will go with the lower priced option every time-especially when the cheaper option offers a better overall experience.
