Each auction features a countdown clock. If this is allowed to reach zero, the auction is finished and the last person who placed a bid is the winner. However, every time a bid is placed the countdown clock is reset – either by 30 seconds or a few minutes depending on the auction. If an item is in demand I imagine that some auctions will go on for hours, with the countdown clock being reset constantly.

Countdown auctions at Redbread

The great thing about Redbread is you get ten free bids just for registering. Unfortunately it’s not clear what to do with them as Redbread offers several different auction types – but I struggled to easily find a clear explanation of each auction type. Of course bidding is easy enough, just hit the bid button and your away but it would help new users a lot if they could find a clear reference to each auction type as soon as they registered. Eventually I did find a brief explanation of the auction types within the help system. These are:

Penny: In a penny auction, each bid pushes the auction up by a penny. For example, if 184 members bid for the item the cost would by £1.84

Regular: In a regular auction, the bids are pushed up by seven pence per bid. If three users bid the item would go for 21 pence.

Fixed Price Auctions: Some items come with a fixed price so it doesn’t matter what the bid amount is pushed up to, the item will always sell at a fixed price. Again, the last person to bid when the countdown is allowed to reach zero is the winner.

Nailbitter: During a nail bitter auction, sellers are not allowed to use BidBuilder – the Redbread snipping system.

100% Discounted Auctions: These seem to be the best to me. If your lucky enough to win a 100% discounted auction, all you pay for is the postage and your bids. You do not have to pay the price the auction finished at.

Bids cost just fifty pence each (this is how the site makes any money) and are available in different packages up to the 500 bids package for £250. Personally I’d hope for the price of bids to drop below fifty pence if I spent more than £100 but instead Redbread rewards it’s members by including free bonus bids on the larger bid packages.

I love the concept and styling of Redbread, and am certainly going to have some fun this weekend using my ten free bids. Here at AuctionCut we’d love to know your experiences with the site. Your comments are welcome. Visit Redbread by clicking here.

Play.com (PlayTrade)

Play.com is the forth biggest online retailing site in the UK (ranked by visits) after eBay, Amazon and Argos. Play is strongest in media categories (i.e. music, books, DVD) but in total sells across 12 categories including clothing, electronics and tickets. Play is predominately a UK based site with a small US presence which sells DVDs only (playusa.com).

PlayTrade is Play.com’s fixed price marketplace. It works in a very similar way to Amazon with retailers adding offers to existing Play.com catalogue items and paying a commission on sales (15%). PlayTrade products can be sold across all Play categories in either new or used condition. All products on Play, including marketplace products, are offered with free shipping, so this must be factored into the price.

PixPlace (Pixmania.com)

Again modelled very much on the Amazon model, PixPlace is the online marketplace run by Pixmania.com. Pixmania is an online retailer owned by the Dixons group which sells across 26 different European countries. The background of Pixmania is in digital cameras and so the platform is particularly strong in this area. PixPlace allows sellers to sell across all of its 11 categories in either new or used condition and charges 15% commission.

PriceMinister

PriceMinister is the second biggest eCommerce site in France and has recently opened up a UK site (www.priceminister.co.uk). Like Pixmania the platform is pan-European and available to residents from 18 European countries and territories. Unlike Play and Pixmania, PriceMinister does not sell any of its own products with all products sold by individual and business sellers. Most items on the site are at a fixed price, although sellers can opt to accept offers, and can be in new or used condition. Listing an item is free of charge but naturally there is a commission on sales.

Etsy

Launched in 2005, Etsy is a fixed price marketplace for handmade items which must be made by the seller. Vintage items and craft supplies are also allowed. This is a niche which is not well served by eBay and not at all by Amazon. As might be expected from a craft and design focused site the site’s design and usability is great and there is a vibrant community of artisans.

On Etsy, commission listing fees are very low (3.5%) and there is a nominal $0.20 to list an item for four months. On the downside the service is very US centric

Abebooks

Abebooks is an online marketplace specifically for books, both new and used. The service is open only to professional sellers and has a presence in 7 countries. Booksellers pay a monthly fee dependent the number of listings and a sales commission of 8% (plus card a processing fee of 3.5% – 5.5%)

Alibris

On Alibris, professional or individual sellers can sell books, music and films either in new or used condition. The service has US and UK sites but also allows international sales. Like Amazon, Alibris has is own stock alongside which it allows third party sales. Sales commision is 15% and there is also a monthly fixed fee dependent on the number of listings.

MyShoppingBank

MyShoppingBank is a fixed price marketplace previously known as eDirectory. The site charges a commission on each sale and a fairly hefty annual fee (several hundred pounds). All products are sold at a fixed price and the platform is only open to professional sellers. MyShoppingBank differentiates itself from the other marketplaces by offering cashback, sharing some of its commission with its users.

