EBAY Alternative: what would it take for you to support another auction site, knowing that it will t

Dennisl · February 21, 2008 11:27PM

Thousands of people are disgruntled about eBay but are any of them willing to support an alternative option? A temporary boycott of eBay will just not work. Competition is the answer to drive down fees. Building a website, designing an auction, leasing servers and bandwidth, paying for listings on popular search engines can be done, but you need people willing to list and shoppers willing to purchase from your auction site. I have mentioned this idea to several collectors that would be willing to invest in building a new coin auction site if there were customers willing to commit to using the site. My questions to the forum members are:

1. What would it take for you to support another auction site, knowing that it will take time to grow?
2. What kind of fee structure would you be willing to pay to use a new internet auction site during its initial start up?
3. What changes or new features would you like to see with a new auction site that are currently not present on eBay?
4. Would you be willing to commit to listing on a new auction site in exchange for a reduced fee structure?

Please post any constructive input / comments or EMAIL me.

Thanks
Dennis

ahooka454 · February 21, 2008 11:35PM

1: Yes.
2: Less than ebay.
3: Strictly numismatic material.
4: Difine commit? I have alot to go and would be willing to help get the ball rolling.

And no, I am not being self righteous or standing on a soap box like afew may believe.

edited to add: Id like a set fee per month/year for the ability to sell. Not a listing or final value fee.

ebaytrader · February 21, 2008 11:42PM

Dennis,

We already have an auction website for collectibles nearly ready. It just needs some work on advanced search, a couple of other minor details, and it's ready to go.

I doubt you'll find much of the kind of support you need here. Imho, you need the support of professional, full time, quality dealers across a broad spectrum of collectibles and their willingness to promote it.

poorguy · February 21, 2008 11:45PM

Keep your eyes peeled. Not gonna say anything else.

ricko · February 21, 2008 11:48PM

Several members here already have sites attempting to do what you propose... I would suggest (along with suggestions you get here) an alliance with them... possibly even a merger of the sites (growing larger to gain market share), and promoting your site very widely. It will be difficult with such specialization.... ebay has a vast venue... therefore gets millions of eyes... many start with something else and then 'check' coins... you must also include exonumia - i.e. medals etc and supplies. The larger the venue, the more attraction. Hope this helps a bit.. good luck. Cheers, RickO

poorguy · February 21, 2008 11:53PM

<< Several members here already have sites attempting to do what you propose... I would suggest (along with suggestions you get here) an alliance with them... possibly even a merger of the sites (growing larger to gain market share), and promoting your site very widely. It will be difficult with such specialization.... ebay has a vast venue... therefore gets millions of eyes... many start with something else and then 'check' coins... you must also include exonumia - i.e. medals etc and supplies. The larger the venue, the more attraction. Hope this helps a bit.. good luck. Cheers, RickO >>

Yup, but also in addition to your suggestion. All of the spin-offs are missing a few crucial pieces to the puzzle.

guym · February 21, 2008 11:58PM

It looks like coinzip is off to a good start imho

MadMarty · February 21, 2008 11:59PM

Didn't a certain ex-board member start a auction service that was going to bury E-Bay?

What ever happened to that?

13PacesEast · February 22, 2008 12:07AM

<< 3: Strictly numismatic material. >>

why?

packers88 · February 22, 2008 12:34AM

It would be so difficult to compete against ebay. Yahoo tried it with free listings and fell on their face. They had billions to back them and their own site to promote it and they couldn't survive. Mass viewing is the key and although it could be done through millions in advertising it would be no small endeavor. I know alot of people have tried to compete with classmates.com by offering their site for free and it still doesn't matter because everything falls back to a large audience. For example, look at how large teletrade is and I will personally never consign with them just because the prices that I see on there are usually below ebay (this is my opinion only), so as a seller why would I want to get $450 for a coin when i can get $500 on ebay? Again, it just shows the magnitude of ebay and how hard it is for any site to match them regardless of how much capital you have to back you. Yes, collectibles and coins are a niche and the only way for anyone to compete with ebay would be through a niche like coins because trying to go head to head with ebay for every imaginable product out there would be almost impossible just as yahoo found out the hard way. Don't let me discourage you, but these are just the negatives that I see and it would be a uphill battle, but it is done everyday in the business world where new players come in to compete and eventually go on to make millions.

ahooka454 · February 22, 2008 12:36AM

Because ebay runs the auction buisness. I want coins and rlated stuff. Like ebay, but for just coin stuff. Does that answer your question?

