RUNNING A BUSINESS | ||
Irked by eBay,
Some Sellers
Trade Elsewhere
Some online retailers are moving away from eBay.
Cathleen McLain |
Web retailer Cristinajewelry sells a jewelry-making tutorial on Silkfair, a Web site with specialty items. |
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These recent changes have made the use of eBay "questionable" for small retailers like herself, says Ms. McLain. She says she hears about Silkfair on eBay-seller online-discussion boards. The site, which started operating in March, showcases her handmade jewelry with large images -- larger than those on eBay. Still, fewer people will view her merchandise. "It's never going to be as big as eBay," says the Hartford, Conn., resident.
An eBay spokeswoman says that the company is no stranger to competition from other Web sites, and that it expects many of its savvy users to sell on multiple sites. The company says its recent changes are designed to offer competitive pricing and the best overall value for merchants. For now, though, only eBay offers the volume of auction-style and fixed-price listings, which generated second-quarter transactions valued at $15.7 billion, and audience of users, with 84.5 million in the second quarter.
Entrepreneurs have been trying to displace eBay for years and haven't managed to do so, says Ms. Mulpuru of Forrester Research. She estimates that nearly one in every five dollars spent online goes to either eBay or Amazon.
Besides Silkfair, there's Etsy, another site that attracts artists who want to display and sell handmade goods. Here, shoppers can see large images updated every few minutes with the most recent products listed for sale -- eBay doesn't offer promo slideshows on its home page of newly listed products. The site also offers online workshops for crafters and instructional articles on topics like woodcarving and crocheting.
A mustang named Spider is listed on Oodle.com. |
Another site drawing sellers is Oodle, a classified-ad site started in 2005 by former executives of eBay and Excite. Oodle aggregates classified ads from more than 80,000 Web sites and publishes listings on its Web site network. Merchants can advertise their listings on Oodle's network and choose different payment options, mostly commission-based. Some sellers say they prefer to list items on classified-ad sites because their items, like secondhand mattresses or strollers, can be picked up in person by local buyers.
Wigix targets shoppers who like fixed-price transactions, not auction-style trading. Co-founded March 2007 by James Chong, who helped develop Charles Schwab's original Web-trading application, Wigix is trying to offer easier navigation. On eBay, for example, prospective buyers looking for an iPhone must scroll through individual listings that might run over several pages to see the prices offered for various models of the phone. Wigix designates one page for a specific iPhone model where all individual offers to buy and sell the device are posted in one place. The site also allows sellers' items to appear on social-networking sites.
Wigix's system appeals to online merchant Jerod Husvar, a seller of used-car parts for sport-compacts. He's moving his e-commerce operations from eBay, partly because of the customer service he got.
Mr. Husvar says eBay only recently started offering phone support. Before, he was such a small seller he didn't qualify for personalized attention through an eBay account manager. He often searched to find an eBay person to call and would be put on hold 30 minutes or longer just to speak to someone.
"We built our business around eBay," says Mr. Husvar. "They lost focus. All their money comes from sellers. Buyers are what drive the market, but you need quality and protection for the sellers or else they don't even want to deal with the buyers."
An eBay spokeswoman declined to comment specifically about his complaint but said that the company tries to balance the needs of buyers and sellers for the overall good of the entire community.
Write to Mylene Mangalindan at mylene.mangalindan@wsj.com3
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