Other Marketplaces

* eBid (www.ebid.net). An auction site with a presence in 18 countries.
* CQout (www.cqout.com). Online auction site with a UK and Irish presence.
* Specialist Auctions (www.specialistauctions.com). A collectables focused auction site.
* Toymart (www.toymart.com). A specialist toy auctions site.
* Wigix. (www.wigix.com). Catalogue based fixed price marketplace.
* Aroxo (www.aroxo.com) Reverse auction marketplace

Trevor Ginn runs the online baby store Hello Baby and is a consultant at Vendlab. He blogs at www.trevorginn.com and you can follow him on twitter @trevorginn

(Image of Etsy Homepage)

Selling on Etsy is easy and the fees are virtually nothing. There’s no complicated fee structure unlike other auction sites – it costs just 20c to list an item for up to four months, with a final sales fee of 3.5%. There are no featured upgrades, or gallery fees and Etsy staff pick to three lucky sellers each week and feature their items on the home page for no additional cost.

For buyers it’s even easier than eBay. No bidding, No offers. Etsy is a Buy It Now zone only, so the seller sets the price for the item and you simply agree to buy it or not. Shipping is also displayed on most item descriptions worldwide, so nothing will be left tonegotiate afteryou’ve bought the item.

With a massive range of categories from Accessories such as Belts and Watches to Wedding which includes sub categories like Invitations and Jewelry, you’ll find items that you never even knew existed.

For me what really sticks out at Etsy is that buyers have the ability to request custom items which they would like made. This is perfect if you have an idea for an item, but are unable to make it yourself. You simply list what the description of the item your after, the ideal price you’d like to pay and sellers and your deadline. Sellers then bid at your item if they are able to fulfill the request. Never before has it been so easy to get custom items made and having sellers compete to make them. At the time of writing, they’re is a request for sunglasses made out of razor blades (as seen in Lady Gaga’s music video) amongst other bizarre requests.

There’s no doubt that Etsy is here as an permanent fixture, and with some of the low start up costs of selling on the site it’s probably the most ideal venue to for any startup. Signing up as a seller is easy, you just need to verify a credit card with Etsy, although once you’ve done this you can pay your seller fees via paypal.  I’d love to here your opinion of Etsy especially if your a seller on the site. How does it compare to other Internet auction sites? Your comments are most welcome, as always please take the time to read our comments policy first.

With eighteen different worldwide editions Ebid.net offers local auction sites to the United Kingdom, United States, France and Ireland amongst others. All ran from the same domain, using sub domains such as nl.ebid.net for the Netherlands and fr.ebid.net for France this makes navigating the different versions very simple and hassle free.

The site still has a way to go rival eBay, personally I feel the presentation of the site somehow takes away distraction from the auction listings and although a support system is in place any queries must be posted in a public forum before you can submit them to the support team. Obviously this is designed as a measure to prevent customer care answering the same questions repeatedly and although this route may give a faster response to the member, I found it quite annoying this method was mandatory. I’d also love to read about how the site started, considering it is ten years old but I failed to find any information about the sites history and how it grew into a success.

On the positive side, registration is quick and easy – it took me less than one minute to register as a member and like eBay there is a huge range of categories to list your auctions in. Over 1,800,000 live auctions are listed on Ebid at the time of this review, with just over 4000 Ebid stores offered by sellers.

The fee structure varies enormously from eBay and this is what has helped Ebid succeed and grow. With no listing fee and no final value fee for the seller+ account, members just pay a single subscription for either 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, 1 year or a lifetime subscription. Currently the lifetime subscription offers the best value as a one fee of just £49.99 but members may want to try the 7 day subscription first to see what success they have selling on Ebid.

Overall, for an alterative marketplace to eBay I was impressed at the sheer size of the site and I’m sure it will continue to grow and offer it’s members great value. Ebid.net supports many payment options including eBays own Paypal so there’s really no reason not to try it as an alterative venue or in addition to your eBay listings.  As always, your feedback on Ebid.net is welcome – click here to visit Ebid.net

These days, Bob is well on the way to being considered an eBay Expert himself having written hundreds of articles on eBay and completed his ebook. “Ebay Made Simple – The Complete Beginners Guide To Ebay”, is Bobs “How To” guide of building an eBay business from scratch.

Starting with how to build feedback and the importance of feedback, this product is pretty unique as it encourages you to jump in and sell unwanted items first. This will help you to learn how to minimise losses and get to know your market. There is no magic formula that will work 100% of the time when selling, you need to find out what works & what is right for you.

Though out the 205 pages its packed with common sense, practical tips, and answers to those questions others seem to avoid. If your at the stage where you need to start or even grown an existing ebay business then you will get some value out of Ebay Made Simple.

The ebook concludes with articles packed with eBay advice, a list of dropshippers, appendixes on your about me page and shipping items, common ebay terms and conditions as well as a simple where to start on eBay guide.