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

Hi guys/gals.

I have been selling some of my signs and a couple old cars on eBay. I'm tired of the fees, I'm tired of the restrictions on leaving bad feedback for deadbeat buyers, I'm just basically tired of it. I sold a $5k sign and was charged $350 in fees! Ridiculous. So, rather than pay eBay to sell another sign, I'm investing the $$ into building a new auction site. It's going to be very simplistic. Simple fees, simple feedback, simple pay. It's specific only to vintage transportation and related. Mainly old cars, old motorcycles, and old car/motorcycle memorabilia (gas signs, oils signs, cans, etc...). No stores/classified listings, no bulk repop sellers, no ***** sellers from India, Argentina, etc... All repops will be clearly listed and in the repop section. Pricing: How's this sound? Car or bike listings are $2, memorabilia listings are $1. That's it. No other fees unless you choose an extra service. This will be a MUCH smaller community of sellers/buyers than eBay obviously, which means I can weed out the flakes and fraudsters. This will be a no BS auction site where your reputation will be everything and honesty is going to be crucial to your ability to buy/sell. I hope to see you there. Should be online next week and I will post a promo code for oldgas members for a week of free listings to try it out. Nothing is live yet, but it will be www.vintagegasaddict.com. IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!! lol.. I will be looking for feedback, but keep in mind this isn't going to be a huge operation like eBay. This is more like buying and selling signs in your garage.

Go For It!!

it sounds good...

I'LL USE IT THANKS FOR STEPPING UP

HOPE TO SEE SOME 2 GALLONS!!!

Sounds great! Ebay has gotten ridiculous. I won't sell any more vehicles on there and especially with a buy it now. Had 2 vehicles 3 months apart and someone did buy it not and said it was an accident. Well, there are several steps to complete a buy it now so I don't BUY what they said. Ebay refunded the final value fees the first time but wouldn't do it the second time. That was $350 out of my pocket. OUCH! looking forward to see what you get going.

Count me in, thanks

Something like that would be my preferred site to buy or sell.
Full support here.
I'll still participate regardless but my opinion would be to not have any reproduction whatsoever. Plenty of places to pick that rubbish up for those that want it. I suppose it's "buyer beware" in any case but I am so tired of having to question whether or not something's vintage or not.

I'm considering this. Might be the best way to go. Thanks for the thought.

Can't Wait!

GOOD LUCK.
It's been tried several times & 1 guy Blamed oldgas, because his site Failed.
ebay does give oldgas a small referral fee for each winning bid that originated from oldgas search boxes, which helps to keep this a free site for all users.

Good luck.

Unsure from your thread if you are planning on setting up an auction site or a items for sale site.

I'm just thinking out loud...tough to compete with e-Bay. The rare items that show up there are mind boggling. As a seller, the fee's are pretty reasonable for the amount of exposure afforded to the item.

Most people have limited computer time to search for items for sale. Can you get them to give up e-Bay time to come to your site? Can you get the sellers equal money for their items?? Tough to to have a pool of bidders as large as e-Bay does.

It costs a lot of money to run a legitimate business. Even for tax purposes, that's a lot transactions to keep track of. You would need a full time accountant/book keeper. Not to mention the software & hardware and the expertise and skill set to run such a online business.

I would love to see it happen, but is this the original business concept you believed in enough to liquidate a large part of your collection for? (That's a rhetorical question, I have no desire to get into your personal affairs).

Good luck my friend!

After thinking about my initial post on this subject, perhaps I should not have referred to reproduction stuff as "rubbish". No offense was meant to the good people who produce and sell this category of product. My comment was a personal opinion and one that I did not clarify. For the most part, it's porcelain signage that bugs me....and particularly the sellers who do not represent them properly. But, even repop signs have a place for many who either can't, or do not want to afford the real thing....they are just not my preference. And for sure if it were not for reproduction gas pump and car parts, no end of restorations could not be completed. So yes, they do have a purpose and value in our hobbies. As far as this new site is concerned, it'd still be nice to find a place where only vintage pieces were available. It's the good stuff that is hard to obtain....new merchandise is readily available.

Ha ha... no. this is something for my son to run to help him work through college.

Good luck!

Tough to beat ebay though... Etsy has lower fees. Craigslist, Facebook and oldgas are free.

Agreed. I feel Ebay's fees are relative to how much traffic and opportunity you're given there.

sounds good... happy to have another avenue to buy & sell from that doesn't have overheads that put a frown on your face

im in

I may be in the minority, but when I know what I want for something I put it on OLDGAS and 90% of the time it sells. When I'm not sure of a value there is no better place than eBay with the exposure and the minimal commission.

It cracks me up when people use eBay to find that 1 or 2 people in the world that will pay excessive prices for an item, then bitch about having to pay a minimal fee for that service.

You are right There KZ100. Tough to beat the audience.

Love your idea and seriously hope it can withstand the test of time,which seems to be why eBay is what it is today.

Well it all sounds good,good luck! If its a big hit I hope your son has time to study for college. You state this will be like buying and selling out of your garage-any thing but. Buying and selling on line there is no person to person meet, and no hands on inspection of products. There will always be unhappy buyers and sellers along the way, ebay has channels to try to solve these problems and is one reason why it has thrived and stood the test of time.
I hope you don't put ebay out of business as I really love this site and can enjoy it with just a little more effort in placing a bid.

Fees on eBay are not bad IMO. I mean i sell alot of junk that i will not post on here because it is lower quality. eBay is great for selling worldwide. I send lots of stuff overseas via the Global Shipping program. Oldgas is more north america, but i get the occasional international buyers. eBay gives a product lots of exposer. Might be in your best interest to market your site as much as possible. Word of mouth is great but nothing like a good marketing committee or individual. I did a similar business in college and it did very well. Contact me if you got questions. I like both eBay and other sites to list on. Should be interesting to see the site you have planned.
Dan

Holy smokes fellas, I'm not aiming to put eBay out of business. I know it's going to be a small group for awhile. The point is to have an AUCTION style forum for us gas/oil nuts, consisting of other real gas/oil nuts. Yes you can sell on oldgas.com and it's free. That is something to continue for sure. However, if you want an auction style opportunity for cheap ($1!), now we have an option. I will be working on getting the site out there so it will grow. In the meantime, please use it to help it look like there's some stuff worth going to the site for!

IT'S UP AND RUNNING. www.vintagegasaddict.com. It's simple, It's crude, but it's functional, and it's FREE while I work out some of the bugs. Have fun!!!

By all means, please shoot me feedback if you run into any problems. And SPREAD THE WORD IF YOU LIKE IT! Thanks.

I'd Love to see you/someone put ebay down along w/ their FAKE/FANTASY ITEM Sellers!

I registered ................

I like it!!!!!!!!!!

Good to hear! Have some fun on it. Listings are free for a while...

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.

Water sucks, Gatorade is better!

BEER IS BETTER YET. Cleans the Kidneys TOO.

Amen on that! Gatorade is my medicine!

Just saw this. Good for you gaswagon. Hopefully we won't see any of the reproductions that fill probably 95% of the ebay sign catagory

Just to be clear, I didn't recommend that gaswagon quit posting. We exchanged PM messages. I only recommended that he try to avoid upsetting some people by posting too much or by saying things that had drawn criticism in recent weeks.

I just registered and even placed a bid. There are other sites like ebay. Can always use another one.
We don't all shop at the same grocery store or department store do we?
Competition is good.