Last week eBid sent us a press release claiming that they were saving sellers thousands of dollars compared to eBay. They claim over “*6 million daily listings” and then went on to make multiple comparisons of themselves to eBay.
Some of the claims were pretty impressive and scary sounding for eBay sellers, for instance they point out that “Because of the substantial fees that eBay applies, it can cost over $250 (depending on the final sales price) for a single sale on eBay” and “when adding in monthly subscription prices for virtual storefronts it leaves minimal profit for the effort of selling”. I have to say that’s not my experience of eBay, I’ve always managed to turn a pretty penny in eBay sales profits when I set my mind to it.
eBid they say is much better than eBay and “charges ZERO insertion fees” and “final value fees range from 0% to a max of only 3%”. They quote Mark Wilkinson, co-founder of eBid as saying “Once you compare our fees to ‘the other auction site’ it becomes clear that eBid is a better alternative for anyone looking to really make a living, or at least a fair income, with online auctions”. In fact if you read the whole press release it makes you wonder why anyone bothers selling on eBay in the first place.
We have two issues with the press release. Firstly why do eBid insist upon comparing themselves to eBay? Calling yourself the “#2 Online Auction Site” and constant references to eBay really doesn’t work. After 10 years it’s high time eBid found their own niche and stopped trying to out-eBay eBay.
More importantly we asked the PR guy who sent us the press release for sales numbers, growth in sales, seller success stories and examples of great eBid human interest stories. We practically begged them asking “eBid is a decade old after all! Give us selling numbers”.
We also asked specifically for an example of a seller who “makes their living on the site with a regular minimum of £1000 per month in sales” and offered to feature their success story on Tamebay along with how they mananged their eBid sales. After we sent that email we stopped receiving replies!
We don’t believe anyone on eBid is making significant sales or any sort of liveable income. We’ve never found an eBid seller willing to share their sales figures with us and it looks like eBid don’t have a single example of a successful seller either. They’re very proud of their “$49.49 gives the seller a lifetime of zero listing fees and zero final value fees” offer but to us it looks like an expensive club with no prospect of ever recouping your $49.49 in profits.
We’d love to be proved wrong on our opinion of eBid. We’d love to know that there’s a vibrant site producing profitable sales in large quantities that we could recommend you take advantage of. Currently we can’t.
* By the way, it’s not 6 million daily listings, it’s 6 million total listings and most of them are good til sold and have languished unsold on the site for years. In comparison eBay have around 165 million listings to choose from, of which around 40% or 66 million are auctions and are therefore less than 10 days old!
99 Responses
I will happily eat my hat if anyone can say they make their living on eBid. And if we can verify the claim, Chris will film me chewing on a tasty titfer and we’ll put the video on YouTube.
I got a lifetime +, or whatever they call it, a few years back. I am lucky to get 1 sale a MONTH, and we sell silver charms with probably an average price of £5 to £10. As you used to have to use spreadsheets and csv files it wasn’t too easy but then of course there came Ninja lister. You export all your listings from Ebay Turbo lister or Amazon and it will put them into ebid easily.
Yes it does work pretty well.
About a week ago I thought why do I rarely get sales on ebid ?
I read a few forums and many pointed to the fact that I had left the items to run and run and run until sold. Apparently this is not good as they always sit at the bottom of searches.
I thought I would delete all my listings on ebid and try again with just a week listing. apx 1000 charms. How many sold. Wait for it 0.
Not one.
Prior to all this we did have an ebid sale on the 19th of August. BUT we are still waiting for payment.
Several years ago I managed to get our feedback from ebay imported into EBID so it shows 18000+, but this doesn’t help.
Ebay is pretty good.
Amazon sales started almost instantly when we started around in 2012.
I don’t know why Ebid doesn’t work for us and many others, as they seem to be expanding into more and more countries.
Anyway, looks like your hat and your stomach are safe for now.
Where is the 165 million figure from? Last I heard it was over 300 million.
Citation
Well having been on ebid for over a year now. £49.95 or what ever lifetime. I have the same listings as on ebay. I have made 7 sales out of those 2 are non payers.
On ebay over the same period, I average £800-£1k in sales per month and not a single non payer.
Imediate payment on a BIN
I wonder how many people make their living solely on ebay these days?
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again.
Nobody apart from ebay sellers has ever heard of ebid. If they don’t know it exists, they won’t be buying there, will they?
I’d be more inclined to take ebid seriously if they ran some advertising directed anywhere except towards existing ebay sellers.
I have a shop on eBid – it’s really not a happening place, one customer a month (if I’m lucky) who spends a pound or two.
I also have a shop on Bidstart, ditto (except without the customer).
