The magazine reviewed eight sites in total. Features they liked about eBid included:

• The number of auctions
• The range of categories
• The ease of navigation
• The powerful search facility
• The Buddy Points system for "good citizenship"
• The lively and good natured forums
• Simple payment systems
• Range of auction types
• Clear display of shipping costs

As ever, they have to find a few things they aren't so keen about and these included:

• Unrealistic sales prices asked by some sellers
• Better promotion needed of the "Wanted" section
• Poor visibility/unclear site icons

Their overall verdict summary says; "This excellent auction site is an impressive - and still expanding - eBay alternative. It gives industrious sellers the chance to earn decent money thanks to its relatively low charges".

The silver award was given to CQout but the lower listings count and £2 sign up fee appears to have put some clear water between them and eBid.

Rather strangely for a feature about eBay alternatives, the eBay owned classifieds site Gumtree grabbed the bronze award. Currently a free to use classifieds site more akin to Craigslist, it's difficult to make a comparison with eBid.

Specialist Auctions gained praise for its category moderation by real people.

PlayTrade was highlighted as a site worthy of mention to DVD and CD sellers. Amazon got a surprisingly mundane write up. Tazbar gained praise for its range of listings, simple charging structure and the sealed bid feature of their Wanted ads.

The final site mentioned was AuctionLotwatch. This isn't a sales site in itself but offers search facilities for eBay, eBid, Tazbar and CQout.

Reading through the two page article it is easy to see why Web User awarded eBid the Gold Award. On pricing, listing count, site features and usability they are currently the stand out choice among the established alternatives to eBay.

New rivals continue to come along however. 121Bid.com is quietly growing, WantOneGotOne officially launches in September and the recent soft relaunch of Zolanta is picking up some pace now. It seems that, while eBid should rightly be proud of this achievment, they cannot afford to get complacent.

It is very noticeable how much more coverage the alternatives to eBay are getting in the mainstream media now. This suggests eBay have indeed inflicted a fair degree of self harm recently and, just maybe, the tide of user opinion is starting to flow toward the proven alternatives.

eBid are still offering their half price Seller+ Lifetime deal which means fee free basic auctions FOR LIFE. Every day this offer looks more and more attractive. As it costs nothing to register at eBid, you can still try a few sales with little more than a 3% final value fee to pay if you're not yet ready to snap up the Lifetime deal.

If eBay is proving too expensive or, like many, you are finding their new "best match" search manipulation is causing less competitive prices to be reaalised for your goods, then eBid is certainly the alternative to try out.

eBid.net

For more eBid search options visit: eBid at Seek You Out.