Archive for the ‘Bonanzle’ Category

by: Tony Dunn

For years if you wanted to sell the bits and pieces of your unwanted stuff online, eBay was the only viable option. For a long time this was OK It was a fun site to use with a great community. Problem was, it got too big and lost sight of their customers’ needs, (which often happens when companies get bigger). For the buyers, the bargains weren’t so-much bargains anymore. This was due to sellers having to pay ever increasing fees, feedback changes & being forced to use PayPal. not to mention the scam artists. This is surely a recipe for decline. Predictably, the final quarter of 2008 saw a big drop in revenue for them. Whether this is due to the recession, sellers starting their own web sites or even listing on other auction sites, I suspect it’s a bit of all three. 

One site which is doing very well is Bonanzle started in June 2008 from Seattle, in the US. Initially it served the USA only but I understand that it will (or already is) available to international buyers and sellers. The best items to list Bonanzle says is not your shiny new and highly mass-produced stuff, Amazon caters for that area very well. It’s everything else and the rarer stuff, collectibles etc Does it get a lot of traffic? Well according to Bonanzle, in Sept 2008 they had over 10.000 items listed. Now (Feb 2009) they have over 1,200,000 listed - more than a ten-fold increase. This suggests that they must be getting a lot of buyers as well as sellers. This could be the answer to the prayers to of many sellers and even buyers.

Bonanzle at first glance looks very simple and in use it’s as simple as it looks. You can choose to show items you’ve searched for as listed or gallery which will be very familiar to those who’ve used eBay. You can use Pay pal if you like but you aren’t forced to. They are also planning to add Google cart. You can also pay by postal order, check etc, as well as cash. How much does it cost? For Pay pal, money order or Go ogle checkout the fees are as follows:

First of all, any cash-based transaction is and will continue to be free on Bonanzle. For transactions on Bonanzle that are closed through other forms of payment, such as PayPal, Money Order, and Google Checkout, here is their pricing - which, they guarantee will not increase through to 2010.

Price to post items for sale FREE which includes four photos

All prices below are based on the Final Offer Value (FOV). This is the price of your accepted offer, plus any shipping for the offer that exceeds $10.

Final Offer Value =

Less than $10 = $0.50 ($0 if registered during beta)

Less than $50 = $1

Less than $100 = $3

Less than $1000 = $5

$1000 or more = $1

Whether a buyer wants to buy one or more of your items, they are sold as part of an offer, so their fees are for each offer that you accept. Thus, you only pay when you sell items.

This looks very tempting so with no listing fees, you have nothing to lose. 

Tony Dunn is a designer/blogger and a CIW student. He has blogs on several different subjects. Go to http://tonyricharddunn.blogspot.com/ and find out more

by: Rose Li

1.) Amazon:
Amazon holds the numero uno position in eBay alternative sites as a marketplace for your car DVD players and other miscellaneous car electronics. Why? One reason is that their fees are considerably lower than eBay’s, as are everybody else’s. Another good reason why Amazon should be your first choice is the sheer volume of traffic to their site! Amazon is HUGE!

2.) Altec Trader: This site is a relative newcomer to the auction scene, launched in January of 2008. But, it has built up quite a bit of traffic and best of all….no fees at all! No listing fees! No final value fees!

3.) Bonanzle: Many eBay sellers, weary of being in what amounts to an abusive relationship; have packed up and moved their wares to Bonanzle which has very reasonable fees and a nice community of bitter, battle weary ex-eBay sellers.

4.) Blujay: This site has been around since 1998, so it is well established, and has a fair amount of traffic. No fees at all!

5.) eBid: A decent traffic flow and no listing fees, plus only a 3% final value fee.

6.) eCrater: This site is moving on up! It has been around for several years but has gotten a lot of attention during the past year and a half, since eBay’s seller unfriendly policy changes have driven and continue to drive away a lot of sellers.

7.) Google Base: Well, it’s Google. That says a lot just by itself. Name recognition, and it’s free.

8.) Neo Loch: Fair amount of traffic, low fees.

