eCrater Reviews

What do you think of when someone says the word “crater”? A hole, perhaps, or meteor impacts? Well we assume that eCrater.co.uk take their name from large wooden boxes (crates, get it?) but are they any good or would you be better off burying your items in a hole in the ground?

This auction site functions like many others. You can set up a free store in which to sell your items, and then other members can purchase your goods. There are a number of purchase options, including the ability to pay with PayPal, credit cards, money orders, cashier’s cheque, personal cheque or Collect on Delivery (US only). This makes it quite versatile so you shouldn’t lose many customers from a lack of payment options. So how does the site make its money exactly? Well, they take a cut of your sales, but that in itself isn’t clear cut.

Two things can happen when you sell on this auction site. The first is that a member visits your unique store and makes a purchase. If this happens you’ll receive 100% of the money from that seller. However, if they reach your product through the main marketplace, then they charge you 2.9% of the sale price. Whilst this isn’t massively high, you may find a better rate elsewhere. You might be thinking “well, I’ll just not advertise my items in the main marketplace, therefore I’ll keep all my profits.” That would be logical, however this isn’t an option. The best you can do is to pick the “send minimum buyers from the marketplace” option in the hope that people simply stumble into your e-store and buy up all your stock.

This auction site offers the ability to control your store in more detail than some other sites we’ve seen. You can also include bulk stock, so if you have, say, 100 clown hats, you can sell one at a time (or multiple at once) and your stock levels will decrease accordingly. No joke. Ecrater also has a community forum which is useful to visit if you’re unsure on what to do or come across a problem. The community does seem relatively active and there are plenty of chats to be involved with. The FAQ covers most of the questions you might have although, if you have a problem, you need to send the team an in-site message and await their reply. There are no phone numbers to call or personal email addresses provided if you need immediate support.

A big positive of this site is that you can upload up to 10 photos of any item you’re selling, allowing you to really show it off in detail. This can be particularly important for items such as vehicles or artwork/sculptures, where viewing all sides is vital. 

Everything considered, eCrater is a pretty decent online auction site. Its market reach might not be as impressive as some other sites but its free to set up shop. Check it out. 

Check out our #1 rated site instead! Why not check out eBay UK, our top rated UK Online Auction Site and winner of our prestigious Gold Award! You can also check out our Top 10 UK Online Auction Sites here!

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