Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Petroliana News Replacement for eBay? It's coming...

Oldgas members: Use voucher code: a98e09f49472 on signup and you will receive 10 days of unlimited free listings.

For those that already joined, I will give you an additional code to extend your discount even longer. Thanks for the early joins!

Cool... good luck with it!

Neat feature: Swap offers! You can bid, buy it now, make an offer, or make a swap offer.

Im all for someone starting their own business and WOOO HOO if it works...starting a small business these days is near impossible with everyones hands in your pockets if you do it legit...But why all the hate on ebay. I am a seller there and my only REAL complaints are that they change the search systems ALL THE TIME to mess with my projections and that they favor the buyer in a lot of situations they can research a bit better for a FAIR outcome. I can bitch all day about ebay with a few beers in me, but in reality the overhead is nearly nothing and I reach a lot of people and its growing my business all the time. So what are you offering that they don't? I think that a NORM can be replaced...All the youngsters on here can site Facebook over Myspace or Livejournal...But that happened because Facebook is different, not just fine tuned. I would schedule a little think tank with some large sellers before you go all in...if that is your intention.

This isn't my main business. This isn't what I am selling my collection for. My only complaints about eBay are the fees. I think this is particular to the sign category. It costs less to sell a car than it does a sign. Thats it. But rather than bitch about it, I'm doing something about it. I created my own way to sell for less. Maybe it will work, maybe it wont. I'm doing it for fun rather for the money.

This isn't a gripe, but an observation. I think the exposure you get on eBay is often overstated. If you have something rare or really nice, yes, you get lots of exposure. If it's a run of the mill sign, often times you'll only get 10-20 views in a week. I can drive that many views to an item anywhere by using social media. SO, why not try right?

I take exception, when people do things for themselves and in the process they want others to believe they are doing it for them. I have read your posts and you have been very critical of e-Bay and the sellers on e-Bay. Now, you are trying to bank on this sites (large pool of collectors) and e-Bays success, by luring some of the action to your site.

Is your site not a site set up for profit? Or is it a business model where all the profits will be returned to the users? If not then it is being done for money.

You are luring people from this site, are you planning on making a donation to this site for referrals? E-Bay does and they are doing it for the money. Since you are doing it for fun and you're going to be making money...then spread the happiness.

In order for others to believe in your site, you have to show that you believe in it. How much of your collection are you going to sell on your site without reserve?

This is where I think some time with heavy duty sellers will be very valuable. Getting 10-20 views a week means something is wrong and CAN be fixed. As said...I think its a great and noble effort and HOPE it works because I will have more space to close deals...Not sure why people are taking offense to your efforts...Seems like you are just looking to make a business for yourself and nothing wrong with that. As for starting items with no reserve before you have a base...that is no way to go, but its anyone's choice. I will keep an eye out for sure.

21 registered users, 14 items being auctioned, and we're getting some bids on stuff so the site is actually working. Love it! Thanks to anyone from oldgas that is using the site. There's multiple auctions on there with low starting bids and no reserve so some stuff is going to sell for cheap!

good luck with it.

For anyone interested there is a Facebook group for promoting auctions on Vintage Gas Addict.

Vintage Gas Addict Facebook Group

I have found that promoting my listings via multiple facebook groups I can really drive a good amount of traffic to each listing. A gentlemen just posted a BF Goodrich sign several hours ago and he is already nearing 100 views. I have done comparisons to signs I have listed on eBay and I am getting a significant improvement in views. I will continue to do this for all listings as long as I can keep up. Free registration and unlimited free listings until Aug. 15. Thanks all.

Sorry I am a little late to this discussion, but here is an interesting article for consideration. Older (2013) but still is relevant. Hope this helps some

Threat to Ebay

Thanks,
-Paul

Good article..thanks.

Very Good Article!

That is interesting for sure. I need to clarify a couple things that I have been unclear about:

- I don't consider myself in any realm a threat to eBay. I consider my site another option for the vintage hot rod and advertising collectors. My site is small and I thought it might be something enjoyable, not just for me but for other collectors out there.

- I had no intent to infringe on oldgas.com and their agreement with eBay.

- If my posts promoting my auctions offended or upset anyone, I apologize. I have spoken with the mods about this, and have decided to stop posting on oldgas.com to avoid any "bad blood". The last thing I want is for others to be upset with me for trying something out. I was honestly thinking that this community of collectors would like to be aware of the items I am selling. I wasn't viewing it as a dis-service to the website. My mistake and I will discontinue the posts.

Thank you to those that signed up and have/are participating in the fun. You can stay informed of the new auctions on the websites facebook page, which for obvious reasons I'm not going to post a link to here.