Get out there now and have a look around at eBay alternatives and find some more places to list your car DVD players. You won’t regret the level of security, and extra coverage you will receive.

Don’t just stop there! Check out the entire range of eBay alternatives. Just visit Chinavasion.com or paste the following link into your address bar: http://www.chinavasion.com/ebay_alternatives.html

Rose Li is the PR Manager for Chinavasion, China’s premier dropshipper for wholesale consumer electronics 

by: Rose Li

eBay was once the only game in town - nobody could touch their market share of online sales, if you sold online, chances are, you sold on eBay. Yahoo and Amazon both tried the auction business early on, and soon threw in the towel. That was then, and this is now - eBay is no longer the king - and several online sales sites are gaining ground as eBay loses theirs. Nothing was a better indicator of their decline than the news that eBay just posted its first ever quarterly sales decline in January, 2009. 

eBay is finding that it is not the only game in town, and smaller, niche sites, along with old standbys, are gaining popularity. Amazon reported their best selling season ever this year, even in the face of a slow economy. Bonanzle, the new kid on the block, bills itself as the friendly, upbeat site for resellers - and they now have nearly 40,000 registered users and 1.5 million listings to prove it.

Bidtopia - founded by disgruntled eBayer Bargainland, is gaining ground as their no reserve auctions lured their customers to their site from eBay. If you’re an eBay seller, there is a bright side, eBay’s loss of market share is your gain - the competition is good for the online marketplace. One new upstart, Bonanzle has been perhaps the more successful, growing at nearly 50% per month. So what’s making this site so attractive with sellers and buyers alike?

We decided to have a look and this is what we found out.
Bonanzle has a great group of fellow sellers with a friendly, upbeat atmosphere (kind of sounds like you-know-who when they first started, doesn’t it?)
You can easily import active eBay sales.
There are no listing fees.
There are low final value fees.
It is easy to import eBay feedback.
And the listing form is fast to fill out and very user-friendly.

The best part about all this new competition, besides the better designs, more user-friendly forms, more choices for resellers, better seller conditions is LOWER FEES! When you’re giving away 10-15% of your profits to the eBay, doesn’t it sound like time to look for a better alternative? How about no listing fees or final value fees of under five dollars… It’s out there, waiting for you.

Find out what other eBay alternatives are taking eBay’s lunch, visit http://www.chinavasion.com/ebay_alternatives.html for the biggest list of alternatives to eBay online today from Chinavasion.com

by: Rose Li

If you are not selling anywhere except on eBay, you are not taking advantage of the opportunities available to online entrepreneurs!

There are quite a few online auction sites, and almost all of them offer much cheaper fees, besides being far more seller friendly and easy to use for both sellers and buyers.

Best of all many of them are free.

Here is a summary of eBay alternative sites:

eBay:

Final value fees range from 8.75% to two dollars and 19 cents plus 3.5% of any amount over 25 dollars.

To put an item on eBay you will need to pay 15 cents for items priced 99 cents to just under 10 dollars and four dollars for items starting at five hundred dollars or more.

For items worth more than one thousand dollars expect to pay thirty six dollars 31 cents plus 1.50% of any amount over one thousand dollars.

Free Sites:

AdFlyer:

Altec Trader:

Blujay:

Craigslist:

Google Base:

Hoobly:

Xoobie:

Sites with cheap listing fees:

Amazon: Listing fees of 10 US cents on all items. Once the sale goes through expect to pay Amazon between 5% and 25 dollars 63 cents plus 1.25%.

Audiogon: A four US dollar listing charge. Once you have sold piece of high definition audio equipment on Audiogon expect to pay them 1% of the final sale price for the honor of selling through their service.

Bonanzle: There are no initial payments to be made to Bonanzle. Final value fees start at 50 cents for items priced up to 10 dollars and go up to only 10 dollars on items 1000 dollars or more.

CQout: This alternative to eBay will not bill you for putting your listings on its pages. Final charges range from 5.5% to 1.5% depending on the value of the product.

eBid: You can put items onto the pages of this eBay alternative for free. Regardless of the price of the item at the end of the sale you will be paying a flat 3% commission.

