Bona-what-now?

As much as I'm enjoying my little eBay business venture (despite the stress), I have to admit that trading on the best known cyber marketplace on earth has its price.  I've started selling some slightly more expensive items, and let me tell you, when eBay and Paypal gang up and start taking their cut, there isn't all that much left for the seller.

I'm not sure how it happened, but I came across another marketplace site, similar to eBay, called Bonanzle.  Bonanzle almost reminds me of a Main Street pedestrian shopping strip, complete with the friendly neighbors that stop by and say hello.

Sales have been reaaally slow for me this week, so I decided to give something else a try.  I opened up an account on Bonanzle - it's free - and listed a few items - also free.  Within 30 minutes of having opened my account, other sellers were IMing me through Bonanzle's chat feature to welcome me, offer help learning the ropes, and leave encouraging comments in my "booth" (that's what your store is called on Bonanzle).

It's all very very cool, which also makes it really really sad.  Bonanzle has a lot of sellers, but not a lot of buyers.  I think part of the reason for the friendliness is all these sellers are desperate for the site to grow.  Bonanzle charges nearly HALF the final sale fees that eBay does, and it offers so much more.  And yet the buyers stick with eBay.  They feel safe sticking with what they know.

I don't blame them, but I'm still going to give the place a shot.  You have to approve your sales on Bonanzle, so I plan on double listing some of my Buy It Now items to see how I do.  If someone makes me an offer on Bonanzle, I'll take the item down from eBay.  It costs me nothing, and I get double the exposure.

You guys should go look around if you're got some time on your hands.  Excellent deals, cheaper than eBay because the sellers can afford to lower their prices a bit.  The URL is www.bonanzle.com.  Let me know what you think!