13PacesEast · February 22, 2008 12:46AM

<< Because ebay runs the auction buisness. I want coins and rlated stuff. Like ebay, but for just coin stuff. Does that answer your question? >>

answers it.

doesn't make sense, but ok.

ahooka454 · February 22, 2008 12:47AM

How does it not make sense? Ebay runs general auctions. Why compete with them for that? Go for what we want. Coins. That makes sense to me.

tmcsr69 · February 22, 2008 12:54AM

<< It would be so difficult to compete against ebay. Yahoo tried it with free listings and fell on their face. They had billions to back them and their own site to promote it and they couldn't survive. Mass viewing is the key and although it could be done through millions in advertising it would be no small endeavor. I know alot of people have tried to compete with classmates.com by offering their site for free and it still doesn't matter because everything falls back to a large audience. For example, look at how large teletrade is and I will personally never consign with them just because the prices that I see on there are usually below ebay (this is my opinion only), so as a seller why would I want to get $450 for a coin when i can get $500 on ebay? Again, it just shows the magnitude of ebay and how hard it is for any site to match them regardless of how much capital you have to back you. Yes, collectibles and coins are a niche and the only way for anyone to compete with ebay would be through a niche like coins because trying to go head to head with ebay for every imaginable product out there would be almost impossible just as yahoo found out the hard way. Don't let me discourage you, but these are just the negatives that I see and it would be a uphill battle, but it is done everyday in the business world where new players come in to compete and eventually go on to make millions. >>

And most never dreamed that David could take Goliath. Who would have known 20 years ago that Kodak or Zerox would be companies that were shrinking rapidly. How about AOL? Ebay is just another giant that views themselves as invinciable. For every successful sale on ebay-there are several others that didn't go as well as planned. Ebay has become a company dedicated to the welfare of their stock holders - not their customers. The right web site will come along and ebay will suffer. I believe a site dedicated to numismatic items only has a better chance than a site that tries to do it all. I look forward to the opportunity to try new and different sites and hope that many of them do well. When their is no competition - companies such as ebay thrive.

seemyauction · February 22, 2008 1:19AM

I like the way you are thinking...........

You think like me....................

Alan

dac076 · February 22, 2008 2:08AM

Several members here already have sites attempting to do what you propose... I would suggest (along with suggestions you get here) an alliance with them... possibly even a merger of the sites (growing larger to gain market share), and promoting your site very widely. It will be difficult with such specialization.... ebay has a vast venue... therefore gets millions of eyes... many start with something else and then 'check' coins... you must also include exonumia - i.e. medals etc and supplies. The larger the venue, the more attraction. Hope this helps a bit.. good luck. Cheers, RickO

I agree with this. Ebay has a huge "moat" because they were the first back when there was a lot less competition. Now there's lots of competition, but it's fragmented.

Boycotts are a waste of time, but if Ebay keeps raising their costs, they will lose business slowly. That attrition should help other sites, and hopefully, a winner will emerge that can compete with the Bay. It won't happen overnight, though.

Dennisl · February 22, 2008 5:14AM

I have visited a few of these spin-off sites and they are all missing key parts of what eBay offers. Another issue is not enough bandwidth or slow servers causing slow loading of webpages.

VicThrust · February 22, 2008 5:20AM

<< << 3: Strictly numismatic material. >>

why?

>>

Niche sites are what will eventually put the hurt on Ebay. Etsy is for handmade crafts and Ebayers who sell that kind of product are going there in droves. My sister sells high end one off dresses and is in a group of over 100 former Ebayers that went all Etsy. She herself is having just as much success there as she was having on the bay.

johnsim03 · February 22, 2008 5:29AM

<< Thousands of people are disgruntled about eBay but are any of them willing to support an alternative option? A temporary boycott of eBay will just not work. Competition is the answer to drive down fees. Building a website, designing an auction, leasing servers and bandwidth, paying for listings on popular search engines can be done, but you need people willing to list and shoppers willing to purchase from your auction site. I have mentioned this idea to several collectors that would be willing to invest in building a new coin auction site if there were customers willing to commit to using the site. My questions to the forum members are:

1. What would it take for you to support another auction site, knowing that it will take time to grow?
2. What kind of fee structure would you be willing to pay to use a new internet auction site during its initial start up?
3. What changes or new features would you like to see with a new auction site that are currently not present on eBay?
4. Would you be willing to commit to listing on a new auction site in exchange for a reduced fee structure?

Please post any constructive input / comments or EMAIL me.

Thanks
Dennis >>

Buyers are the most important element - lots of them.

And, no one has them. Fix that "minor" problem and you could have potential. Without it, nothing else matters, IMHO.

John

Stooge · February 22, 2008 5:38AM

If you offer just Numismatic items for sale, are you going to compete with eBay or will you now be competing with Heritage and TT?

The way to compete with eBay is to offer everything. Thats how they do it. They offer everything.

I would like to think that it could be done, but I doubt it.

Later, Paul.

Loki · February 22, 2008 5:55AM

<< Buyers are the most important element - lots of them.

And, no one has them. Fix that "minor" problem and you could have potential. Without it, nothing else matters, IMHO.

John >>

Also, imo the reason why yahoo failed was their auction site design just plain sucked. Very boring-looking site and not as easy to get around as ebay.

BECOKA · February 22, 2008 5:58AM

The thing about e-bay is except for the fee structure I have most of the control in putting up my auction. Knowing there are potentially millions of people viewing my items vs. dozens.

It would be tough for someone to take that, there are good alternatives with large customer bases with Teletrade and Heritage.

Dennisl · February 22, 2008 6:11AM

Buyers are the most important element - lots of them.

And, no one has them. Fix that "minor" problem and you could have potential. Without it, nothing else matters, IMHO.

John >>

I agree. Advertising a must, search engine placement, commitments at startup if possible.

EBAY Alternative: what would it take for you to support another auction site, knowing that it will t

Comments

Leave a Comment