eCRATER

eCRATER
Type Private
Founded September 27, 2004
Headquarters Irvine, California, United States
Key people Dimitar Slavov, founder
Industry Electronic Commerce
Products Online Shopping Mall, Online Store Builder
Website www.ecrater.com
Alexa rank Negative increase 9,863 (April 2014)[1]
Type of site Online Shopping Mall
Registration Required to sell
Available in English

eCRATER is an online marketplace and an e-commerce website builder based in Irvine, California. It was launched in the early fall of 2004 by Dimitar Slavov.[2] By October 2008, it reached 1,500,000 items for sale in the marketplace and, as of January 2009, eCRATER has 65,242 active stores, and 95,773 stores have been created since its launch.[3]

eCRATER does not follow the online auction business model, it is more an online equivalent of a shopping mall. Its marketplace offers the products of all registered sellers in one place, while the web store builder allows sellers to have their own custom online store.[4][5][6] All listings are "fixed price" and buyers can add products from several sellers into their shopping cart and buy them in one single order.[7]

Creating stores and listing items for sale in eCRATER is free of charge; however, while "final value fees" were not previously applied to the merchants' sales, there are now fees of 2.9%. eCRATER does offer premium positions on its website for a fee, but this is completely optional for sellers.[6][8]

Origins

Dimitar Slavov, a programmer, started putting the eCRATER.com site together in early 2004. It took him about four months to code an initial version, coding module by module from scratch. His goal was to create an ecommerce marketplace that was nice and clean, where buying and selling was easy.[9]

Slavov eliminated any fees charged to buyers and sellers because he thought that online selling should be as free as it is searching the internet.[9] This idea gave birth to eCRATER, a free marketplace, just a few minutes before midnight on September 27, 2004 in Irvine, California.[3][7]

Despite some sources pointing to eCRATER as a competitor to eBay,[6][8][10] Slavov says that his marketplace doesn't intend to take on eBay, but to provide an alternative ecommerce venue for both buyers and sellers.[9]

eCRATER's first store opened on September 28, 2004 and, as a curious fact, they never listed any product.[3] By the end of 2008, eCRATER's listings hit the 1,500,000 mark and over 300,000 orders placed.[3] As of January 2009, eCRATER has 65,242 active stores[3] and has 462,000 unique visitors.[11] As of March 2011, its traffic rank on Alexa is around 4,260.[1]

Some eCRATER's selling facts: A CD by the rock group Motörhead was the first product sold, for $10.99. The most expensive item ever sold on eCRATER to date was a 2005 Chevrolet Corvette.[3][9]

Services and features

The main service that eCRATER offers is a free of charge, customizable ecommerce website and, a free online marketplace. The website builder allows sellers to choose the color of the store template, as well as adding their own logo, main picture and category's pictures.[4][12]

The product listings have a fixed price[12] and can include up to 10 pictures, there can be unlimited product listings in a store and they are automatically included in the marketplace. Sellers can add their own text to the homepage, about, terms, FAQ and contact pages of their stores but, they cannot use any HTML code.

The stores' back-end allows sellers to modify the store's look and contents, set up internal categories, add products, configure shipping and payment options and managing orders. eCRATER's stores also count with a bulk lister tool,[4][12] to upload a hundred or more products at a time, and a product inventory control.

eCRATER's marketplace and stores have a shopping cart that allows buyers to pay with PayPal,or Stripe.[12] The cart is integrated with PayPal Express Checkout and Stripe merchant-card processing.[8] eCRATER is listed as a Google Checkout ecommerce partner[13][14][15] and it offers integration with other Google solutions, like Google Product Search[5] and Google Analytics.

eCRATER has an internal messaging system to allow buyers to contact the sellers, also, buyers can use the feedback system to rate the transaction with the seller.[8][12] The eCRATER community forums were launched on February 24, 2006, open to both sellers and buyers with the exception of some boards that are exclusively for sellers. . Main Categories: Art, Antiques, Baby, Books, Cameras and Photos, Collectibles, Computers, Craft, Electronics, Movies and DVDs, Home and Garden, Music, Sports and Outdoors, and Toys, Games & Hobbies.

Prohibited or Restricted Items

There are some basic requirements to list products on eCRATER: the seller has to be a registered user, all texts must be in English, all prices must be in US dollars and equal or greater than $0.20, and the seller must be able to ship throughout the United States.

It is not allowed to post:[16]

Customer support

The eCRATER community forums are an important part of the site's customer support. Most common questions and technical issues are covered on the boards and, if not, a contact form is available to direct the questions to the eCRATER team. eCRATER's customer support is not intended for buyers asking about a particular product or payment and shipping arrangements. Questions of those kinds are meant for the seller directly, as eCRATER itself does not sell any particular product.[17]

However, buyers can request support if they're having problems with a seller or if there is a technical issue with the site that prevents them from making their purchase. Problems with sellers may include: non-delivery of product, selling of counterfeits, breach of terms and agreements, and others. Also, anyone can report illegal products being sold/listed, fraudulent activities and/or DMCA infringement.[17][18]

References

  1. 1 2 "Ecrater.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  2. ↑ Steiner, Ina (September 2, 2007). "eCrater: Scratching an Ecommerce Itch". Auctionbytes-Update (198). Retrieved March 19, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rich, Pat; BigTallMensClothing (October 24, 2008). "Solutions to Common Questions - The History of eCRATER.com". eCRATER Community. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 Haley, Jen (January 15, 2009). "Turn your skills or your stuff into extra cash". CNN.com. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  5. 1 2 Aune, Sean P. (October 8, 2008). "35+ Online Shopping Cart Solutions for Your Business". Mashable!. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 Beal, Vangie (August 14, 2006). "Breaking Up With eBay". WebMediaBrands Inc. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  7. 1 2 Slavov, Dimitar (September 27, 2004). "eCRATER News, updates, what's new". eCRATER.com. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  8. 1 2 3 4 McGrath, Lissa (September 2, 2007). "eCrater Provides Alternative for Online Auction Sellers". Auctionbytes-Update (198). Retrieved March 19, 2009.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Holden, Greg (March 2, 2008). "eCrater Founder Focuses on Vision of Free Ecommerce". Auctionbytes-Update (210). Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  10. ↑ Chu, Lenora (February 7, 2008). "EBay rivals circle vulnerable auctions kingpin". CNNMoney.com. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
  11. ↑ BusinessWeek (January 2009). "Top Online Marketplaces". The McGraw-Hill Companies. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Auction Insights (August 6, 2008). "Review: eCrater.com – An eBay Alternative". AuctionInsights. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
  13. ↑ Ashley (February 10, 2008). "eCRATER: An eBay Alternative". CyberNet. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
  14. ↑ Beal, Vangie (October 13, 2006). "eBay Watch: Is That Relevant?". WebMediaBrands. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
  15. ↑ Google. "Integration Partners". Google. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
  16. ↑ "eCrater Terms of Service & Privacy Policy". eCRATER.com. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
  17. 1 2 eCRATER. "eCrater Contact Our Team". eCRATER.com. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
  18. ↑ eCRATER. "http://www.ecrater.com/dmca.php". eCRATER.com. Retrieved March 27, 2009. External link in |title= (help)

External links

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