30 Top Online Auction Sites Other than EBay

Alternatives to eBay: The Big Question

The question here is what are your options? If there are online auction sites other than eBay (and there are), are they worth your time and if so, what is the best eBay alternative? From my research it appears that the number of auction sites is on the rise, and I find that more niche auction sites are springing up, such as gun auctions and coin auctions. When we originally put this page up, we had a list of 30 sites. That number has changed over time as sites come and go. Alas, not all sites are survivors.

In this post I’m going to consolidate information and provide a number of the current, best eBay alternatives. Not all of these are online auctions. viable alternatives to eBay include sites such as Amazon and Overstock. The point is to find online programs that have a sufficiently large market that you can plug in to it and hopefully profit.

I’m going to quote myself from my post Help Finding Alternative EBay Market Places:

The Best eBay Alternatives
A recent poll by AuctionBites found that sellers ranked the following 5 sites according to profitability:

Webstore.com
Artfire.com
Rubylane.com
ebidnet.com
eCrater.com

EBay was actually listed at number 13 for profitability. Moreover, the top 3 markets seller recommended did not include eBay. Here they are:

Artfire.com
Webstore.com
Rubylane.com

Addoway.com
Not an auction site. Provides a free online listing tool. No seller fees but does require a monthly fee.

Bonanza.com
Also not an auction site. Bonanza gives you a free site builder and allows you to bring in your eBay auction listings.

Overstock.com
An auction environment and rated as viable eBay competition.

Ubid
Popular eBay competitor. Worth checking out.

eBid Auctions
Another eBay competitor. Salehoo lists this in its list of top ten eBay alternatives.

Oztion
Based in Australia, though foreign listings allowed. No fees, though much smaller traffic and listings take longer to sell.

Bonanzle (now Bonanza)
According to my research, many sellers are having success with Bonanzle as a workable alternative to eBay.

Google Product Search
Not an auction site, but worth it if you have your own website.

SellStuff!
Another Google product and hosted by the Google App engine.

Craig’s List
I have heard some eBayers say that they do as well or better using Craig’s List for many of their auction items. One former eBayer reports that vehicles and collectibles do very well on CL.

Bluejay
The traffic is significantly less than eBay but still increasign in popularity and at this time completely free.

Nich Auction Sites: Definitely Online Auction Sites other than eBay

Cigarbid.com
As you might guess, this site specializes in cigars. I’m not sure if anyone can sign up to run auctions or if this run solely by the manufacturer.

Wine Bid
If you are deeply into the wine niche and your selections can stand up to scrutiny by experts, this might work you as well.

Audiogon
This is an auction site for audiophiles. This is where you go to sell highly specialized, esoteric audiophilia. According to Forbes, It features thousands of handmade, limited-production audio components, offered by individuals and elite audio dealers.”

Old and New
I dont’ know very much about this one. Reputed to be an alternative to eBay in the area of antiques.

Thredup.com
This is not an auction site, per se, but a swap site for children’s clothing and toys. Might be worth a look if you are in the children’s accessory niche.

Money Auctions
Specializing in collectible money, ie, coins and currency.

Mommy Auctions
Where mommies go to buy and sell. I believe this cater to childrens items.

Atomic Mall
Not exactly a niche auction site, but boasts over 90,000 members.

Vintage Computer and Gaming Market Place
A very clean site for the vintage computer gaming niche. Check it out!

Go Green Auctions
An auction site for the green community.

If the Shoe doesn’t Fit
A niche auction site for all things shoe. Yes, the niche is shoes.

Gun Broker
A niche alternative for the gun market. This appears to be a pretty big and well established site. Not just for “gun-you-down” type guns, but any kind of gun such as air guns and paintball guns. If you are in the gun niche, this may work for you.

Which is the best eBay altnernative? That I can’t say. One thing for certain is that the time is ripe for online auction sites other than eBay. I believe this is one of the largest collections of alternatives to eBay found in one place. However, there are many, many more niche auction sites available. If you are currently making money on eBay, you may want to examine your business model and tweak it for a niche auction site. Also, mega-sites such as Amazon are rife with niches. Amazon’s merchant program is probably the only site to rival eBay for sheer size of market place. Alternatives are definitely out there!