What is the UK's number 1 auction site

balidey

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I always thought it was ebay.
But I just looked at my current 'watch list'. Not a single item is an auction listing, they are all BIN.
In fact looking at my past buying history about 90% is BIN.
Do a search for any item, then filter between Auction and BIN. The difference is staggering.
When I list items I usually go with buy it now as well.

Yet we all still call it an 'auction site' yet it hasn't been for several years.

I do miss the early ebay. But I have been using it less and less. Perhaps the reason is that its no longer an auction site, its now just an online shop.

I often had the idea of a 'blind auction' site, where bidders have a time limit to enter a fixed, blind bid. Then at the end of the 'auction' the highest bidder gets it.

Has the time come for another proper 'auction' site to appear?
 
I can remember a time, when most things on ebay were an auction. Now its just a huge car boot sale.
 
eBay changing their fee structure caused it.

It used to be pence for an auction and much much higher for a BIN. It is now very similar for both and they upped their percentage on the back end.
 
I used to use Yahoo Auctions at about the same time as ebay was just starting.
But its not been a true auction site for years.

Even when you do have an auction, most people then ask for a buy it now price.
Ebay even have a 'summer sale' on. Surely that shouldn't work on an 'auction site'.
 
Yahoo auctions used to be fantastic. There were some real bargains to be had on their back in the day. I think the Japanese version is still alive and kicking.

Ebay though has been dross for years now. Still reasonably good to find niche items you can't get anywhere else but, for anything mainstream, it's too expensive. It was great when it was effectively, an online second hand car boot sale but now, it's just another and more expensive Amazon but with a lot more risk attached due to the scammers.

There is also zero protection on eBay if you raise a dispute against a power seller should a purchase go wrong and as they own Paypal, you have no chance of getting your money back if they rule against you. You also cannot leave negative feedback if a trade turns sour. Ludicrous :suicide:

What started as a website for Joe Public to flog stuff has now ended up as an online shopping mall which only protects those that seriously line the pockets of eBay in the process :thumbsdow
 
There is also zero protection on eBay if you raise a dispute against a power seller should a purchase go wrong and as they own Paypal, you have no chance of getting your money back if they rule against you. You also cannot leave negative feedback if a trade turns sour. Ludicrous :suicide:

You can sue them. They ruled against me and I took them to court. Paid out instantly as they knew they were talking rubbish.
 
well, this is no surprise to most of us, OP - as the CEO of ebay stated some years ago he wanted ebay to become an online mall instead of the likes of you and me selling some 2nd hand bits and pieces...as the scammer always seemed to be a step ahead of ebay - whether they were buyers or sellers...

I guess the just got fed up and instead of becoming an online mall - just raised the prices of normal auctions - and as a result you can never get any decent bargains now :(
 
You can sue them. They ruled against me and I took them to court. Paid out instantly as they knew they were talking rubbish.

I could have done and trading standards told me the same but, it wasn't worth it.

Long story short - I bought a bicycle carrier for the back of my car for £20 plus about a fiver for P+P. I bought it off a power seller who sent it signed for delivered, to me. It never arrived. It turned up delivered at some MoT garage about 50 miles from where I live and signed for by someone called Kevin (I.E, not me). As all this was on the tracking info. I thought - no problem, I'll just inform the seller to chase it up, refund me or send another etc.

Not.A.Chance. As he had sent it signed for and it was signed for by someone, he had honoured his end of the deal according to eBay. It didn't matter that it had been signed for by someone else 50 miles away - it had been signed for and that is what they told me in black and white. I still have the emails.

I must have sent about 5-6 emails to eBay, each one getting more and more vociferous and each reply coming from someone higher up the chain at eBay until finally they admitted that as a power seller, he would not be held accountable as he had fulfilled his obligations even though he actually hadn't as in evidence from the courier.

The courier also wasn't liable as despite them having no reference of delivering any parcel to anywhere near where I lived for the previous two months and the fact their driver could not remember delivering it to the destination, because the sender did not want to claim against them, I couldn't do anything.

Now as I said, it was only twenty odd quid so I wasn't overly fussed about the money, only the principle of the matter but, when the facts (proof for that matter) are so transparent and you still cannot get eBay to rule in your favour because they do not want to upset one of their precious power sellers, then there really is no hope. One of the reasons I do not sell on there and very rarely buy and never for more than £50.
 
