The following is a guest post by Jason Butler. Jason is the owner of My Money Chronicles, a website where he discusses personal finance, side hustles, travel, and more. Jason is from Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Savannah State University with his BA in Marketing. Jason has been featured in Forbes, Discover, and Investopedia. Enjoy!
The online commerce giant eBay is one of the options to launch into online commerce, given its great visibility. But, like most online businesses, this is far from the only solution. Despite its gigantic presence, eBay has a few competitors out there. There’s money to be made on those sites too. Check out these 4 alternatives to eBay and branch out your online presence!
Mercari
When there is a race to find a capable alternative to eBay, leaving a competent e-commerce market like Mercari out would be a mistake. Founded in 2013, it is currently one of the biggest growing online selling platforms. Although it cannot go against eBay when it comes to reaching and customer base, it is becoming extremely popular.
With Mercari, you can use something as basic as your phone to sell anything, including toys, electronics, sporting goods, and just about any piece of clothing. In this application, you can find more than 100,000 items listed daily. All you have to do is take a good photo with your phone, add a description, and set a price.
Mercari is one of the fastest and easiest ways to buy and sell everything from your smartphone. With this platform, you can shop and sell everything from sporting goods to electronics, fashion to toys and jewelry to shoes, etc. With over one million new and previously used items listed each day, you never know what treasures you will find.
You must keep in mind that, although listing the products is free, they will take a 10% fee from the item when the sale is complete. After your item is sold, Mercari will email you a traceable shipping label (if you choose that option) so you can send it to the buyer immediately. The service also protects the buyer and will only release the payment to the seller once the buyer confirms that they have received the item and it is as described in the post.
OfferUp
OfferUp is another alternative to eBay. People sell all kinds of items on OfferUp including toys, accessories, clothing, electronics, and even auto parts.
In addition, OfferUp recently merged with LetGo which was another online selling app. You now get a chance to sell to twice the amount of people. You can also ship your items to potential buyers as well. OfferUp takes care of the shipping. When someone buys an item, you just must print out the label.
Poshmark
Are you looking to sell your clothes? For those looking to buy clothes or other items for their loved ones but lack all the money necessary to pay high costs, The Poshmark is the app that can make your dream come true.
Poshmark offers the best and newest offers as soon as you arrive on the site. You can also search in a variety of categories, tons of major brands, and major retailers. What is useful about this app is that you can see great details quickly.
If you are one of the people who have clothes that you do not wear, Poshmark is a great option for you to list them and earn a little money. Shoppers can purchase more than 5,000 brands in all sizes, plus they will be able to save up to 70% relative to retail prices. On top of that, the app provides a great option for potential customers, as they can purchase the specific items they want, or they can search for the newest items on the list.
You will also find something called Posh Parties where thousands of sellers gather three times a day, every day of the week, to make new lists, share and shop together. There are all kinds of parties. Some are for the brands of clothing, while others are for the type of clothes.
You will find everything like clothing, jewelry, watches, and even artwork in Poshmark. You can save up to 90% compared to retail prices, and the sellers do not have to worry about the shipping. Poshmark makes sure that the buyers are charged for that.
Facebook Marketplace
Surprised to see Facebook Marketplace on the list of 4 alternatives to eBay? You shouldn't be. Facebook's e-commerce platform may have just come on the scene and be a newcomer to the seemingly busy market, but it wouldn't be wise to ignore that platform, given how popular the social networking site is with its 2.41 billion users worldwide.
The social media giant was encouraged to enter the business of buying and selling second-hand products now a couple of years ago. Facebook Marketplace is a tool of the official application to which the company of Mark Zuckerberg gives a prominent space.
Facebook Marketplace allows you to communicate with customers or sellers through Facebook Messenger, you can publish offers on your Facebook and, in addition, it includes a filtering service by categories and by geolocation.
Conclusions
As you can see, eBay is not the only place to sell items online. You have multiple alternatives including Mercari, OfferUp, Poshmark, and Facebook Marketplace. If you are looking to make some extra money, start listing on these sites today.
