Making Ebid's layout more like Ebay

[donkeyote]

Personally I think the Ebid site is very good, but I do find it difficult reading the text (categories and auction titles are a bit small) and I think the whole site would look better if it was made more 'Ebay like'.

If you go to http://www.thefastbid.com and check out their auctions, they have copied the old Ebay style, and they look very good.
Is the Ebay 'style' copyrighted? I would presume not. (Obviously Ebid doesn't have to be exactly like Ebay, but I think it's not a bad idea to copy their basic style, in terms of general layout, size of font used, etc. This makes for easy reading.)
I started one of my auctions over there just to see what they're like (they're only just starting so there is next to nothing for sale at the moment) and for a few seconds you'd think you were using Ebay when you actually view an auction- the layout is exactly the same (which I prefer).

Ebay's charges are getting ridiculous (it costs me about £5 in total to sell a £80 item, which is a hell of a lot of money) and I no longer bother listing my old CDs and the like, as it's such an expensive risk (as they often don't sell the first time round, and it can end up costing £1 or more to sell a £5 item - not worth it!)

I think there's definitely room in the market for competition - as Ebay gets more popular, more people will become familiar with using auction sites, and plenty of sellers may start using Ebid as well.

I like the idea of an advertising campaign, but wonder if the site makes enough money for this. But the rewards to be had are pretty huge, if Ebid became anywhere near as popular as Ebay (as long as you keep your fee structure as it is!)

I've noticed that QXL is almost vanishing (the number of auctions is very small compared to what it used to be) but they have now added a new verification procedure whereby they send a confirmation code by letter to sellers, who have to enter this to prove that they live where they say they do. I think this is an excellent idea (and I suggested this to Paypal as well, who won't let non-US sellers become 'verified') and it would reduce fraud even more.

The PPPay.com escrow service is looking excellent, and is fairly priced (not as cheap as I'd have liked, but I will be offering it on all my auctions, I'll pay half, and the buyer can pay half). I don't expect many will use it, as the very fact that I am offering it pretty much shows I'm unlikely to be a conman!

So basically, I think if the site was adjusted to look like Ebay (if this is legally okay) within reason, that would be the icing on the cake, and many more people would use the site.

Just as an aside, last month I paid Ebay about £500 (five hundred pounds!) in fees...

Ebid here I come...

[donkeyote]

Does anybody else think this is a good idea? (Making Ebid's layout more like Ebay's).

I also think it would be very good if there were some way of registering (as on QXL) as this would make people more likely to bid (although I think that PPPay.com's excellent escrow service will also help in this matter, and as soon as my registration comes through I'll be offering it on all my auctions).

[johnwash1]

Does anybody else think this is a good idea? (Making Ebid's layout more like Ebay's).

A big YES!

[johnwash1]

...
If you go to http://www.thefastbid.com and check out their auctions, they have copied the old Ebay style, and they look very good.
...

I agree, the site design does look good. But what a triumph of form over content!

The "ending in next 24hrs" page fits on one screen, which gives you an idea of the number of auctions... must be a few dozen. And yet the guy running it can't manage even that -- the money tree is putting down roots everywhere, the computer section has a Louis Vuiton handbag for sale, there's an elephant on offer for 10,000 quid (shucks, I was setting aside 10K for a dragon pearl, now you tempt me with this). What a mess he'd make if he had G&M's workload! (I meant the site organiser, not the elephant!).

Check out the forums. Won't take you long! 0, 0, 0...

It's worth a look for the excellent site design, and it's worth a huge laugh for its content.

But maybe it only started last week. How long's it been going?

[Ericom]

I've just bid on an item after following that link.While I was there (after registering) I checked out the seller fees-absolutely 0 for any listing as far as I can see.My logic would be to use the service,just like ebid , after all do you, as a seller really care where you get your business from?
It may take a bit more auction management to control all the different auctions but I would imagine that the more free rescources the better.
A simple comparison would be pay per click search engines.Many of the smaller ones start bidding on key words at 1p ( even 1 cent) .I've checked a few and you could get 1st ranking for a bid of 2p per click where as Overture and Google would charge up to £1.50+ to get even near the top ranking for the key words I was wanting.
Would you rather list with 40 smaller ones and pick up the odd bid from each for Free or pay ebay for every listing and fv fee and compete in a bigger although more competetive market?

[donkeyote]

I think that the reason QXL is going down the tubes is its site design, and I think Ebid could benefit massively from a redesign. This will take time, I agree, but it will be a one off and won't need to be done again. Ebay hasn't changed its appearance for years, and I very much doubt they will in the future, as users would most likely object.

So Mark and Gazza - what do you think? If Thefastbid.com can get away with it, can't we?

[Landy]

Ebid did use to have a ring of "Ebayness" about it, bu t was changed recently to get away from that.
From what i can remember, Da Boyz wanted Ebid to have it own style of auction site, not copying another one.
I don't think it should be like Ebay atall..Ebay is Ebay.....Ebid is Ebid

jmo

[spireitedaz]

I think that the reason QXL is going down the tubes is its site design, and I think Ebid could benefit massively from a redesign. This will take time, I agree, but it will be a one off and won't need to be done again. Ebay hasn't changed its appearance for years, and I very much doubt they will in the future, as users would most likely object.

So Mark and Gazza - what do you think? If Thefastbid.com can get away with it, can't we?

The main reason QXL is failing, was its decision to reintroduce listing fees.

Simple as that.

[2steps]

Like ebid how it is> CAme over from ebay, months ago now but soon got used to the different layout

[donkeyote]

Having spent the last few weeks regularly using Ebid, I take back what I said - I like it the way it is (except I would like the fonts to be bigger, I don't know if this is possible, but my browser is set to have all fonts as large as possible. Some other sites ignore this function too - my e-mail always appears as the same size of font (small!) no matter what size I set Internet Explorer's Text Size to (in the View menu).

Other than that very minor moan, I'm now used to Ebid, and I like it the way it is!

I'll keep on promoting the Ebid name as much as possible.