One of the online auction sites biggest weaknesses has always been its perceived poor level of customer support. E-mail queries either went unanswered or received a stock and often irrelevant reply. Also fees have risen steadily over the years and many who initially build thriving online businesses selling through eBay found that they were no longer as profitable.

Since the departure of Meg Whitman as CEO last January the company seems to favouring big business over the small time players. Given all of the above it is not surprising that people are looking for alternatives to eBay. Are there any alternatives? The answer is yes there are some real challengers appearing.

CQout.com is a UK based online auction launched in 1999. It has customers in 57 different countries around d the world. Although still a much smaller operation than eBay it has been growing steadily over the years. Unlike eBay which is free to join CQout does charge an initial £2 ($3 approx) registration fee. Even such a small fee has helped the company maintain the integrity of their membership and it is considered the most trusted auction site by many of its users.

Compared to eBay all the other charges are either non existent or much lower than their rivals. For instance there are no listing fees and the final valuation fee is marginally lower. It also possible to run a store on CQout for as little as £36 per year

Another interesting site also started life in the UK is ebid.net which currently boasts of over 50000 members worldwide. It has dedicated sites for the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most major European countries. Like CQout they make no listing charges and their other fees are correspondingly lower than eBay's. Currently they have an interesting offer available to sellers, pay £49.99 ($49.99 in the USA) as a one off payment and you never have to pay another auction fee again. That must be value.

Small online auction companies have always struggled to make inroads into the eBay monopoly. Even now they are only a fraction of the market but they are growing. Given the difficult trading times that are forecast for the coming year it is possible that both buyers and sellers could be searching for new cheaper outlets.

Now could be the time to set up an online auction business away from eBay just in case. It has never paid to have all your eggs in one basket.

About the Author

Dave Bromley has been a registered member of eBay.co.uk since 1999. He has written widely on all matters relating to online auctions and maintains his blog at http://www.ukonlineauctionnews.co.uk were you can download his free 2009 auction predictions.