Where do you buy and sell?

Up until recently, it was eBay who had firm control over the buyer and seller community.  When it came to used goods, eBay was king.  If you needed to sell your 1860 German beer stein, you did it on eBay.  Why the past tense?  It’s because eBay is no longer the clear-cut favorite in this category anymore.  In fact, many online shoppers aren’t all that fond of the auction-style bidding routine that eBay popularized.  Instead, many consumers are opting for the more traditional fixed price model.

Enter Etsy…

Etsy, “your place to buy and sell all things handmade”, offers a refreshing change to the stagnant eBay buyer community.  Etsy is able to deliver a clean and seamless buyer/seller community, something that eBay struggles with.  Although Etsy is not in the same leauge as eBay is in terms of traffic, the smaller and more agile Etsy can teach eBay a lot.  I know Fred Wilson would agree.

Let’s not forget Craigslist…

It’s amazing how the phrase, “put it/get it on eBay” has changed to “put it/get it on Craigslist”.  This is an interesting shift in the buying and selling of used goods.  Craigslist, provides very simple classified ad listings.  It lends itself to the buying and selling of used goods so well due to the geo-centric nature that local listings provide (at least the items that you don’t want to ship anyway).

So the question is: “Where will the future of boutique (used, vintage, homemade) online shopping occur?”  Will eBay be able to legitimize their eBay stores?  Will Etsy continue to gain momemtum and become a viable consumer option for shoppers around the world.  Will Craigslist be able to innovate beyond a classified ads platform?