April 1, 2005

Another competitor to popular online auction site eBay has poked its head up. SnappyBids.com, based in Manchester, NH, is an Internet-based auction site that offers a new format and can offer secured transactions, free unlimited listings and no final transaction fees.

"We charge an annual flat fee for sellers of $36 and just let the sellers run their own business without stores and special treatment. We provide a user friendly format where sellers don't have to sort through a maze of fees. For buyers, it's all free and our SmartSearch feature will allow buyers to be emailed when an item they want is up for auction," said Gina Moore, SnappyBids.com spokesperson, in a written statement.

According to Moore, "The online auction industry is proven, and the growth prospects are phenomenal. Online auctions are expected to exceed $54 billion in sales in 2007 and will account for 25% of all online retail sales. Currently, online sellers are seeing more and more of their profits eroded by these fee increases and are searching for alternatives. Our flat fee format will save online sellers millions of dollars every year."

One interesting feature SnappyBids will also introduce is 10 Minute Live Auctions in the coming weeks.

"This is a very exciting feature for those who enjoy watching the bids change live on their computer screen", said Moore.

For international users, there is a pull-down menu at the bottom of the home page that translates the sites from English into an number of languages including Chinese, German and Korean.

According to Roger Finchum, managing partner of SnappyBids.com, said the site is privatly owned and was in development for seven months.

Many long-time eBay users have seen an opportunity for an eBay alternative given some of the difficulties the auction behemoth has dealt with since early January.

On January 11, the company announced listing fee and store subscription hikes effective Feb. 18.

With the perceived number of successful auctions trending downward and several technical glitches that many users have said remained despite months of complaints, eBay Store owners and Power Sellers said they had enough and wanted a friendlier alternative.

The much-hyped Wagglepop, which was in development for nearly three years, turned into a bust only a week after its launch in mid-February. Other auction sites that have popped up this year include OnlineAuction.com and ClassifiedBuyers.com, but neither site appears to have made much impact with sellers or buyers so far.

A brief check with on the FreeAuctionScripts.com Web site, which is host to a number of auction forums, found no name recognition for SnappyBids.

Neither Rome nor eBay were built in a day. We're patient and confident the user base will grow. We at SnappyBids aren't too concerned about Wagglepop's failure. We're success driven and choose not to worry about those who didnt succeed or those who are negative about competition for eBay. As for support; the proof of the pudding is in the eating," said Finchum in an email to ECommerce-Guide on Friday.

"We may not be eBay, but we are the new way," added Moore.

Source: eCommerce Guide

Advertise on E-Commerce News