Niche EBay Alternatives, 5 Specialist Online Auction Sites Reviewed

Any experienced salesperson will tell you that selling becomes a lot easier when you’re dealing with people who want what you sell.

High volume sites like eBay or Amazon are great for getting eyes onto your site but, if you want a few more targeted visitors another option might be an alternative to eBay or Amazon alternative that specializes on a particular area.

You are more likely to get the sales you require AND build up a stable of motivated targeted customers who are always interested in your product.

While we have already talked about looking into local eBay alternatives another option that is worthwhile exploring is specialty sites.

Audiogon

Something of a grand-daddy in the ecommerce world.

Audiogon, a site that specializes in high-end audio equipment and home theater components has been around since 1998.

The people who run the site take their audience and their field seriously, which has garnered both good and bad reviews from people on the net.

One reviewer at Alexa ( alexa.com/siteinfo/audiogon.com ) went as far as calling them audio Nazis, while one very happy reviewer said they managed to sell their high-end amp in record time after it had sat on eBay for a few months.

This obsession goes as far as event coverage.

The good people at Audiogon will go to any and every audio trade show there is in the US and put coverage up on their site, publish press releases about audio and entertainment and publish people’s review of different high-end gear.

It costs US$4.00 to place a classified or auction listing on the site and there is a 1% final sale fee.

• Name: Audiogon
• URL: audiogon.com
• Speciality: High-end audio and sound equipment
• Most Visitors From: United States
• Listing Cost: $4 USD
• Commission Fee: 1% of final sale value

Etsy

Etsy is a arts and craft website set up in 2005 by US entrepreneurs Rob Kalin, Chris Maguire, Haim Schoppik and Jared Tarbell.

Etsy is a very web 2.0 friendly concept (as you can probably tell from the video) and has quickly grown.

According to the Economist, the site had 1.9 million members and more than 200,000 sellers, as of January 2009 and was responsible for $9.9 million in sales in January alone.

It costs 20 US cents to list your products on Etsy for four months and the site has a final listing fee of 3.5%

It also has some nice listing features, which includes:

• The ability to set different shipping costs for different regions
• The ability to charge different shipping rates when two things are brought at the same time
• Tagging by subject, location used and materials used in construction

• Name: Etsy
• URL: etsy.com
• Speciality: art and home made products
• Most Visitors From: United States
• Listing Cost: 20 US cents for four months
• Commission Fee: 3.5% of final sale value

Dawdle

A site that will be gamers and game traders delight.

Dawdle is a gamer-related ecommerce community based in the states that deals only in consoles, console and PC games and console related products.

It has been online since 2004 and prides itself on being created by gamers and for gamers.

The site owners look to be about as fanatic about games as Audiogon is about high-end audio, putting together a blog which is often a no-holds barred look at the internet and the gaming industry in general.

Listing on this site is free with Dawdle charging a 11.99% commission on successful sales.

• Name: Dawdle
• URL: dawdle.com
• Speciality: games, game consules and gamer-related products
• Most Visitors From: United States
• Listing Cost: Free
• Commission Fee: 11.99% of final sale value

Office Hax

If you’re looking to sell your electronics, office stationary or office furniture and want to go the way of web 2.0 then perhaps OfficeHax could be a good option for you.

Launched in 2008 the site is very slick with feedback to the side and a very open interface.

There isn’t much listed on there at this stage but it has managed to generate enough buzz to get some page rank power.

Listing on this site is free and much of the organic search traffic is driven by electronics according to Alexa.

• Name: Office Hax
• URL: officehax.com/
• Speciality: Electronics
• Most Visitors From: United States
• Listing Cost: Free
• Commission Fee: Free

Ruby Lane

Ruby Lane is yet another ecommerce veteran that has not only survived, it has flourished in the 10 years it has been online.

While The ecommerce guide has given the site the big thumbs up (read the review here: ecommerce-guide.com/resources/product_reviews/article.php/3802471) It might not be the place to get in if you are just starting out.

The site requires that you have at least 50 items before it will even allow you to get a store and it makes sellers abide by some very strict listing policies.

There is a monthly maintenance charge of 30 cents per item, an initial set-up fee of US$75 and a US$20 per month advertising fee. There is no commission to pay.

• Name: Ruby Lane
• URL: rubylane.com/
• Speciality: Jewlery, antiques, objects of art
• Most Visitors From: United States
• Setup Cost: US$75
• Monthly Maintenance Cost: 30c per item
• Advertising Cost: US$20 per month
• Commission Fee: Free

And these five sites are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to specialist auctions.

Do a little digging, find an alternative site to eBay with buyers looking for what you want and start building your base of interested customers today.

And if we’ve missed out a specialist site just let us know in the comments below.