HiBidder: This is another site that won’t charge you to list. You don’t need to give much in the way of commission with successful sales. The damage starts at 10 cents for listings valued up to 100 dollars and ending at only one dollar, fifty cents for items over 10,000 dollars.

iOffer: No listing fees. Once you have successfully sold an item on iOffer you will need to pay a charge between 50 cents and go up to 40 dollars depending on the value of the sale. You will also need to factor in a charge of 1.5% on items over 1500 dollars.

Liquidation: No listing fees. You will need to pay a commission of 5%.

Oltiby: It is free to list on this site. You will need to pay a charge of 2.75%-5.25% of the final sale price.

Overstock: It costs 10 cents an item to start a sale with site expenses going up to three dollars 15 cents for products 500 dollars and over. Once a sale is successfully finalized you will need to pay 75 cents plus 2% of the selling price.

SellMyStuff: It is free to put an item on here after you pay a 15 AUD surcharge for 30 days of subscription. You also won’t have to pay a commission during that time.

Specialist Auctions: Free to list a product. Final costs are a flat 3%.

TradeMe: It is free to place an item on this site. Final commission starts at 6.9% and go up to 71 dollars 10 cents plus 1.9% on items over 1500 dollars with a maximum final charge of 149 dollars.

Want to see more free and nearly free eBay alternatives? Then visit http://www.chinavasion.com/ebay_alternatives.html the bumper list of more than 60 reviewed alternatives to eBay from wholesale dropship supplier Chinavasion.com

by: Rose Li

A few years ago, eBay was king of the auction sites. Those days are quickly becoming a distant memory as eBay loses more ground every day to other venues. Changes made in eBay policies during the past couple of years have made eBay increasingly seller unfriendly while driving stock prices down into the single digits. 

Besides making eBay almost impossible for sellers to stay afloat and realize a profit, the bizarre policy changes and frequent increases in fees have driven many sellers away in search of less expensive and more hospitable places to market their wares.

Not only are sellers leaving eBay in droves, so are buyers.

For some reason, the long acknowledged leader of the auction sites decided to break away from its tried-and-true success formula as the place to find unique, rare and collectible items, and model itself instead after Amazon; focusing on new mass produced items from sellers such as Buy.com.

In a nutshell, eBay took on Amazon, and Amazon ate eBay’s lunch. According to internet retail market studies, Amazon experienced a growth in sales last year, while eBay showed a decline in sales and traffic compared to the year before. So, if you are an eBay seller who is barely hanging on by your fingernails, take heart! There are other websites out there that are not only seller friendly but much cheaper than eBay, and your buyers will follow you.

Amazon is a great alternative to eBay for many sellers! Basically, it depends on the type of thing you sell. If you are a seller of vintage and collectible clothing and/or textiles, then Amazon won’t be a good fit for you because they don’t have a category for these types of items.

But, if you are drop shipping or reselling books, electronics, music or any one of a number of other products, you can leave eBay and find a new and happier home on Amazon! Since Amazon grew in traffic and sales last year while eBay declined, you will have more traffic and potential buyers on Amazon than eBay.

Plus, you’ll find the fee structure and policies for sellers on Amazon a breath of fresh air! Besides being considerably cheaper on fees, which means more profitable for you, Amazon is extremely seller friendly.

Bonanzle is another up-and-comer on the auction site scene. Although still in its’ early stages, Bonanzle is growing by leaps and bounds as eBay sellers—weary of being gouged with high fees, decreased visibility due to a search function that doesn’t work properly, loss of traffic and buyers, difficult seller policies and more—are picking up their marbles on eBay and taking them to Bonanzle.

Like Amazon, Bonanzle is much more economical for sellers and definitely more seller friendly than eBay!

Unlike Amazon, Bonanzle does allow the sale of vintage, collectible and used clothing and textiles. So, if this happens to be your market niche, you would be right at home on Bonanzle! 

Want to see more contenders for the ecommerce throne? Visit http://www.chinavasion.com/ebay_alternatives.html to see a giant list of eBay alternatives from China wholesale supplier Chinavasion.