Going Beyond eBay: Online Marketplaces Aplenty!
If you’re like me, you love to window shop. I do this both online and offline, as I’m very fond of scoping out potential bargains and deals, and it also gives me an idea of how much people will sell and pay for certain items. It’s not so much as the cash price tag that gets me excited, it is the idea of what items are being sought for or even hoarded versus the ones that are given away for a pittance.
This is even more apparent in the surplus shops, swap meets, garage sales, antique stores, and of course, online sales and auction sites. I got positively hooked into eBay during its heyday, not so many years back. It’s like a world-wide garage sale waiting to be picked and browsed. Weird Al’s song hit it right on the mark, actually.
It didn’t take too long for smaller, albeit more specialized sales and auction sites to come out and lay claim to this very lucrative enterprise. It actually turned out to be a good thing; these more focused services are generally moderated and administered to by people that are very knowledgeable about their corresponding products, and this can only mean that scams and charlatans will have a harder time getting away with what they do. It also concentrates the communities and lets them interact and get in touch with each other.
Here are some examples of online marketplaces that have owned their corresponding domains and are continually providing a great shopping and/or bidding experience for their customers:
Etsy
This is the place to be if you are into handicrafts, trinkets, doodads, gift items, and all sorts of cute, peculiar, or outright bizarre items that were crafted by skilled artisans, mostly by hand. Factory-produced items aren’t the thing here (save for basic materials, of course), and you can really appreciate how people lovingly craft these little treasures and put them up for sale at relatively reasonable rates.
NextTruck
You don’t be see a lot of big-ticket items like trucks and other vehicles on eBay, but this online marketplace is all about these powerful 4-or-more wheeled workhorses. They have a dizzyingly extensive lineup of trucks for sale, from pickups to mighty Freightliners, along with various kinds of trucks specifically designed for different roles. You should consider browsing their wares if you are a business looking to expand your motor pool, or if you’re a fellow that wants to get into the trucking lifestyle.
Glyde
This store is in the business of buying and selling pre-owned games and gadgets, and they make it very easy for the new user to get in on the action. Given that gamers and gaming have thoroughly become a mainstream affair, sites like these show great potential in being able to rake in a lot of revenues, while giving the common customer a chance to get some of their invested cash back and buy used video games and devices at great prices.
oDesk
Let’s not leave out the marketplaces for acquiring and offering services, because outsourcing is a very big thing nowadays. oDesk is one of the major players in providing both freelancers and those in need of their services the venue to meet transact. Never has it been easier to get people for a job, or to get hired, for that matter.
Happy shopping and selling, everyone!
About the Author
Stacey Thompson is a professional writer, marketer, entrepreneur, and a lover of weird little animals. She is based in San Diego, California, and runs a group blog with her friends, Word Baristas.
Category: Online Shopping
