eBay: The Competition

Many have tried to complete against eBay and all have failed to make a significant impact.

Yahoo! probably had the best chance of success. Years ago they had an auction facility where people could search locally or internationally (before eBay did) and was completely free to buy and sell. The service seemed very popular.

Later, in Australia, Yahoo bought out the successful Australian auction site, sold.com.au, and integrated it into their own auction system. They started charging final value fees and removed the international search ability. Within a very short time they had destroyed both Yahoo auctions and sold.com.au.

In Australia Yahoo now just refer visitors to eBay. Internationally, Yahoo auctions is still operating in the USA (see auctions.yahoo.com) but is very small now.

Today, in Australia eBay's most serious competitor is Oztion (pronounced "aus-shun", kind of rhymes with "auction"). Whilst Oztion have nowhere near the number of customers and item listings, they are certainly worth a look when buying and selling.

Wrap-up of competition to eBay Australia:

Oztion (www.oztion.com.au)

Free to list, cost for listing enhancements and a fee if the item sells

Australia only

Swap Ace (www.swapace.com)

Offer different types of selling in addition to auctions including swapping and negotiating

Completely free

International site, with Australian section

Bid Mate (www.bidmate.com.au)
Auction Bidz (www.auctionbidz.com.au)
Ozebid (www.ozebid.com.au)
[These auction sites seem to be the same]

Free to list, cost for listing enhancements and a fee if the item sells

Bid Sell (www.bidsell.com.au)

Free to list, cost for listing enhancements and a fee if the item sells

International site, with Australian section

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