How much would it cost to set up an auction site similar to Ebay?

[MikeDaMouse 10]

I am very serious about getting a website like this set up, How much would it cost to get a website like Ebay started??

 

I am think about setting it up with 4 different catogries to start with and then expanding it if it takes off.

 

I have thought it through, got a great plan/designed for it e.t.c... Im just not sure how to put it all together.

 

Any advice & help would be most appreciated

[kingkhan 10]

An auction website like ebay are you serious? Thats almost impossible to pull off unless u have a big web designing team and thousands of £££. I would start of with something as simple as ECommerce if i were you. I made a website (in sig) took me almost 3 months to do just that.

[indizine 10]

Yes, you sure need many hundreds of thousands of pounds to pull off, let alone maintain, a website like ebay. And dont get started on seo for it. It's a non-starter for you as you do not have enough money.

[Leah-Lacie 10]

There are already plenty of other auction sites like eBay, they don't get as much traffic as eBay, as are not well known. People can sign up to sell and pay a one off fee and never pay any seller fees, but they don't sell anything like the volumes they can on eBay by using them, so they're not very popular.

 

eg: http://uk.ebid.net

http://www.totalbids.co.uk/

http://www.cqout.com/

[anywebsite 10]

Creating an auction site is cheap & easy. Making it as popular as ebay when ebay already has the whole market is the hard part. To start as a direct competitor to ebay & expect to beat them you'd need hundreds of millions, but the vast majority of that would be marketing.

 

There is some room for niche auction websites, but you have to specialise in something that ebay doesn't sell (very few legal goods), or offer something different in some other way.

[Halibut 12]

I am very serious about getting a website like this set up, How much would it cost to get a website like Ebay started??

 

I am think about setting it up with 4 different catogries to start with and then expanding it if it takes off.

 

I have thought it through, got a great plan/designed for it e.t.c... Im just not sure how to put it all together.

 

Any advice & help would be most appreciated

 

Nah, you're 'aving a laugh...

[Ha3el 10]

there are already other auction sites and they dont do anywhere near as well, because they dont have the traffic ebay does. I looked at listing on some before but because not busy it seemed pointless and with people having the same attitude that will not change. people want to reach the most people when they sell to try to get a good price and that means ebay, and if the sellers are on ebay then so are they buyers.

 

unless you can come up with some kind of amazing USP then i would save your time, money and stress

 

edit: only way i could see you getting the traffic would be to make it completely free, but you'd have to then find other ways to make your money

[Guest]

If you are keen on running your own web shop, I have a few projects that need looking after. I am getting about 4 hrs sleep now as sales and web work is not letting up so I think I need some help.

 

I have some domains and web shops specifically for selling game stations that need a push. If you are interested please pm me or email me.

[breenen 10]

Huge gamble that is, huge project, ebay does so much for its sellers too, api intergrations, account types, selling tools and would cost thousands to build and a lot of time.

 

If you offer a free service you could get people selling on your site building up your content.

 

Maybe if you start with a local auction site for example a sheffield auction site for locals only with some basic auction functions and see how that goes. If you are out going, confident and full of energy, you may be able to get something local going.

 

I would have to agree with the others though, this is a very BIG project and very very challenging, I would say find a different project, but then it depends on you as a person, these ideas have to start from somewhere.

[steveroberts 10]

I am very serious about getting a website like this set up, How much would it cost to get a website like Ebay started??

 

I am think about setting it up with 4 different catogries to start with and then expanding it if it takes off.

 

I have thought it through, got a great plan/designed for it e.t.c... Im just not sure how to put it all together.

 

Any advice & help would be most appreciated

 

It's not the 1st of April for another 28 days

[snoopjiggy 10]

Creating an auction site is cheap & easy. Making it as popular as ebay when ebay already has the whole market is the hard part. To start as a direct competitor to ebay & expect to beat them you'd need hundreds of millions, but the vast majority of that would be marketing.

 

There is some room for niche auction websites, but you have to specialise in something that ebay doesn't sell (very few legal goods), or offer something different in some other way.

 

Spot on, the set up is very low. You could buy a script and hosting for dirt cheap. The problem you will have is getting visitors too it. I know someone that does it in Rotherham, thik its http://www.freebids.co.uk

 

They constantly post in the for sale pages on facebook. As a part time business, you would probably make a tiny bit of money for a night out, but I think people would just use Ebay or Facebook pages to sell stuff.

Edited March 2, 2012 by snoopjiggy
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[D.A.C.S 10]

Ebay have captured the market I dont see any competition for them in the forseeable future