Last year, Stacey Anderson was kind enough to stop by and give us an interview about why she switched from eBay to eCrater called From eBay frustrations to eCrater success: a marketplace review from a seller on both platforms. It’s been a while since that original post so I thought we’d take another look at what makes eCrater one of the best selling options out there.
What really distinguishes eCrater is that, while you can browse items on eCrater like a typical marketplace when shopping from the homepage, buyers that enter the site through your store only see your items as if it were a standalone store. This storefront is customizable and completely free making it the best of both worlds. You’re still part of a marketplace where buyers can find your items alongside the items of others, but with no additional work, you also have a slick standalone store that is a portal to only your items. They also give you free import from eBay so moving items is fast if that’s a concern.
An excellent example is Stacey’s store at http://TheUglySweaterShop.eCrater.com which I invite you to take a look at. Other then the url and a discreet link at the bottom of the page, there’s nothing to even indicate that you’re on the eCrater marketplace and not on a standalone web store. But if you go to the eCrater homepage and browse the categories or search for those keywords, her items come up alongside everything else on the platform as a part of the general marketplace. It’s this feature that makes eCrater stand out as a unique hybrid of web store and marketplace while still providing a wallet friendly free service.
If you’ve sold on eCrater, what did you like and dislike about the platform? Weight in below.
Looking for more places to sell your stuff? The following post is an adapted excerpt from the ebook Beyond Amazon, eBay, and Etsy: free and low cost alternative marketplaces, shopping cart solutions and e-commerce storefronts.
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Yes ecrater is fee free, but it’s also customer free. The sales conversions are the absolute worst on the internet. Time consuming stores, limited listing options and again, there are no customers. If you want to just see your items posted, great place, if you want to sell, forget it. There are a dozen better marketplaces.
If you are trying to rely on it as a marketplace, I would agree. But as a free standalone storefront? It’s one of the best options out there.