The way I look at the above is that it helps my website up the Google charts but it defintely doesn’t add any sales (which will be around £125,000 on eBay)
I guess eBay’s/PayPal’s 15% take of my sales is worth it after all…
Having paid the £49.95 for seller+ lifetime membership on eBid I can say that within 6 months my turnover for a business has reached £6,000+ now when I minus the eBid fee’s I’m still left with over £5,000. Compared to eBay I’d be lucky to walk away with £3,000 as the fee’s on eBay are 15% per item sold and they only allow paypal, now eBid allow you to pay via google and skrill along with many others and feedback there is 2 way not 1 way.
I’m not earning a living on eBid but I never did on eBay. However, I have not had the rug pulled from under me by a change of policy on eBid either (happened twice on eBay).
I’ve been doing better than 1 sale per day for the last two years. Until August, it had been more like 2-3. This month I shut the shop for a week and it is always bad for me anyway. Even so I have had more than one sale per day.
I lost money on eBay, I’m making a profit on eBid. Same listings. As for making a living, that’s not my goal. Making a profit is.
What amuses me is that people will spend so much time and energy criticizing a site instead of using it for more constructive purposes. Why do you care? Just stay away from eBid if you don’t like it. There are certainly enough alternatives.
eBid has a better, more adaptable sales platform than ebay with much more opportunity to get to know the customer and therefore provide a better service – which is why I joined up. At that time I still listed on ebay and gradually built up my shop on eBid.
As my sales built up I stopped listing on ebay and haven’t listed there for over a year. In the last year I have over 1,600 sales on eBid – a great customer base and because of eBid’s google exposure that customer base is increasing every single month.
The reason why some sellers struggle to sell is a simple case of not using the eBid platform properly – poor use of keywords, lack of google exposure via a poor listing technique. Strangely enough its usually the big sellers on ebay who are the worst culprits at not being able to list properly when they try out eBid.
I am not a big seller – I don’t have the time to be. I have my hobby and big family collections to get rid of – so by selling the stuff I don’t want, I can buy what I do want.
£49.99 I paid for a lifetime fee which I have made back many times over – and I only pay 2% FVF because I use a gallery listing. I have a shop (and developing another one) and could have 5 if I want which is all free. I get lots of new customers every single month which come via google. I have google analytics code on my listings so I know exactly what potential buyers are searching for, the keywords that they use and which search engine they found me on. Therefore every month I can learn from my buyers both new and existing.
I liked ebay but I find eBid far more satisfying because of its platform and fee structure. If I could dedicate more time then those 1,600+ sales in the last year would have been many more.
So I am happy where I am on eBid.
Yes Chris
I’d like you to ask ebay to give you the user ID’s of some private people in the UK doing a million pounds a year on ebay.
You have challenged ebid.
I am challenging you (and ebay)
Chris Dawson great anti ebid post but obviously a ploy to drum up interest in the little guy, nice one. You should get some ebid affiliate links on this site, Have you seen how much you can earn from the ebid affiliate scheme.
I have been selling on line for a number of years and like many sellers I tried eBid , I even signed up when the lifetime subscription was £99 (what a mistake). I now sell primarily on Amazon as an FBA seller and it is from this perspective that I present my argument.
I don’t suppose anybody would challenge that Amazon is an incredibly successful selling channel, and published figure show that much of that success is down to 3rd party sellers. Amazon love 3rd party sellers in particular FBA sellers who stock Amazon fulfilment centres with the very same stock they sell allowing them to spend less on replenishment. Those very same 3rd party sellers also pay Amazon storage fees. No wonder Amazon loves them.
However Amazon does not want ANY stock sitting on shelves longer than 12 months and effectively fine sellers with a major long term storage fee.
So FBA sellers have around 12 months (some minor variations) to sell any product held by Amazon.
So take the figure of 1000 products as a start point. Discounting that any active seller will replenishing and increasing their product range as sales take place and stick with the 1000 products for the purpose of this argument. If a FBA seller has 12 months to clear 1000 products then they need to sell at least 83/84 products every month or risk long term storage fees.
In reality FBA sellers sell a lot more than 83/84 items per month and replenish stock regularly.
Selling 83/84 items is the minimum requirement to consider any FBA business a success.
I will be amazed if any eBid seller can produce evidence of a minimum 83/84 sales per 1000 listed.
All that stock sitting on shelves is killing your cash flow and the time spent listing on eBid is time that could be used promoting products on other platforms. Time = Money
We get on average 1 sale every 2 months. sale is 9-25 pound.
If anyone wants to make money on eBid just go here and submit a bid.
