There *are* lots of alternative auction sites - Last count I found about 3 dozen in the US. Unfortunately most are relatively unknown.
The biggest second tier true auction sites are OnlineAuction.com and eBid. There are niche sites that do very well, like etsy for handcrafters, and many others. There are also sites like iOffer (not really auctions) and Overstock.com that are big, but have large quantities of the same dropship junk that has flooded eBay lately. Your best bet for sites are like eBay *used to be* are OnlineAuction and ebid. You can get awesome deals, but just like the EB early days, you can't find everything. As a seller, well, sales are slow, but they do happen.
Another good option to find things is GoogleBase. Craigslist is great, used with caution - there definitely are scammers on the site - sellers and buyers.
No one can replace eBay *Yet*, but with the numbers of buyers and sellers leaving and moving slowly to the other sites there will be a tipping point somewhere along the line. eBay's only long term hope for survival is to reverse many of the new policies, but that isn't happening soon.
Slashdot Mirror
True, eBay does own some of Craigslist, but CL would love nothing better than to boot them out. http://blog.craigslist.org/2008/05/unlawful-and-unfair/
There *are* lots of alternative auction sites - Last count I found about 3 dozen in the US. Unfortunately most are relatively unknown. The biggest second tier true auction sites are OnlineAuction.com and eBid. There are niche sites that do very well, like etsy for handcrafters, and many others. There are also sites like iOffer (not really auctions) and Overstock.com that are big, but have large quantities of the same dropship junk that has flooded eBay lately. Your best bet for sites are like eBay *used to be* are OnlineAuction and ebid. You can get awesome deals, but just like the EB early days, you can't find everything. As a seller, well, sales are slow, but they do happen. Another good option to find things is GoogleBase. Craigslist is great, used with caution - there definitely are scammers on the site - sellers and buyers. No one can replace eBay *Yet*, but with the numbers of buyers and sellers leaving and moving slowly to the other sites there will be a tipping point somewhere along the line. eBay's only long term hope for survival is to reverse many of the new policies, but that isn't happening soon.