Almost every day for the last 5 months I have looked at the auction site count list and it seems every site has ups and downs randomly. There is no trend in most cases. Sites go up quickly and go down just as quickly by small and large counts.

Almost every site has benefitted to some degree since Black February but only one site has consistantly increaed their count almost every single day if not every day. They dont have big spikes in the listing count as I have seen some sites have but they have been so steady. Between 2-3 thousand listings almost every day. I look at eCrater and I hear Joe Perry's guitar and Stephen Tyler screaming "And the train kept a-rollin, all night long".

If eCrater was easier to use for buyers and sellers and nicer to look at then it would make some kind of sense but it is what it is and yet, they keep on rolling.

It is certainly not a site set up with community in mind. All the the stores are compartmentalized. You cant do a site search if you went into someone's store. You can only see their items. You can only do a site search by locating a tiny link at the bottom of the page to get to eCrater's homepage and THEN do a site search.

It does benefit the sellers who work hard and to promote their stores and the buyers you bring to your store are unlikely to find another seller selling similar items on the site. You brought them in. They are your customers. Why should the person not promting his/her site benefit from your hard work?

I am not being critical of eCrater. I just think the concept is interesting and I am suprised that it works better than any other.

There are many other good things about eCrater. Their Google feeds are the best out of the alternative sites for one. Encouraging buyers to forsake Paypal in favor of Google Checkout is another great thing. The admin is very active and very involved with the site. They are global and it works because the admin is involved. They didnt take the easy or the lazy way out and ban countries which other sites might think are problemic but judge each seller on the basis of his/her product.

The real test will be the Christmas Holiday season. The sellers who work hard at promoting eCrater might be very happy indeed.

The jury is still out but if eCrater keeps growing at it's current pace, within 2 years there will be a true fixed priced alternative to eBay.

I still think we will probably be using eBay for auction style listings because it might be 10 years before any of the auction style sites emerge as a viable alternative. I am just happy that we won't have to wait that long for a storefront alternative.

its easy to understand and by the way ioffer charts have looked the same andwhile its not auction based it is similar.

ecrater is free and if you want to set up a store without fees this is the way to go you buy a domain name link it to your ecrater store and taadaa your done. promote your domain name and your set. since it is uploaded to google for you no hassel there. its the easiest and cheapest way to set up your own store. being linked to ecrater search is just another perk.

Well, I will tell you the number one reason I continue to list on Ecrater and that is when I do a google search for my item title, there's my item, right on top! Sometimes above Ebay's.

I like the way blujay is set up better, but I can't find my own blujay items when I google them.

Ecrater is awkward to navigate and I've had many customers email me and tell me they are confused with the way it works. But if someone is searching Google, I can be sure that if they are looking for something I have, they'll find it.

I, too have searched google and have found my Ecrater items, in good placements. Blujay? Where are they? Blujay is a more attractive site and is easy to use. I will still continue to list some there and see what happens.

Just got my first sale on Ecrater today and payment was processed without problem. It was not a big item, but no listing fees. It feels good to get a sale and not shell out listing fees.




http://daysofoldbooksadsandmore.ecrater.com

http://www.blujay.com/tommyttt

I still hear the music in my head....over 1,281,000 listings and climbing....

I said, train kept a rollin all night long
Train kept a rollin all night long
Train kept a rollin all night long
Train kept a rollin all night long
With a heave, and a ho
Straight to the Moon we go....

I'm so excited as I joined eCrater yesterday! I've been researching this whole eBay alternative issue for an entire month.

I like the other sites, but feel that eBay will always be the place for auctions. It's a bummer for sure, but in order for auctions to be successful, there needs to be a large audience. The other sites just won't be able to pull in the number of buyers to make auctions successful.

However, for fixed pricing, I think eCrater is the way to go. It will be so nice not to have to worry about FVF's. I don't have to pay $50 to have inventory just sit as with eBid. I thought they had a US site, but almost every link is to a general all site area. Quite a mess for those not interested in international sales. I think eBid will be Europe's answer to eBay, but not really for the US.

Plus, eCrater is so professional. Yes, I know all of the drawbacks, but I'm really not looking for another eBay store. Let my eBay store bring in initial customers, and let my lower prices in my eCrater store keep them buying. I've learned some great tips for advertising my store, so I'll use those as well. Only 11,000 more to the big 1,300,000!

