What better way to spend your weekend…cleaning out our garage and selling some of what we found in an online auction. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right? In all seriousness, there are endless possibilities when it comes to shopping for gadgets and gizmos through online auctions. We at Star Reviews had to check out ePier and see what they were all about. Ok, so their user interface was pretty boring and we immediately wondered if we could see ourselves buying and selling through their site. Find out what else we ran into on ePier.
What’s New?
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ePier Space – a MySpace function where you can get to know other members of the ePier community a little better.
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Classified listings – sellers create an online classified ad posted on the site to promote a product or service they are selling.
Star Reviews Favorite Feature:
Contact sellers in real-time - Instead of emailing that guy selling his DVD collection a question, you can contact him instantly if you both are online simultaneously, resulting in quicker, personalized communication.
ePier Features:
- ePier Newsletter-although, we did notice the last issue was from 2006.
- Contests for sellers – unfortunately these “Current Contests” ended in August 2005.
- Storefronts available at an extra cost to sellers
- Bulk upload tool
- Featured products for sale
- Free storefront trial
Navigating the ePier website:
When you arrive at ePier’s home page, you can do a search for what you want by keyword, user name, or item number. You can also browse through a list of categories available in the left-hand margin. If you do a search, your results will be organized in order of when the auctions will close. While the website interface is pretty self-explanatory, it was definitely not visually appealing.
Buying on ePier:
If you find a product you are interested in, click on the item and you’ll be shown information about the item and the seller, including a description of the product and the seller’s feedback. To place a bid, enter the amount in the space provided and click “Place Bid.” You’ll need to track your auctions until they close. However, if you are the lucky winner you’ll be notified by email.
Selling on ePier:
Selling an item you’ve been dying to get off your hands is pretty painless on ePier. If you aren’t a registered user, first fill out the quick application to get your User ID and password. We were then asked to choose which main category we’d like to list in. We chose apparel to get rid of those clothes we’ve had since high school.
We were given the option of listing by auction or classified trade, sale, or wanted. Then, select if you’d like your listing description to be in HTML or standard text, which we appreciated. With our lack of knowledge in the HTML department, we opted for standard text. Then, fill out some boxes with images, product description, minimum bid requirement, buy now price, and payment options. Your listing will be up in no time!
Selection:
ePier does provide most of the same categories that other online auction sites do, but the number of listings is much more limited. For example, a search for a Wii video game console which generated 14,000 results at eBay turned up no results on ePier. A search for the phrase “diamond ring” brought up 289 results at ePier and 35,000 auction findings on eBay. On a more positive note, we noticed that the majority of auctions at ePier have no bids or only a small number of bids, which may make you the winner more often.
Buyer Protection:
ePier does not provide any type of buyer protection. In fact, sellers can even choose not to sell the items they have listed without penalty, although buyers are not permitted to retract their bids except in very specific circumstances. This left us with a sour taste in our mouth, as we feel buyers should be given some leeway if they choose not to go through with a bid.
Pricing:
Buyers can register, bid, and buy products through this online auction site for free. Sellers can now list items on ePier completely free. There are no listing or insertion fees as per date of our review.
The Final Value fee structure is outlined below:
- If your product sells for less than $25, you’re charged 2.5% of the transaction
- If your product sells for between $25 and $1,000, you’re charged a flat rate of $0.63 plus 1.5% of the amount above $25
- If our product sells for over $1,000, you’re charged a flat rate of $15.25, plus 0.5% of the amount above $1,000
Customer Support:
ePier’s customer support was extremely disappointing. The web site does provide a Help section that includes a few dozen FAQ’s, but doesn’t directly address all of the questions users may have about their service. Phone support via a non toll-free number is available, but when we called we were simply told to leave a message on an answering machine. There were no menu options, leaving us wondering how credible their telephone support or service was. We also used the site’s contact form and email address to send a question, but we never received a response. We were really unhappy with their customer support experience.
Upside:
Good number of auction categories. Community feel.
Downside:
Bad customer support from all available methods. Outdated web site. Poor selection. No buyer protection.
Summary:
We must admit that we weren’t entirely in awe of the ePier website interface. It was very plain, with not a whole lot going on. But, searching for the perfect item shouldn’t be too difficult, as there are category links on the left margin and a search box if you know exactly what you want. Ok, so this site isn’t eBay and they don’t have nearly as many listings or auctions for that matter, but we did find a few products in the specific searches we performed. We liked how easy it is for registered members to buy or sell, as the steps were pretty self explanatory and you are alerted by email if you’re outbid or win an auction. Sellers can now list items for free, which we appreciated, and the Final Value Fee structure isn’t too shabby. Customer support was a bit of a headache, as telephone and email were practically non-existent when we made our inquiries. Overall, we thought this was simply an ‘ok’ online auction.