Out with Ebay, in with SocExchange

to rival Ebay (yay!)

I have just come across a bit of news that feels pretty exciting and could prove to be profitable. A new buy and sell site has opened up that hopefully will challenge ebay's undesirable dominance.

www.socexchange.com.au

(Excerpt from Washington Business Journal, June 2009)

Important Facts - the Fees

Unlike the greedy ebay, this site charges only AUD$1 per month or AUD$10 per year. That is it. No string of endless fees like ebay - i.e. no listing fees, no final value fees, no store fees, no gallery/ photo fees, no thumbnail fees.

And unlimited listings ....

So come on Aussies .. it is time to give ebay the boot!

Ebay once had the plan that worked - for everyone. Since then they are just grown complacent and greedy and have not changed with the times and needs of their customers. Finally we have a chance to save ourselves and our striving businesses.

Please note: socexchange.com.au is not just limited to Aussies. It is an international site as well.

Other Aussie Alternatives

Yes indeed there are other Aussie alternatives. The most notable being oztion.com.au
I have been with Oztion for a number of years and to me, it has been a disappointment. Despite all the chances that ebay threw its way in the last few years (ebay puts up their fees or imposes restrictive demands on their customers and a whole flock of ex-ebayers will go over to Oztion), they still have not managed to grow to any viable extent and their market reach is still dismal.

Then there is the newer Madeit.com.au - which looks very good and is devoted to:
* only Aussie sellers
* only handmade items (i.e. no supplies)

That sounds good but I think very limiting. By limiting only to Aussie sellers, it immediately cuts the market reach to a small proportion of available sellers AND buyers. Think about it - how many overseas buyers would specifically search out an only Aussie site to make their purchases?

And purely from a personal preference, I like the convenience of being able to sell AND buy from the same market place .. and if I am a handicraft maker kind of person, one of the things I need to be constantly buying is supplies. As madeit.com.au does not cater to that, I immediately feel less of an inclination to be a seller with them. Maybe that is just me.

Summary

I will devote some time today to check out socexchange.com.au and maybe join up today as well. If I find out more interesting facts, I will journal it here.

Addendum

I am now registering with socexchange.com.au and reading their Terms and Conditions (from https://thesocexchange.com.au/soc.php?cp=terms). Here are some more salient facts:

• Auctions: SocExchange is also an auction site, just like Ebay.
  Note: this may be true for the future or in their plans, but this feature is not yet avaiable at the moment.
• Despatch of sold items: "unless you have agreed otherwise with the Buyer or stated otherwise on your shop-front, ordered items must be dispatched on the same business day, or on the following business day if the order is completed after 4:00 pm."
• Australian residency: "you must be a resident of Australia in order to be a Seller on the Website. "
• Additional Fees? "Additional fees may be payable for additional benefits that we choose to provide from time to time. We will notify you prior to any increase in fees. "
• External Websites: "If you have an external website, you may create a link on your listing that connects to your external website.." (Yay!!!!)
• Payment methods: PayPal, Bank Deposits/Transfers, Bank Check, Cash, pickup
• External Links: you can link to your Twitter account, Facebook, and other social networks in your seller account setup
• HTML: will accept HMTL (unlike Etsy and Artfire). Just use the "source" button when entering details (like product description)
• Speed: Listing is quick and fast and easy.
• Inventory control: the inventory management leaves something to be desired. If you have a lot of items, there seems to be no way of puttng them in categories for easier find. All listed items are just in one long list.
• Close store: I have yet to find any easy way to close store temporarily - e.g. for vactions. Which really is a must-have.

Addendum added: 28 February 2010

Out with SocExchange as well

.. at least for me. I did try socExchange and even paid for something or other to make it easier to list there. I can't tell you how good their back-end administrative features are (so necessary to a seller) but I can tell you that for me, it was A Waste of Time and Effort. Virtually no traffic.