eBid
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Online marketplace |
| Founded | London, England UK (1998) |
| Headquarters | Surrey, England UK |
Key people | Gary Sewell & Mark Wilkinson, Co-founders |
| Products | Online auction hosting, Electronic commerce, PPPay |
| Slogan | Online Auctions Without The Fees |
| Website | www.ebid.net |
eBid is an online auction website founded in December 1998. eBid operates in twenty-three countries where it allows sellers, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Hong Kong, India, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Singapore, South Africa, Brazil, Malaysia and lists to buyers in over 100 Countries. eBid uses its own online payment service PPPay[1] to allow for buyers and sellers to pay each other in Euros and Pounds Sterling, although members are not restricted to using this form of payment: Paypal and Skrill (Moneybookers) are also integrated payment methods. Sellers and buyers can use any payment method by mutual agreement but this would not be integrated.
Listing a basic auction on eBid is free and a zero or small percentage final value fee is paid on selling an item.
The domain ebid.net has 8 million page impressions a month and attracts around 60,000 visitors a day (15m unique visitors yearly) alexa.com ranking.[2]
Membership levels
Currently eBid has three membership levels available for new members:
- Buyer (free) for buying only;
- Seller (free but requires credit/debit card verification) for an occasional seller, final value fees are 3%;
- Seller Plus+, a subscription based membership aimed at professional sellers with a recurring fee, payable every 7, 30, 90 or 365 days, or a one off lifetime payment (currently £99.99 or £49.99 if taken within first 24 hours of joining). Seller Plus+ members can open up to 5 shops free. For a basic auction Seller Plus+ members pay no fee, for a gallery one they pay 2% final value fee. Options like BIN only auctions & Run until Sold, are also available for free.
Buddy Points
Members can earn "Buddy Points" when they buy, sell or enlist new members. These points can then be used in Buddy Auctions to bid on items from eBid T-shirts, hats and golf umbrellas to cameras, monitors, kindles and household electrical items.
Methods of earning Buddy Points:
- Referring a Buddy: 1.00 point
- Buddies upgrading to Seller: 2.00 points
- Buddies upgrading to Seller+: 5.00 points
- Making a bid meeting reserve: 0.50% of reserve price (max 5.00 points)
- Winning by bidding: 1.00% of final bid (max 5.00 points)
- Purchasing using BuyNow: 1.00% of BuyNow price (max 5.00 points)
- Gaining positive feedback: 0.50% of final bid OR BuyNow price (max 5.00 points)
Auctions
Auto-extend auctions
If the seller has this turned on it will extend the length of the auction by 60 seconds if there is a bid within the final 60 seconds of the auction. This option is only available to Seller Plus+ users.
Featured auction
If the seller selects this method then the item will be at the top of the relevant section for 30 days. Featured listings cost from zero to 1.00 in a seller's local currency, however the final value fee is zero
Free auctions
The listing of free auctions is totally free. Basic Sellers do not get a picture thumbnail on the results page, but they still get up to 5 free pictures. If a free auction sells then it incurs a 3% final Value Fee. Free auctions can have a run time of 3+ days
Platinum auctions
Platinum auctions are only for seller status. There is a listing fee of £0.05 or 0.05 in local currency normally. Platinum auction listings get a thumbnail picture and if it sells, a final value fee of 3% is taken. Again platinum auctions can have a run time of 3+ days. These listings can be set to Auto Repost up to 10 times.
Gallery auction
Gallery auctions are only for seller+ status. There is no listing fee for standard auctions, but unlike the free auction above, a gallery picture is shown in the results. If a standard auction is successful then a final value fee of 2% is charged. Run time of standard auctions is 3+ days. As with the Platinum Listing, these listings can be set to Auto Repost up to 10 times.
Run Until Sold
A "Run Until Sold" auction is one where the item is listed until it is sold. This type of auction appears near to the bottom of the search results. This type of auction does not have a countdown time. These listings show at the bottom of Search Results, so careful thought should be taken when using this type of listing.
On first bid
On first bid auctions only start after the first bid has been placed, with a minimum duration of 3 days.
References
- ↑ "Money by email - Person to Person Payments Made Simple". PPPay.com. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
- ↑ Ebid.net attracting 13m unique visitors yearly