Chances are that if you’re an eBay seller and are currently looking for greener pastures, you’ve heard of eCrater more than once.
What is eCrater.com? eCrater.com is both a free web store builder and a free online marketplace. Sellers can easily create their own free online store in minutes. Buyers can easily browse and compare between thousands of products.
With free hosting and no fees, it almost sounds like a dream come true. The items even get added to the Froogle search engine. How much better can it get?
There are a few downsides to eCrater. Users only get a subdomain which doesn’t help add to your brand(which you should have) at all. The navigation is somewhat difficult with no clear cut way to find exactly what you want or the store that you want if you don’t know the direct subdomain.
Overall, if you’re looking for a well established alternative to an eBay store with some pretty good exposure eCrater might be the place for you. If you have the know-how, establishing your own website with your own brand might be a better choice in the long run.
[tags]ecrater,ebay store, store, ecommerce,ebay alternatives[/tags]
Bookmark Us:
January 26th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
I am trying to contact ecrater.com about a scam site that istaking people’s money and delivering nothing. Is the the right place to write? Peggy Day, daynurse1@yahoo.com
ps the site is thecandlevine.com
August 6th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I also bought a product from ecrater which was never delivered (but my credit card was charged). I called the company who was selling it on ecrater and they claim they don’t sell their products through ecrater. Has anyone else had that problem? It looks like either ecrater or Ultrafragrances is a scam. Or both?
December 19th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
i tried to buy something of ecrater and they said that the recipient isn’t receiving money right now so what is up with that? can somebody tell me what is wrong with that
January 13th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
I would contact eCrater directly to report any fraud involving a seller on their web site. eCrater has a “Contact Us” link on their web site.
Hope this helps.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I bought some stuff at ecrater and they send me the recipt, but i try to contact the seller, and there only email adress. So i send email to that person asking when i will get my thing, but the email was fake. so do you know how to get the money back??
March 8th, 2009 at 3:23 am
I’ve been a seller on ecrater for a few months now. Aside from not getting prompt feedbacks, everything else’s been great for a TRUELY FREE service. I try my best to be righteous. I can convey the savings to my customers also. I would be happy to pay a reasonable fee for such a service. But, like every place, in life, you’ve got to be looking out, be alert for the good, the bad, and sometimes, the uglies too, you know..
March 31st, 2009 at 5:44 pm
To HN — we do have an ecrater store. Not saying it is the best way to go, but if you advertise and such you can do. There are tabs on the front of the store for you to learn about that particular store — such as Home, about, terms, contact. Also at the bottom of the store it does tell you when they last updated store. You can also contact Ecrater as well. I hope this helps!
August 2nd, 2009 at 11:54 am
I bought an item on eCrater for over $60.
The item was never delivered. Can’t contact the seller, and eCrater has no way to resolve the fraud commited on their web site.
August 9th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
I too bought a product on ecrater and never received it. I had paid using PayPal (thank goodness) and I disputed on Sat and my money was refunded on Sunday.
August 14th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
How do you contact ecrater customer service?
September 21st, 2009 at 7:19 pm
I must be one of the luckiest people on earth! lol
I’ve made many, many purchases on ecrater over the last two years. I have always dealt with super nice people and received every single item that I ordered from clothing and dolls to camera batteries. Most items were even better than I expected! I got ripped off by ebay sellers one too many times, and it happened a lot in the first 10 years since I discovered ebay 12 years ago, that I will never, ever shop there again. There are a few other places I shop online, but ecrater.com has by far become my favorite!
October 7th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
eCrater is definitely a scam site. I was recently ripped off for $135 when I purchased a pair of shoes from Menshotshoes.
October 29th, 2009 at 1:27 am
Google Checkout they’ll protect you from scam…
October 31st, 2009 at 5:50 pm
ecrater is a great place to buy and sell if buying ask for lots of info and selling is fun and free
November 28th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I’ve bought 6 items this year from 4 ecrater sellers and I’ve been pleased. I got a better deal than I would have on ebay. I always ask a question before I buy and don’t buy unless I get an answer within a day.
I know that as long as I pay with paypal or google checkout, my purchase is 100% covered.
Just my experience!!
December 5th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
By far the worst site to purchase items on. Agree with the other comments, feels like I’ve been scammed. Be careful when dealing with http://www.oneofakindcreations4u.ecrater.com. They charged my credit card immediately and 1 month later no product. I’ve tried numerous times to get a response and so far no reply back in close to 3 weeks. I’ve bought on eBay, Aamzon and have always had a great experience with their vendors. eCrater does nothing to ensure they are providng access to legit vendors. There is also no way to deal with issues like this. Buyer Beware!
December 16th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
eCrater is definitely NOT a scam site (I’ve had lots of excellent experiences buying and selling) but you can’t say there aren’t shady people on it, just like any other site! eCrater is wonderful as an alternative to ebay or other pay sites, there are just upsides and downsides to it, as there are with ebay or others. If you get ripped off, it’s not eCrater’s fault, it’s the scam-artist seller who you bought from.
