If you live outside of the USA it is possible that you may not have heard about Webstore a very active online auction site that offers a real alternative to eBay. When I first looked at their web site I was not certain if it was purely aimed at the North Atlantic market or was a truly International operation. Having been in communication with the Webstore management team I am pleased to say that not only do they operate globally but already have a number of buyers and sellers within the UK.
The site has been voted 2nd in Ina Stieners Auctionbytes 2011 Sellers Choice Award and in 2010 received the Silver Award from Top Ten Reviews. With such credentials it was obviously an online site that was worth investigating further.
If you browse Webstore you will find hundreds of thousands of items listed in 33 categories. It was also worth noting that many brand name items were on offer at either discount or wholesale prices although most at present emanate from the USA and might incur high shipping charges.
For sellers the big attraction is that there are no fees for either listing or selling items. This of course begs the question if there are no charges how can a site such as Webstore make any money and survive? The answer is very simple firstly the site contains AdSense and other advertising and secondly most sellers make use of the Verification system operated by Webstore.
The voluntary Verification System is very simple for a fee of $10 plus an extra $1 to cover International postage for those outside the USA you can become a verified seller. This simply involves the company sending a letter to your registered address containing a code which you then type into your Webstore account to prove the address that you have supplied. This may not be a fool-proof system but many Webstore buyers will only do business with verified sellers so it is well worth the small cost.
Webstore offer the options of selling for never-ending list a fixed price Buy it Now or Auction and you can sell used or new items... Payments can be made through Google Checkout or PayPal. It is also possible to set up a free store on the site and to help you with this there are free themes and templates that you can use.
Although Webstore is nowhere as big as eBay, their customer service appears to be good and the site looks to be well managed. For those buyers and sellers looking for an alternative it is well worth taking a look at this online auction site.