PlunderHere Auction Site an 'Up and Comer'
By Jan Perry
AuctionBytes.com
April 06, 2008
Picture eBay in the early days and you'd be looking at a pretty good
description of the PlunderHere auction site. Although they've been at
it for a couple of years, they still consider themselves an "up-and-
comer" with a chance of challenging the auction giant. And they think
they can do it with an approach that's pretty much the same game -
only with rules that favor the players instead of the house.
A free basic membership comes with 41 onsite privileges including
those you'd expect like buying, selling and member-to-member
communication - and a few that you might not - such as use of
personal avatars or banners (they even have templates to help you
create them), photo hosting services for four photos per item, and
the ability to bring eBay listings as well as eBay feedback
statistics onto the PlunderHere site.
PlunderHere imposes a flat rate 2.5% final value fee on any item that
sells. There are no listing fees for posting an item on
PlunderHere.com. In fact, there are no listing fees, no reserve price
fees, no gallery fees, no Buy-it-Now fees and no second category
fees. There are, however, nominal charges for other auction posting
features such as bold or highlighted listings (.25), featured item
listings ($2) and main featured placement ($5), should you wish to
use them. These seller costs are low compared to eBay, which charges
$5, $19.95, and $39.95 respectively for those same services. For
store owners, preferred placement is $5 per month and featured
placement is $2.50, otherwise basic stores are free.
There's one thing you do pay for at PlunderHere that you don't at
eBay (only because they don't have them). They're called attention
grabbers, and for a nickel a listing, you can add these cute little
icons to your heading copy on the listing page. There are tires,
tools, flags, arrows and even a pretty pink package among the symbols
to choose from. The auction site also allows "wanted listings" and
has a "parts only" sale section.
The founder of PlunderHere.com created the site for those looking for
a new venue to sell their merchandise or services and for buyers to
have more options, writing: "Although we are new, we hope to rapidly
rise to the point of being on an equal level as that "other"
competitor, and eventually overshadow them all together by excelling
in every possible facet of this industry, with customer service being
our top priority. We wish to finally be able to offer all sellers and
buyers an honest "WE CARE ABOUT YOU" attitude, as opposed to
the "take it or leave it" canned responses you are forced to accept
elsewhere."
Like eBay, there is an active member community including bulletin
boards, newsletters, buyer/seller guides and a section with favorite
recipes. Signing up is easy, listing items to sell is a breeze, and
navigation on the site is simple and direct.
That's the good news. The bad news is the same for every auction site
that isn't eBay: significantly fewer buyers.
PlunderHere has under 5,000 members and currently offers
approximately 70,000 items for sale through active auctions, fixed-
price sales and store items combined. Compare that to 276,000,000
registered user IDs on eBay and 113,000,000 listings.
But PlunderHere clearly has a sense of humor. It ran a contest for
funny listings and some of them were gems. OnAngelsWings posted an
auction for "Preschool Protectors." The auction offered the services
of two tough looking little boys who could be shipped out to serve as
playground bodyguards for the weak and the bullied. (The copy clearly
states that this is not an actual auction - although the selling
price, $99,999,999.99, might have been a pretty good indication of
that fact.)
A few other listings included "A truck load of snow" for $999, an
$899.99 "foolproof alarm clock" that comes complete with a "cold
nose, four paws and a rather loud bark," and one for "a used and
broke ex-husband." The header on this million-dollar bargain warns
that the purchase is a "parts only" deal since "some parts don't
work."
Visit PlunderHere.com here:
http://www.plunderhere.com
About the author:
Jan Perry is a freelance writer currently living in Northern
Kentucky. She has authored a web site review column for The
Cincinnati Post for the past 10 years (http://www.perrypostings.com)
along with features on everything from rock climbing in Red River
Gorge to her wild ride in a Red Baron biplane. She's been an eBay
member, buying and selling, since 1997 and a collector of many things
just about all of her 56 years. She's in the process of selling a
collection/accumulation of more than half-a-million new, used and
antique buttons through eBay. She has written an as yet unpublished
mystery book and is currently working on her first novel.
______________________________________________
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