As he had sent it signed for and it was signed for by someone, he had honoured his end of the deal according to eBay. It didn't matter that it had been signed for by someone else 50 miles away - it had been signed for and that is what they told me in black and white. I still have the emails.

I must have sent about 5-6 emails to eBay, each one getting more and more vociferous and each reply coming from someone higher up the chain at eBay until finally they admitted that as a power seller, he would not be held accountable as he had fulfilled his obligations even though he actually hadn't as in evidence from the courier.

The courier also wasn't liable as despite them having no reference of delivering any parcel to anywhere near where I lived for the previous two months and the fact their driver could not remember delivering it to the destination, because the sender did not want to claim against them, I couldn't do anything.

Apsilon

Thanks for telling us that. I will make a mental note to remember it too.
 
Another reason auctions have died off is people want stuff quick, if not sooner. They don't want to put in a bid for something that's ending a week on tuesday. No patience these days.
 
well, this is no surprise to most of us, OP - as the CEO of ebay stated some years ago he wanted ebay to become an online mall instead of the likes of you and me selling some 2nd hand bits and pieces...
Thanks for that info, I didn't realise it was their intention all along. I just assumed it had naturally evolved from auction to 'shop'.
 
Another reason auctions have died off is people want stuff quick, if not sooner. They don't want to put in a bid for something that's ending a week on tuesday. No patience these days.
Yes, I agree. In fact I'm just a guilty as the next person for asking if there is a BIN price.
I'm not against the fact ebay is now a 'sales' site, what I'm trying to get at is, its no longer an auction site. yet everyone thinks it is an auction site.

Like the post office used to be the place to post items, now that's about 5th down the list of reasons to use it. And again like ebay, the PO have priced themselves down a particular route, ie they aren't cheap for posting. Same as ebay aren't cheap as an auction site any more, so its become less of an auction site.
 
I used eBay and Paypal for over ten years, then Paypal gave away £240 of my money against instructions, so that was the end of that.

This one eBid Online Auctions - Buy & Sell in our Fee Free Internet Auctions for United Kingdom easily deserves to be top auction site.


.

Hah, when they opened up many years ago there was an error with listing fees, they were meant to be free but they charged me, despite numerous emails with the then site founder; to this day every month without fail I get sent my statement which says I owe them the money, they have never done anything about it. :rolleyes:
 
You can still get good things from Ebay occasionally.

I picked up a 2m by 1m solid oak table and 2 solid oak benches for 60 quid. Found out after they were Habitat Parker range worth a combined £1300 new. Ok so my items need a bit of work on them but they will be awesome when done!
 
Funnily enough, I rarely encounter BIN items on the sort of things I'm looking for, unless it's the odd old record.

As I speak, I'm sitting here with another 6 days to wait for something that I want and which I know I will win because the same seller sold another one last week for much less than I was intending to pay, but I forgot to bid! The seller isn't interested in doing a BIN, though.

As to the whole eBay thing, yes, they most certainly aren't perfect and I've had the odd hiccup along the way, but I've had many pleasant transactions both selling and buying, sold some things I thought no-one would be interested in and bought some things that I thought I never had a hope in hell of finding, so I'm still a convert, personally.
 
I like eBay but I like buying stuff which is hard to get

It is great that you type almost anything in and it is normally on there (nothing weird!!!)

Had a few bad experiences (fake gear..) but you learn what to look for

Not as good as classifieds on here though!
 
I quite like ebay, but you do need to be careful.

I do think the buyer protection side of things has overall improved over the years.

I also rather auction style listings, but for more common/new things BIN is usually the way to go.
 
I bought a 7 led head light for camping from China, works a tread and cost less than £2 delivered!

Love it!!
 
I'm not knocking ebay, I look for things on there most days.
Yes there are some good bargains and hard to find items. But that wasn't the point I was trying to make.
But without fail, every single one of my previous search words will have far more 'BIN' results than 'auction' results. Yet we still call it an auction site.
 
I've just bought an item on eBay which retails at around £160. I paid £15 on an auction. I've only used BIN for a number of years, and I had actually forgotten what a buzz it is to 'win' an auction! eBay has such a huge variance of stuff, that I just can't knock it.
 
I tend to look for Bin's as its quicker when I want something. I do check completed auctions also to see if I could get it cheaper. But generally BIN's are ok.
 

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