Better than ebay.com in many ways!
Written: Jan 12, 2010
|
| Full Review |
I used to be somewhat of an ebay.com addict. I would buy and sell things there all the time! I made loads of money selling junk I had collected in my workshop. My activity slowed down when ebay.com started getting greedy and hiked up their fees. They charged fees for listing an item to sell. Then they charged a percentage cut for items that sold. They raised their fees several times until I just sick of it and stopped selling stuff altogether. Also, the "mark-up" is reflected in Sellers's prices, so I rarely find anything sold there a great buy. On top of that, there are so, so, so many rules! They also added so many layers of protection that navigating the site is cumbersome.
Then one day, I was rummaging through some stuff I had in my basement when I came across some VHS video tapes I had containing off-the-air recordings of the pilot episode of the old show "Spenser For Hire". I brought it upstairs and my daughter and I watched it together. She loved it! She wanted to watch more of the episodes. So, I went to my PC and did a search for the series. It turns out the series was not available on DVD by the owners. However, some people were selling great quality copies of the complete series on DVD for about $25!!! Incredible! They were selling them from the web site sell.com.
I had never heard about sell.com before....and I consider myself to be an internet maven of sorts. This site has been around for many years! The site is basically a classified ad service. The seller goes on the site and lists a product for sale, describes it and puts an asking price down. Unlike ebay, this is NOT an auction site. However, via the site, you can contact the seller and negotiate the price, shipping costs, or ask questions about the products s/he is selling.
To contact the seller, you type your question on the web site and hit send. The question is sent to the seller via email. When the seller responds, you receive an email directing you to check your messages in your sell.com account. You can respond to the message and communication goes back and forth this way.
Also unlike ebay, there do not appear to be many restrictions on sell.com. Sellers sell their items at their discretion. Also, there are not many safety features (thatare in your face on ebay) on this web site. No buyer protection. No safety nets. No nothing! Buyer beware!
However, the sellers do have get feedback from buyers on well the sale went through: Quality of merchandise, speed of delivery, and if the buyer would ever buy again from the seller. Obviously sellers with a great track record can be considered more reliable buying sources.
I have recently opened an account on the web site. It was a breeze and it only took a few minutes to do. There were no need to secure the account with a credit card. There were no fees. No crazy loop-holes to jump through. Nothing crazy at all! Simply provide the web site with a valid email address (they prefer a Google email account). Then provide some basic address information, choose a contact name and password and you're done! You can start buying and selling immediately!
I have not tried selling anything on the site yet, but I have made several purchases. The process was completely trouble free and I received my items timely and in great condition. It was easy to use, and PayPal is not even mentioned on many sellers suggested methods of payment (another PITA web site!).
I must admit, the web site does have some clunky spots. The communications process takes a bit of time, since you can not read responses directly from your email account...you need to go to the sell.com web site, log in, then read the messages there. Also, the process is not very intuitive. You need to figure some things out on your own...like how to pay for an item. Also, the search engine on the web site is not extremely precise. It often leaves out items that are listed for sale, so you need to stumble around to try to find what you are looking for sometimes.
As for the merchandise, it does not have the breadth of ebay or Amazon. (At least not yet!) There are not nearly as many categories listed. However, you can purchase many things on the web site that are not allowed to be sold on ebay, for whatever reason. For those items sold on both websites, I've found that almost always you get a better price from items sold on sell.com. This is probably because they do not charge fees to list many items, nor do they charge a final value fee. They get their money through advertising, so they say...
I have been exploring the web site for several weeks now. I can't imagine how I have not come across this web site before. It does not seem to be very well advertised. I am fascinated by it! I keep finding really cool things on it that I want to buy. I would highly recommend to adventurous people who are not afraid to use a credit card over the internet. You can find sell.com at, well, at: sell.com! (duh!) Thanks for reading my review and best wishes for a nice day!
Mike
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
About the Author
Location: The Garden State
Reviews written: 602
Trusted by: 138 members
About Me: Sweet,sweet is the night! Dark, dark were the days!
|
