qxl.com

Online auctions have become extremely popular with sites such as Ebay, Ebid and QXL all springing up to allow you to the items you no longer have use for. Ebay is probably the ‘grand father’ and best known of the auction sites, and indeed is worldwide.

There are differences between Ebay and QXL which penetrate deeper than the surface colour of the site.

So what can you sell on QXL?

Basically anything, from DVD’s and video to Antiques and arts to Charity items: There is also an adult or over eighteen section of the site which concentrates on things that you’d expect of an over eighteen site again with things such as DVD’s, Videos, Toys etc.

Buying on QXL is free for everyone though you do need to register to buy which is the normal registration of auction sites. Sellers however pay a fee, which is cheaper than Ebay and is as follows:

Item cost £0 to £0.99p you pay a listing fee of 5p or 15p on Ebay
Item cost £1 to £4.99p you pay a listing fee of 5p or 20p on Ebay
Item cost £5 to £14.99 you pay a listing fee of 10p or 35p on Ebay
Item cost £15 to £29.99 you pay a listing fee of 20p or 75p on Ebay
Over £30 you’ll pay 40p on QXL or £1.50 on Ebay
Over £100 you’ll pay 40p on QXL or £2.00 on Ebay

So you can see the difference in listing fees is quite substantial in most cases.

But the costs don’t end there, if you successfully sell your item you will then pay a ‘success’ fee which is as follows:

Your sale is £0 to £15 you pay 3.75% (about 56p on £15)
Ebay price 5.25% (about 78p on £15)

Your sale £15.01 to £600 you pay 2.00% (about £6 on £300)
Ebay price 3.25% (about 39.75 on £300)

Your sale £600.01+ you pay 1.25% (about £7.50 on £600)
Ebay price 1.75% (about £10.20 on £600)

There are other fees you can pay for listing including having your item in bold, on the home page etc. Alternatively if you want to place a reserve (minimum price accepted) there is also a fee of 40p. So you can see that selling isn’t as cheap as you might think.

So how do you sell: Firstly you need to register with QXL, once done you have the option of downloading a piece of software called superlister? This enables you to prepare your auctions offline and simply upload them when complete. This has obvious advantages especially if you are running a dial-up connection.

You need to decide the category your item is to go in, if this is a DVD for example is the DVD a thriller or horror or comedy etc. You then select other details along the way and can upload a picture of the item you are selling to enhance the sale. Once completed you check to see everything is okay and then simply put on sale by clicking the post button.

Once uploaded people will view you auction and place bids on it if they are interested.

What price can I sell for?

You can put your item up for sale at any price, but if you want it to sell the best thing is to start with the lowest price you are willing to accept (I usually start DVD’s at £4 for example) People then bid upwards of that price to – any amount they are willing to pay.

What about postage and packaging?

You need to either include the price within your minimum price or add it externally via the links on the site as you post you auction. Charging a high postage rate will only deter buyers, so remember to charge a fair postage rate, which exacts the actual cost.

Each bid that is placed on your auction will be sent to you by QXL by email, and when you auction closes they will email you with the winning bid if it sells, or details of your sale if it hasn’t. You also get the option to repost the item if it fails to sell – should you wish.

What if I have a problem with a buyer not paying? Simply email QXL via the correct link on the help page, and they will investigate and reimburse accordingly. But how do you know anything about a buyer or seller?

QXL in line with most other sites, encourage feedback about your buying or selling experience with a specific person. This can be done via the feedback links on your personal page. If you receive good service from someone then feedback should be left positively, and vice versa for problems encountered that wasn’t resolved. People can then read the feedback and judge better on that person. For example if two people are selling the DVD of ‘Bruce Almighty’ and one has a positive feedback of say twenty while the other has none or negative – people will automatically go for the person with ratings of a good nature.

Remember though people leave feedback about you too, so treat them how you’d like to be treated, and you’re sure to get positive feedback.

Back to the site:

The home page is white with orange and fairly quick to load. The navigation on the site is easy to follow, and there is a search box to find things of particular interest, though the results may not always be exact you log in to you account via the log in box on the home page (middle/bottom right) and you can then access all aspects of your account.

Is QXL safe? In a word yes it is, and QXL have put in place several tools to ensure it is amongst the safest auction sites online. Firstly, they have a comprehensive buyer protection programme, which means: QXL will reimburse buyers between £50 and £100 by item with a maximum of £1,000 for multiple items. There is no administrative fee. Seller address verification which means the address registered to the company has been verified. Negative ratings means closed accounts, simply put they will close your account for negative feedback... They also have anti- hacking policies in place.

If you have a question for the seller on an auction you are bidding on, simply click the link on the sale to ask it directly to the seller.

Conclusion:

Personally I prefer QXL to other sites. Having recently sold some items on Ebay I was faced with a rather hefty bill that would have been reduced significantly had I chosen to sell on QXL. The fact it has been established since 1997 is an added bonus (others have been less). The fact it is very popular and must rate second to Ebay speaks for itself. The fact the adult items are safely put away under a separate section has its own blessings if children search auction sites. Selling whether with the superlister or directly online is easy and as a technophobe I can fully vouch for the ease of it. Obviously there are many more items, and a better bargain to be had on Ebay-simply because it’s larger, but large isn’t always best is it? As said I have just sold some items on Ebay, but am now going back to my favourite of QXL.

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Thanks for reading – and Merry Christmas - Dave