SOC Exchange claims it will take on eBay
A new auction website has launched in Australia which claims that it will be able to take market share from eBay.
The annoucement:
Sydney fruit and vegetable merchant Franco Lagudi has launched a new “buy and sell” website, called The SOC Exchange (pronounced sock), with the intention of going “head-to-head” with eBay in both Australia and the US.
The SOC Exchange (SOC=Superior Online Community) will combat eBay with its superior e-commerce platform and its flat rate membership fee of just $10 a year, without any added fees and no limits on the number of listings – covering literally all consumer products, including household items like jewellery, electronics, furniture, clothing, toys and books.
Liquidity is what you need in an auction – for all the reduction in cost for large sellers, there’s a huge lack of demand due to less users. Sellers don’t have to get a much lower selling price to negate any savings.
Besides, doesn’t it make sense that people who do more sales pay more? I suspect that this will just mean merchants flooding SOCX (what a catchy URL!) with multiple listings. Eg the sports listing category is just from one company – http://socexchange.com.au/soc......#038;id=31
I’m sure eBay are cacking themselves, check out the number of musical instruments offered – http://socexchange.com.au/soc......#038;id=10
Hmmmm… he says eBay has forgotten about the ‘individual and novice sellers” but this platform looks ike it’s aimed at pretty dedicated sellers (which novice wants their own url and blog when they sell their kids old toys?).
Incredibly brave to go up against such a monolith and let’s not forget Grays Online is a very successful Australian auction operation, then there’s gumtree and a host of niche classifieds.
I’m not sure positioning this as “an extremely costly labour of love” would endear him to his funders. I know I wouldn’t be investing in this one.