Reading the various postings I find myself wondering if success or not on ebid depends on what you sell. On ebay I get the impression that customers browse. They may go on looking for one item but may end up buying it and other items.
However how many go onto ebid specifically looking for something. As an example mentioned above Silver Charms. Now I am not an expert on Silver Charms but I would imagine that there are hundreds of sellers on just about every site selling them. All much of a muchness(I think-just in case anybody jumps on me here).
ebid has Google exposure. So if there is something listed on ebid(say a Book) that is not listed on ebay or Amazon or listed at a lower price on ebid. That would tend to direct potential customers towards ebid and then they might browse and possibly if they have had a good experience come back again in the future.
I am considering transfering my activities to ebid. Why because I am sick and tired of being hammered by ebay. I was targeted by a Postal Fraud earlier this year. As well as taking me for the Books and the cost of the Books(he complained to ebay and ebay refunded the cost price from my Paypal Account). He also left me stinking awful Feedback. ebay are still hauling me over the coals because of that Feedback even though it was all lies in the first place. I complain to ebay and all I get in reply is meaningless standard email replies telling me to improve. Yet I comfortably exceed all standards. As an example My T & C say handling time of 2 days yet I usually post same day or at worst next day(within 24 hours of sale). Yet I am being told to improve. Anybody know how to post goods out BEFORE they have been ordered?
Dealing with ebay is like dealing with a semi literate Chimp.
Selling on eBid should come with a health warning.
We sold a bathroom suite on eBid a couple of years ago, I nearly keeled over and had a stroke when the email came through.
IMHO Ebay are really not interested in the little guy (part timer & hobby seller)anymore. Which is why I opted for ebid and dived in headfirst with the seller plus account.
(I have made that back many times over.)
I like selling on ebay and still do on free listing days.
What killed it for me was purely and simply ‘Listing Fees’
By the time I factored in the costs of unsold items and relists I most often have a loss.
(After saying that though Feedback blackmail & not received item claims are rising for me)
On freelist days I may make a profit but never a loss. (Unless I get Scammed of course, ebay is a scammer’s paradise!)
On ebid I make a decent profit when and if I sell.
I think the press release was unfortunate but that’s no excuse to respond with your own inaccuracies.
Ebid is a vibrant site, it does have sales, You can recover your initial investment.
Your right about traffic and volume though.
So two outa three aint bad.
Ebid is great for collectibles and hobby stuff but not it seems for big biz.
Ebay seems to be the exact opposite!
Weird innitt!
I am an eBid seller. I left eBay almost 2 years ago and joined eBid.
1) Sales are lower on eBid, but are increasing. My own personal sales are up almost 400% by volume and 300% by value this year on a 20% increase in listings.
2) While I cannot meet the £1000 a month regular sales yet that you asked for, my sales are now averaging almost £700 for the last 3 months.
Making money, which is what we all list for after all, was becoming increasingly difficult on eBay, store fees and relisting fees in particular. In addition being a smaller seller my listings were becoming less and less visible and sales were falling. I have almost certainly made less due to moving to eBid, but I am thinking of the future and building my presence there. The increase this year is justifying my move. Am I making a living on eBid, no, but I will before too long.
.
I notice ebid does not have a [defaulted or otherwise] best match search facility.
It makes it difficult to know what is selling well & by whom!!.
Personally I dont believe Millionares claim to have that sort of turnover from ebid alone.
Anyone could simply give themself that posting name and make the claim.
However it does not surprise me one iota that ebid cheerleaders will quite happily accept it – they appear to be a gullible crowd of women.
The post would have had more creedence had the user signed in here with his/her selling id.
Lots of figures floating around with very little evidence that eBid is viable.
Try this small test and then consider if you want to waste your time listing to a non existent market place.
Ask any ten friends or family members if they have ever heard of eBid. You will be lucky if even 1 has heard about it, never mind if they have visited the site or made a purchase.
It seems the only people who know about it are disgruntled eBay sellers.
I would really love to list on eBid if it worked, but bottom line it isn’t viable, which is a real shame because there are lots of disgruntled eBay sellers who are looking for an alternative, but unfortunately eBid just hasn’t got the customers.
ebid is a complete waste of time. you could advertise “gold ingots free of charge” and you would not get a response.They would have more chance of success if they advertised on the TV or national press. they are the biggest site no one has heard of.also they have a long way to got to compete with ebay in terms of diversity of categories.Its a good job its free to use as paying to list would be money down the drain !!!!
You may very well be correct. But there is a very old story about Chicken and eggs. Which comes first?
Perhaps it is the same with ebid. I would be most surprised if any site in the World has hoards of Customers flocking around like Geese waiting for a Seller to turn up.
