Loobalee Inspiration: The Best of the Big Auction Sites

Apr|12|2008

At Loobalee, we’re incorporating the best of the big Auction Sites (most notably the biggest – eBay) and leaving least desirable behind.

We are leveraging what has worked on the auction sites for our niche, children’s designer clothing and merchandise, and leaving behind the undesirable and mismatched.

In a nutshell, we’re using the best ingredients of the “old” eBay, but adding in a little spice of our own. We’ve also included a couple twists on the typical buying and selling processes, in order to customize them to the unique world of designer children’s merchandise.

Highlights include:

The fostering of an intimate, friendly environment

A simple selling process –- designed to stay simple

The ability to Search and Watch for items without interruptive, non-matching results. We can assure you only the real results you are looking for will appear.

A little competitive excitement –- but not via time-consuming auction-watching.

Facilitating “buying and selling now” for competitive prices consistent with market demand

A standardized shipping process and shipping rates — aiming to neutralize the overall confusion and the games played on the auction sites with shipping charges.

Competitive and clear fees and rates — that don’t surprise the user and don’t subsidize other markets.

Read below for more of our story, and what inspired us to select these highlights to build into Loobalee.

What I Loved About The “Old” EBay:

I liked the intimacy of the environment.

Sellers were mainly collectors, those with special interests, or those who simply had somewhat valuable “stuff” to sell.

The concept of “Stores” didn’t exist. And, even when Stores started, they were mainly a way for an individual to organize their stuff.

Then…things changed, eBay became a way for people to earn a living, vs. a way to exchange goods among individuals.

I liked the simplicity.

It used to be easy and worry free to sell on eBay — before the concept of a Power Seller. Once Power Selling became mainstream, the feedback system took on a whole new level of intensity — a game of stress that I don’t care to deal with anymore.

These days, I have to want something badly to buy it on eBay. The risks of getting involved in a bad transaction are too high. The focus is on protecting feedback not on servicing the customer.

I used to like to “Watch” for items to be listed.

Now that eBay is so competitive, I don’t like to have automatic feeds to my mailbox. I don’t even enjoy searching anymore.

Sellers are taking advantage of key word usage in their titles to get noticed in the search engines, but at the same time, misleading potential buyers. I understand why Sellers feel they need to do this in such a competitive environment, but it only serves to decrease my satisfaction with eBay overall.

I used to enjoy Bidding on items.

Now, it’s rather boring, time consuming, and risky. There are rarely enough bids to make things exciting, especially in children’s clothing, making it difficult to pay attention up until the last minute to ensure I have the opportunity to win.

What’s worse, is that the playing field is so leveled, that rarely do I feel excited about winning and rarely do I feel I got a good deal.

With no excitement to carry my attention, I’m not inclined to invest the time. And, it’s risky, I have to read the details of every single auction, evaluate the seller, ask questions, etc. This is not how I want to spend my time — just to win a pair of pants!

I used to like the occasional “Buy it Now” item — because if I jumped on it quickly, it was usually a steal.

Now, the site is flooded with Buy It Now items, and it’s confusing to compare offers. Every one plays a different balancing act and game between their Item Price and their Shipping Price.

I used to not be concerned about Shipping – but now it is like playing roulette game.

eBay used to have primarily honest Sellers who were straightforward and fair with their shipping.

Now, to cover increased fees and risks, Sellers pad their shipping rates and falsely advertise their shipping methods. Not to mention that the Shipping providers have a more complicated system than eBay!.

I’m amused to find that even people who work for USPS don’t know their own policies and procedures (because there are too many to remember!)

I used to not mind the Fees.

Now, I can’t even keep up with what they are! So, I am losing trust in my understanding of the process.

Plus, there are hidden fees with using additional services, such as Paypal. It is very easy, especially for novice users to misinterpret the fees and make less than expected (or even unintentionally, lose money).

I don’t mind paying fees, as long as they are competitive and I have a clear understanding of what they are.

In Closing… Stay Tuned!

This post provides a comparison of Loobalee to the general, large auction sites, such as eBay. We also examined the up and coming niche auction sites for inspiration.

Stay tuned for “What is Loobalee? Part 3″ for more.

— Suzanne Rielle, Co-Founder, Loobalee.com