Irked by changes in fees and the feedback-rating system, merchants who once sold wares exclusively at the online-auction site can now be found on a number of smaller alternative sites that have sprung up. With names like Wigix, Silkfair, Etsy and Oodle, these sites aim to offer more hand-holding for sellers — and charge lower fees — than the behemoth eBay.
Some of these new sites target niche markets, such as Etsy, which focuses on handmade crafts, where small sellers say their products can stand out better than they do at a soup-to-nuts-to-carburetors site like eBay. And many offer free features, such as how-to videos and blogs designed to improve communication between merchants and shoppers. Some sites are even tapping into the social-networking trend — where items for sale can show up on sites like MySpace or Facebook.
“I don’t need a million people to see my things, just the right people who have hopefully good taste to buy my things,” says Cathleen McLain, a 58-year-old jewelry maker who began selling her handmade necklaces on Silkfair earlier this year.
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.
Photo by Wigix, Silkfair, Etsy and Oodle.
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