Over the years Ebay has been the go to place to find a good bargain, bid for the must have fashion trends or even find your next car. The Ebay community is huge and the customer support is brilliant but there are many more platforms in which to hunt down a good bargain, sometime for more refined circles. Here we have put together 5 alternatives that we think would be great to take a look at.
Depop – for Android (free) and iOS (free)
Depop has increased massively over the past year and is an extremely popular place to buy and sell. The majority of users are female selling clothes, makeup, shoes and accessories. However, there are plenty of male users selling both clothing and gaming equipment. On Depop you create a profile that has a similar user interface to Instagram, where you post listings that can be liked and commented on by potential buyers. Depop also has a feedback system to allow sellers to build a positive profile and for buyers find reassurance to who they’re buying from.
The app has a private messaging system and inbuilt paying system, all of which work really well. Depop is a great way to buy and sell by naming your price as a seller and by being able to haggle a price as a buyer. This might prove a better option to Ebay as a seller, as you can confirm the amount you want your item to sell for, instead of letting an item be bid for.
Vinted – for Android (free) and iOS (free)
Vinted is a similar selling platform to Depop, the user interface is clean and easy to navigate. Vinted works in a similar way to Depop with private messaging, offers and a seller names their price system, however, Vinted does offer a retail price to sellers price discount percentage on each listing which makes it look more appealing to the buyer.
Once more, Vinted has arguably more of a community feel with forums to discuss latest fashions, hold competitions or compare selling tactics. Vinted is a great alternative to Ebay if you predominantly sell clothing as this is what Vinted is mostly used for.
Madbid – for Android (free)
Madbid is a great place to get a cheap deal on expensive high street gadgets, cars, technology and even TV’s. Voted the number one fun shopping site, Madbid proudly displays customer stories within the landing page with people bagging a Macbook Air 13’’ for £0.28, a week’s holiday for £3.27 or even a Fiat 500 for £193.07.
This all must sound too good to be true but it really is the real deal, however, in order to bag such a huge bargain, this site does require tactics. When you sign up, you need to buy credits and these credits are what you use to be able to place a bid. If you are not alone in the bidding, when a competitor bids the timer resets until you are the last bidder. This is a risky way to get a bargain but if you play it right, you could be making huge savings.
Gumtree – for Android (free) and iOS (free)
Gumtree is a massive selling and buying space where you can find pretty much anything! Gumtree works by allowing the seller to create a free listing with a description, images and a price set by the seller. Gumtree is a great place to sell larger items such as furniture or cars as this is predominantly what it is used for.
From the buyer’s perspective, this website is easy to navigate and simply search for whatever they might wish for. There is an efficient and clear postcode and mile radius search, which is useful when looking for larger goods. A negative to the site is that there are a lot of adverts to battle through which does detract slightly from a smooth shopping experience. Gumtree is available online and there is an app for both iOS and Android.
Etsy – for Android (free) and iOS (free)
Etsy is a more refined space for sellers to offer up their handmade, homemade goods. Whilst being somewhat of a niche market, Etsy is a really incredible community of sellers where you can find sensational items that you are guaranteed no one else will have and that have been made with care. Once more a lot of sellers are quite open to customise their stock to suit their buyers, with different colour options, fabrics and sizes etc.
From a seller’s perspective, Etsy is a lovely space to sell and share your hobbies. The sellers name their price unlike Ebay where items can be bid for. The sellers fees for each listing is cheaper than ebay at $0.20 per listing and an additional 3.5% taken from the final sale price. By having a fixed percentage cut from the final sale price, this makes earning potential more appealing.
