Alternatives to eBay & Amazon Selling: eBid - a Brutally HONEST REVIEW

Posted by Big Brand Wholesale.com on 8th Apr 2020

In this series we are exploring online selling alternatives to eBay and Amazon. Previously we have discussed Walmart, Sears and Brisksale. Today we are going to talk about eBid.

OUR RATING FOR eBID:

We would LOVE to give this a 4-star! Let us know what your opinion is! Here's why we voted it at three:

eBid started in 2009 and today (4.5.20) has over 2.5 million listings for sale. What’s even more impressive is that sellers really enjoy eBid. We looked at 15 different name-brand-seller profiles on eBid and discovered that sellers seem to stick around for many years. When we began to research why sellers stay the answers were clear:

eBid has the lowest fees out of any site
eBid has fantastic customer service = really solid, positive SELLER reviews overall

Those two things are critically important when it comes to selling online, regardless of where you sell (or buy, for that matter).

Let’s take a look at the FEES

A basic listing with 1 photo on eBid is free. The closing cost / final value fee / commission / referral fee is indeed the smallest amount out of any selling site we have found (besides BriskSale). eBids fees are only 3%.

It would appear that eBid makes its lunch money by charging (optional) listing upgrade fees:

If you’re super serious about making eBid your home, they also offer “subscription” packages called “Seller +” that allow you to pay a flat-monthly rate instead of nickel-and-diming “extras” fees. In fact, there is currently a special for $99 that gives you a “lifetime” upgrade “subscription”, or, go for a 1-year subscription for about $55 BUT if you buy either of these subscriptions your Final Value Fees become 0%!!!!!

These offers are subject to change, so make sure you check out their FAQs page

PAYMENTS ACCEPTED

eBid is kinda up-to-date with payment methods. They accept PayPal, Visa, Maestro, Delta, Mastercard, Diners Club and Eurocard. It would be way better if they advanced and also accepted Amazon Pay, Google Pay / G-Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay but they don’t… yet. Hopefully this changes. I can tell you that on our site, BigBrandWholesale.com, a LOT of people pay through Amazon Pay…. a LOT.

SO WHY IS THIS SITE NOT MASSIVE???

Well, first and foremost, the traffic level isn’t as high as eBay or Amazon. With that being said, as a seller you have way less competition… but also less buyers to sell to. eBid gets around 15 million visitors per month, whereas eBay gets over 110 million. So basically, if this was eBay:

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then this is eBid:

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Here's a side-by-side for better comparison:

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Additionally, their site is a “.net”, not a “.com”. I have told you guys for the past 15 years to get a “.com”. In fact, when I was doing research for this article I accidentally typed “eBid.com” and ended up on this dudes site:

Side note: Do you think that guy could have spent 10 minutes trying to find a better photo than that???! There's no way possible that the photo above is the best one this guy could find of himself. I also like how we wants to go into business with YOU ("joint venture") yet can't take 10 minutes to take a better photo. Sketchy AF.

Anyways…

Thirdly, eBid doesn’t pour (or put) money into advertising like eBay, Google Shopping and Amazon do. Heck, if you search for ANYTHING, one of the top Google search results will be Amazon and eBay is usually next on the list. Here's a fantastic example, I tried to think of something randomly weird to search for ... I came up with "Purple Hair Brush" and typed it into google. Here's my search results:

So, like I said, Amazon and eBay own the search results. The next results are Kohls, Ulta, Claires, Best Buy (yeah, this one surprised me too!), Belk, Sally Beauty, CVS and more... eBid definitely isn’t on this list… ever…. Unfortunately.

A COUPLE NOTES:

If you are new to selling, it does not matter WHERE you sell because you probably WILL NOT sell something today (Sorry! Here's an ice-pack for that wicked burn I just inflicted on you!) Yeah, it sucks to hear that, but NOBODY becomes an instant success overnight. Even Jeff Bezos from Amazon often talks about spending YEARS in his garage shipping books by himself (remember how Amazon used to be only books?! That feels like forever ago!). I also spent YEARS shipping all of our orders by myself too! It's tough but you WILL get through it and here's the keys to success:

Whether you list on eBay or eBid or Craigslist or on your own site; online selling IS a waiting game. Of course there are things you can do to better increase your odds of selling such as Price (NOT TOO LOW!!!), photos, listings, etc.

With that in mind, I can ASSURE YOU that every 100 and 1,000 listings you add, you will see a boost in sales. For example, if you have 5 total items for sale, your odds of selling are about the same as your odds of shore fishing by an ocean on a sunny day with a fake worm. Maybe a little fish will come along and nibble, if you’re really lucky.

If you get 100 listings up, it’s like switching your fake worm for a real worm. Even though you’re still at the edge of the shore, you have a much better chance of catching a small fish.

Once you hit 1,000 listings, now you’re in a little canoe. Since you’re in a watercraft you can paddle yourself to slightly deeper water. Now when you cast your line out you have a substantially better chance of catching something decent.

When you hit 2,000 listings you upgrade to a boat with a motor. Now you can really start cruising along. With 2,000 listings it’s as if you have 2 fishing lines. Your chances of hooking in a nice fish are super strong. In fact, you might even get two at one time.

By the time you reach 3,000 listings you are in a friggin yacht with 5 fishing lines, nightcrawlers and those cool sunglasses with anti-glare. You’re catching bass and walleyes like you’re a pro. You are now worried about running out of worms because these fish are biting like crazy. See what I’m sayin here? The more bait you put out, the more nibbles and bites you get.