It would be interesting to see how many items listed on ecrater are actually sold on the average day. I tried them, early this year, for a couple of months. I didn't have the 1st sale...not even the first question about the items. I closed down my ecrater store and listed everything on blujay. The day after I closed the store, 1 of the items sold on blujay. Give me sales anyday over item placement or number of items. Okay, back to the scheduled ecrater love-fest!

I hear ya. I guess the thing is that one needs to advertise their store on eCrater. It's more store based rather than item based like eBay.

Plus, all of the blujay stores look alike. I'm getting artwork done, so don't really want to waste it with a blujay store. eCrater is similar as they don't have HTML, but at least the storefront has a logo and some personalization to it.

Also, I really don't have time to list and relist items. eCrater has the numbers for me, so I know they'll be staying around. blujay seems to be in the running now, but another down time could really hit it hard.

You CAN use HTML on blujay! you can do some customizing there!

dfpvandyke wrote (View Post): › It would be interesting to see how many items listed on ecrater are actually sold on the average day. I tried them, early this year, for a couple of months. I didn't have the 1st sale...not even the first question about the items. I closed down my ecrater store and listed everything on blujay. The day after I closed the store, 1 of the items sold on blujay. Give me sales anyday over item placement or number of items. Okay, back to the scheduled ecrater love-fest!

It would be even MORE interesting if BluJay members make all of the sales they claim to make and if someone actually had proof of these supposed sales at BluJay instead of instead of trying to raise doubt in the minds of people about the viability of eCrater.

I am beginning to see that BJ users have a "second best" or a "small man" complex so they talk louder and exagerate more to try to get people to notice them and not to notice how eCrater is starting to eclipse them. I guess as Shrek would say "Do ya think they're tryin' to compensate for something?"

Yes, ignore High Google placement, that eCrater gets 5 times the traffic of BluJay, ignore that more people seem to like eCrater better than BluJay.

Pay attention things like "I get more sales at BluJay" and I never sell anything at eCrater!

OK, SHOW US the completed sales statistics for BJ.

What? You cant do that? Then talk about something that can be verified instead of taking jabs at the obviously superior site with snide remarks.

Renagade wrote (View Post): › You CAN use HTML on blujay! you can do some customizing there!

I am guessing that BluJay Members need a bit of attention so they come to the eCrater board to get it?

Sittingon20G wrote (View Post): › blujay seems to be in the running now, but another down time could really hit it hard.

No, they have fallen way back and if they are running, it is backwards. That's why they are now trying to make noise to get people to notice them.

Aorry, I didn't mean to upset anyone. I just thought that if sellers could customize, they would've, but all I see is blue and gray. I've checked quite a few stores, so maybe they just don't know they can.

Sorry

Sittingon20G wrote: › Sorry

PatchDog wrote (View Post): › dfpvandyke wrote (View Post): › It would be interesting to see how many items listed on ecrater are actually sold on the average day. I tried them, early this year, for a couple of months. I didn't have the 1st sale...not even the first question about the items. I closed down my ecrater store and listed everything on blujay. The day after I closed the store, 1 of the items sold on blujay. Give me sales anyday over item placement or number of items. Okay, back to the scheduled ecrater love-fest! It would be even MORE interesting if BluJay members make all of the sales they claim to make and if someone actually had proof of these supposed sales at BluJay instead of instead of trying to raise doubt in the minds of people about the viability of eCrater. I am beginning to see that BJ users have a "second best" or a "small man" complex so they talk louder and exagerate more to try to get people to notice them and not to notice how eCrater is starting to eclipse them. I guess as Shrek would say "Do ya think they're tryin' to compensate for something?" Yes, ignore High Google placement, that eCrater gets 5 times the traffic of BluJay, ignore that more people seem to like eCrater better than BluJay. Pay attention things like "I get more sales at BluJay" and I never sell anything at eCrater! OK, SHOW US the completed sales statistics for BJ. What? You cant do that? Then talk about something that can be verified instead of taking jabs at the obviously superior site with snide remarks.

Yeah, it sure is nice to use ecrater's search...if you want to stay in 1 store. What is up with that? I thought that we lived in a democratic society...

If you are talking about "superior", you wouldn't be talking about ecrater. You would be talking about ebay or Amazon. Those sites are superior to blujay.

By the way, no one here is trying to make sales figures up. I am not a liar, sir. You don't know me...only God can judge me. And I would be stupid to sin over something so petty.

Once again, it all comes down to sales. Lots of people could think a puppy is cute, but if it doesn't sell...

Most people, who sell on both sites, sell more items on blujay.