There are many alternatives to eBay, but unless a website has sufficient traffic, sellers will not bother to list their items for sale and buyers will not find the range of items they might wish to buy at bargain prices.The list of eBay alternatives below is not fully comprehensive – new sites are springing up all the time and existing sites that don’t make the grade are going out of business. Alexa provides an analysis of the traffic that a site has and these results are summarised below. Click on any of the thumbnails to see the full details for each site and check on whether they are going up or down in traffic volume – that way, you’ll get a good idea which ones really are serious eBay alternatives.
ebay.co.uk eBay is the world’s largest online auction trading community. Here’s what they say in their own “burb” about the company. ‘After registration, you can sell anything from antique furniture to used cds by auctioning and trading on e Bay. With the eBay toolbar and automatic bidder, auctioning online has never been easier. Search eBay for new and used products and you are likely to get items far cheaper than wholesale prices. With other tools also readily available – such as an auction sniper – you can be sure to get a cheap deal from eBay.’



amazon.co.uk Amazon is mostly recognised as a place to sell books, DVDs and CDs, but it also sells millions of other products as well. From video cameras to ipods and “how to” videos to xbox 360, they claim ‘there’s something for everyone’. Amazon also provides independent sellers with a platform to sell new and used items on Amazons main website via the Amazon.co.uk Marketplace. Additionally, Amazon provides a wide variety of resources to help buyers make informed choices, including customer reviews and personal recommendations.
play.com Play Ltd. trades as Play.com and is a Jersey-based (Uk Channel Islands) online retailer of video games, CDs, DVDs, books, electronic gadgets, and other electronic products, plus clothes and accessories. The company was founded in 1998 and was one of the first online retailers specifically targeting the UK marketplace. According to the Hitwise traffic monitor, it is the second biggest online retailer in the UK market. As of January 2008, Play.com had 7 million registered customers, a catalogue including more than 8 million products, and employed around 500 staff.



preloved.co.uk Preloved is a classified advertising website and covers the UK & Republic of Ireland. The company was founded during 1998 and currently has thousands of second hand items for sale across some 500+ categories. Preloved focuses on providing a community for specialist collectors as well as niche enthusiasts to get together in a friendly buying and selling environment. Here’s what they say about themselves, ‘Buying or selling second hand? Preloved is packed with nearly new and really old bargains in over 500 categories. It’s free to advertise so why not start turning your clutter into cash today.’
uk.ebid.net eBid is an online auction website which like several others, was formed in 1998. The company operates in the UK, USA, Australia , Ireland, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, India, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Singapore, and South Africa. The online payment service PPPay is preferred by eBid and allows buyers and sellers to make/receive payments in Euros or Pounds Sterling, although members also have the option to use Paypal and Google Checkout. Listing a basic auction on eBid is free and a percentage final value fee is paid on completion of the sale.



priceminister.co.uk PriceMinister is not an auction site. Like Amazon, all listings are at fixed prices, although buyers have an option to negotiate with sellers to reduce selling prices. The company acts as a third party guarantor, assuring the safety of the transaction for both parties to the transaction. PriceMinister guarantees a full refund to the buyer if the item is not delivered, or is found to be damaged when delivered. Payment to the seller is also underwritten by PriceMinister, making it an interesting eBay alternative due to PriceMinister’s willingness to act as the trusted 3rd party. Today, the UK, French and Spanish sites claim to attract more than 20 million visitors a month, with some 100 million plus heavily discounted products. More than 10 million members are claimed as at summer 2009, and the site is aggressively pursuing growth in the UK, offering discount vouchers for new members and an ‘Invite a friend’ program.
adflyer.co.uk The site provides free online classified ads. to the both the general public and to businesses operating in the United Kingdom and combines an interesting mix of classified ads with all the good points of a shopping website. Adflyer also provides facilities for online businesses to upload stock and merchandise in bulk. Here’s what adflyer say about themselves, ‘We’re incredibly easy to use: Our classified ads – targeted at their local markets – feature the same depth and quality of content as a shopping website. With 3,000 product categories split down into lots of helpful sub-groups, it really is simplicity itself.’



auctionair.co.uk Auctionair originated as an experimental project for an airline in 2001, aiming to provide entertainment and retail opportunities to passengers whilst in flight. Following trials in 2002 the business was launched to the public in 2003. The company states that it has over 40% repeat business from its customers and has carried out almost half a million transactions. Here’s what the company says about itself, ‘We think our system is like reintroducing the Souk as a 21st century selling system. When you barter in a Souk, the price you end up paying is the one you are happy with. It is not the same as the price the next person pays. Our system is designed to be a similar, personal one-to-one system, rather than using the one-to-many structure of the conventional retail price.’
121bid.com covers a very wide range of sale categories including Antiques & Art, Automobiles & Bikes, Baby, Books, Businesses For Sale, Clothing & Accessories, Coins, Collectables, Computing Dolls & Dolls Houses, Electronics, Gaming, Health & Beauty, Home & Garden, Jewellery & Watches, Movie Projectors & Films, Music, Photography, Pottery & Glass, Services, Sports, Stamps, Tickets & Travel, Toys & Games, TV & Movies. The company positions itself as a competitor to many other websites in the same sector. The website appears to have been well designed and is easy to use.



ibootsale.co.uk Here’s what iBootsale say about themselves, ‘…..is a virtual car boot sale, but rather than getting up very early on a Sunday morning and getting wet & cold thanks to the British weather, you can go booting online 24/7 from the comfort of your own sofa. As with traditional car boot sales, you can browse the pitches for bargains and make offers or haggle over the price. If you wish to sell your unwanted second hand household items, you simply purchase a pitch and then layout your items for sale, very quickly and easily.’ An interesting concept that should map well to the small-end sellers who are seeking an eBay alternative.