This week in eBay alternative news there's lots of growth — and growing pains. Etsy gets new hardware and Bonanzle offers optional site membership plans. Meanwhile, on eBay, the new policy prohibiting paper payments takes effect. Plus, Seller Sourcebook offers new listing launcher for eBay.co.uk sellers.
EBay Alternatives News and Tools
Etsy Fine-Tunes Site For Holiday Shoppers
Etsy, an online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade, recently included infrastructure work in their fourth-quarter plans. According to Chad Dickerson, the site's chief technology officer, Etsy will be upgrading its systems and processes.
One of the big changes involves moving the site's database to better and faster hardware. This means that, unfortunately, from around 3 a.m. until 6 a.m. ET on Monday, Oct. 27, 2008, members will be unable to use search, listings, checkout, Storque, forums, convos, and other features. The good news is that after this short downtime, Dickerson says that Etsy will be more reliable during the holidays, as well as for the future.
Bonanzle Offers Paid Membership Options
Last week, Bonanzle offered two new types of optional memberships for those in its selling community to help offset some of the site's cost. While some thought that this was a new requirement, site Founder Bill Harding was quick to point out that the new memberships are completely optional. If you choose not to purchase a membership, you will continue to use Bonanzle in the exact same way you always have.
If you do join by opting for a membership, you will be able to add Google Analytics tracking code to all the pages of your booth and items, and you may also be featured on specific pages within the site including Bonanzle's main buy page, category browse page and the site's exceptional items page. Lastly, members will be able to publically display their support with the addition of a "Plus Membership" star in their Bonanzle profile.
Basic membership is $10 per month ($100 per year). Premier Membership, which includes featured placement in the "Premier Items" section of the search results, increased exposure on the site's home page and a 'cooler' profile icon is available for a monthly fee of $24 ($200 per year).
In a recent blog post, Harding told Bonanzle members, "We are quite confident that offering the benefits of exposure, Google Analytics, and an icon do nothing to affect the fairness of the marketplace as a whole. There is no question that, with the support of both our paying and non-paying members, Bonanzle is going to continue to move forward as the best marketplace to find friendly people and enjoy each other's company as you buy and sell everything but the ordinary."
31corp Gets Thumbs Up From AuctionWally
This week on the Examiner.com Auctionwally (read our Auctionwally Seller profile here) has been investigating 31corp.com, a site founded by antique expert Daryle Lambert. 31corp.com is an eBay alternative for those selling high-end collectibles and antiques. 31corp.com operates under the mission statement of, "You find it. We buy and sell it. You net 35 percent." Those in the antique business interested in learning more about 31corp.com can check out Auctionwally's BlogTalk radio interview with Lambert, here.
EBay News
Paper Payments on eBay: Going, Going...Gone
As promised, this week eBay is rolling out its new policy which will prohibit sellers from offering any type of paper payment. Soon, only approved electronic payment options will be allowed; and this will be through PayPal or ProPay.
Sellers will still be able to offer Pay-on-Pickup on local pickup items, but money order, cash, check, and any other paper payment option will be removed from the Payment Details section on item pages.
To prepare, eBay recommends that its' sellers should add at least one of the approved electronic payment methods to current listings immediately. This will prevent those items from being blocked if you need to relist the item. Sellers are also being reminded to remove all references to checks and money orders on listings, however, eBay has said that it will wait until Jan. 15, 2009, before they begin "insisting" on the removal of prohibited payment methods from item descriptions.
Any seller who needs to cancel and relist restricted Good 'Til Canceled listings in order to remove references to checks and money orders will be credited the insertion and feature fees. The seller must, however, have listed on eBay.com in categories covered by the paperless payments policy, have at least one sold item, and have offered check or money order as a payment option as of Oct. 20, 2008.
For more details on eBay's paperless payments policy, you can check out our recent coverage, here.
Holiday Selling Incentives
In addition to rolling out more policies, eBay is also rolling out fee discounts to encourage sellers to list more for the holidays. Several of the latest incentives include double Final Value fee discounts on all fixed-price and auction-style items with free shipping (sold from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31). Unfortunately, this discount is only available to PowerSellers. Other sellers will get a free subtitle upgrade on auction and fixed-price items with free shipping sold during the same dates.
The five-cent insertion fee for fixed-price listings in the media categories when using pre-filled item information will be available until Dec. 31. Sellers will also get a free subtitle upgrade for media category fixed-price and auction listings when listing with pre-filled item information, even without offering free shipping.
Seller Sourcebook Offers eBay UK Listing Launcher
Auction template and photo hosting service, Seller Sourcebook, released its eBay UK Listing Launcher for eBay.co.uk sellers. Seller Sourcebook is an eBay certified application that lets UK sellers access a single page listing tool that is fully integrated with eBay.co.uk. With the new Launcher tool, sellers can launch auctions, store inventory and fixed- price listings. Included is a scheduler that gives options for scheduling items up to 90 days in advance, as well as over 2,000 custom listing templates. The Seller Sourcebook service is priced at $8 per month for UK subscribers.
Vangie Beal is a seasoned online marketplace seller, frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com and avid online bargain hunter. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com.
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