Far more likely that like the mighty Oak Tree that it starts as the Acorn and slowly grows. As it grows it attracts to itself Buyers and Sellers until it is the Mighty Oak of e-commerce.
So the question perhaps should be has ebid the wherewithall to be the Mighty Oak or will it fail?
Now before anybody thinks that I have the answer I do not. But as you said there are many totally disgruntled ebay sellers who are sick and tired of being kicked in the teeth and knifed in the back by ebay. If they all switched to ebid and took their customers with them then ebay would notice the loss.
Quite frankly ebay is currently so totally awful that it might need a large exodus of sellers and buyers to wake it up to the reality that it is currently so totally awful.
Comparing ebid to ebay is not really fair Chris and i think you know it and maybe the topic was to stir it up a little but anyway here is my take on it.
Yes ebid does not have the sales volume as ebay but i would now class them in a different market.
ebay now seem to be after the outlets and big businesses nothing wrong with that but in doing so are pushing a lot of good sellers/buyers out (why do i say buyers because a lot of sellers on ebay are also buyers)
In a time in the middle of a big recession ebay should be bouncing with second hand items but its not and the reason for this is greed and the way it treats its customers.
I see a lot of sellers going to ebid only problem i see is lack of buyers due to advertising
ebid is not as good as ebay yet but that is no excuse to belittle it
What I would REALLY like to know is how many of the pro-ebid posters here are from the same person?
You get my gist…
Just saying, YOU KNOW … I could be wrong.
Chris – another reason for people to log in via Facebook, as Rotten Tomatoes and many other public commentary sites now insist upon? We’re seeing some somewhat suspicious postings here.
from https://ecommerce-100.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/online-auction-rage.html
Where is the research???
“Mark Wilkinson of eBid.co.uk commented: “Auctions can be very stressful environments, whether you are online or in an actual auction room.
“There is a real adrenaline rush associated with the bidding process and when you end up empty handed it can cause some people to flip.”
The condition is not limited to males only. Females are more likely to be infuriated when losing out on a bid.
Younger adults are also more likely to be seething behind their keyboards. 42% of respondents aged 16-29 have at some stage felt their blood boiling at failing to secure an item online.
Adults in the North East and Yorkshire are the worst for having a hot temper. Two fifths of those surveyed have admitted to becoming irate at losing out to somebody offering more cash.
The world of online auctions is not all about temper tantrums and computer cursing. On a brighter note, close to a third of those Brits quizzed said they have been put in a good mood thanks to a dose of online auction retail therapy.”
My lord, you’ve a sociology degree!
At the bottom of eBid’s homepage is a nice badge claiming a Silver Badge review by Top Ten Reviews
Click on this icon, and you’ll see that eBid is actually ranked THIRD
https://online-auction-sites.toptenreviews.com/
Let’s just get this straight:
eBid’s own press release suggests they are a #2 competitor
eBid’s homepage has a fairly prominent link (albeit at the bottom, but it’s crystal clear) to a ratings site that ranks them 3rd?
Hmmm
LOL
Anyway, I could be wrong.
I’ve just noticed that the thread (with 25 pages of replies) on the eBid forums discussing this post has disappeared!
I don’t know why it’s gone, but it’s a shame as there were some great comments from eBid sellers supporting eBid. We’d like to emphasise that all comments are welcome on Tamebay. Not everyone will agree all of the time, however all views are respected.
We really would like to find out who eBid works for, why it works for them, how they use eBid to make money, and how others could also make money.
If it turns out that no one makes a liveable wage on eBid but that it’s a great site for constantly relisting the same slow moving stock and making a part time income or pocket money that’s perfectly valid and laudable. If you can make a salary from eBid that’s even better so we’d still love to hear from an eBid seller who’s doing so.
We’ve still not received replies to our emails to eBid and will email them again this evening.
Ebid needs BRANDING
it has everything else.
Slam the name on bransons jets or tesco’s products.
They need a branding, until they get that they are treding water.
Yes its a shame (annoying) when interesting forum threads get pulled. 25 pages of comments is a good indication of interest by ebid members.
Do they pull the whole thread because of one rude reply or is it that they do not like any negative publicity ?
Bonanza is very good as it.
I think the thread was pulled because it got a bit heated with one ebidder upsetting a lot of others so it may have come accross as a bit of ganging up on one guy.
it’s funny though but most threads on ebays message boards turn into this and they are left to run and run.
I hope that is not the reason. After all it is usually me against, perhaps not the rest but certainly a few. But that is how I like it after all if everybody agreed with me I would be convinmced that I was probably wrong. But me against the rest those are the odds I like because invariably it means that I am right.