December 18th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I love shopping eCrater; thousands of great sellers have built their stores using it. These comments remind me of the person who was never going to go to NYC again because of the crime. They say, “I bought something for cash from a street vendor in an alley off Time Square, the vendor ran off with with the cash and goods and the NYC police were worthless in getting my money back.” LOL The eCrater site is filled with wonderful sellers who are honest and give great service. Are there some bad apples? Of course, as there are in any large site or city. Anytime you purchase online, check out the store first. (the STORE, not the location) The date on the home page is the last time the seller updated their store, is it fairly current? Check the About Me, Terms, Contact and FAQ pages; if they’re blank, run. Send an email to check the seller’s response. If everything looks good, pay with a credit card using PayPal or Google Checkout so you have some protection. Lastly, don’t blame the site because you found a bad store; report the store to eCrater and contact PayPal or Google to get your money back.
January 16th, 2010 at 12:29 am
sorry to hear that some of you had bad luck on ecrater..yeh there are always scum out there to wreck it for the rest of honest sellers. i am inviting you to shop my store at
http://greatlakesbargain.ecrater.com/
a true ligit seller just looking for good customers
January 23rd, 2010 at 11:35 pm
I have sold on ebay for many years. Recently I have been moving my items to ecrater. I started selling there at the beginning of the month and have had noting but great success there. I have sold many items, to many great buyers, and they have received EVERY item they purchased from me. I might add also that they have all been as happy as can be with their items. Ebay has been losing their sellers left & right since they obviously could care less about their sellers..I mean it’s the buyers who have been paying all the listing fee’s, and final value fee’s, so I can completely understand why ebay has begun catering to the buyers and NOT the sellers. (LOL..yeah..right) Anyway, I have bought on ecrater,and now sold there..THUMBS UP all the way! Ebay SUCKS. Also a couple scam sites I can add to the mix are ebid.com, and onlineauction.com aka OLA.com. Both of those sites charge and you will never sell one thing there. Unless, of course, you give it away. Ebay has pretty much cut their own throat…DSR…BRAHAHAHAHAhaahaha…
Again, ECRATER is completely FREE…listing fee’s = zero..final value fee’s = zero..It doesn’t get much better than that, now does it?
February 5th, 2010 at 6:57 am
I’ve been on eCrater as a seller for a while (heartofvirginiaantiques.ecrater.com), but I am in the process of moving my store to my own setup at:
http://daysgonebyantiquesandcollectibles.com
eCrater worked OK for me for a while, but there seems to have been a huge influx of newer items, things that I’m just not into. I’ve purchased a few things and haven’t had a problem. eCrater provides a good basic store system, but pretty much that’s it. No real good features at all. But, it *is* free, I think it’s a good way to get started.
If you do decide to leave though, look out. There’s no way to export your items to a spreadsheet so that you can import them elsewhere, you have to move everything manually like I’m doing, what a pain!
February 20th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
I purchased 4 garage door openers. Got them at a great price and they were here in a few days. My experience was great and I’m looking right now for smoke detectors and I’ll be they’ll havwe a good deal. I don’t worry about any of their sellers one whit.
February 27th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
I am sorry to read about the bad experiences some shoppers have had on ecrater. Ecrater is a great site for the shopper as well as the seller. Mike’s has been an ecrater member for almost 2 years. We have been in business for 40 years. We recently opened another store Embroidery Fashions boutique.
Please visit our stores.
http://www.mikessportingoods.ecrater.com
http://www.embroideryfashionsboutique.com
February 28th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
I too am sorry to hear that some people are getting scammed at eCrater but it is not eCrater scamming you – it is store owners, and too it is not limited to just eCrater, you can get scammed anywhere. You have to take precautions, such as checking last update on the page, check dates on the feedback. And if you do get scammed then report it and get your money back. Take comment 18 above from Sharon – she said it all very well! Alot of honest , hardworking people have set up their stores at eCrater.
April 2nd, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Too many people screaming that ecrater is a scam all at once!! mmmhh are those peoples related in any way to other website selling places? Ecrater is marking its path loud and clear so is not unthinkable that we’ll find detractors… In Ecrater you will find merchants like in other places some honorables some not. But from there to say that ecrater is a scam and for that we allnthe merchants are a bunch of crooks I do not accept that!!
April 3rd, 2010 at 5:15 pm
I have been a casual seller on ebay for the past 10+ years. I sell only the highest quality items from my wardrobe that I never ended up wearing. I get so much more for my beloved items online than I would by going to a brick and mortar consignment shop and my buyers get 80-95% off deals for 100% authentic, stylish pieces that are good enough to be coveted by a self proclaimed NYC fashionista. With ebays ridiculous fees that now rival consignment shops, I’m turning to ecrater and I just googled to see if buyers really buy on ecrater. It’s so unfortunate there are shady sellers but you’ll find that anywhere, anyplace. So please dont think everyone on ecrater is bad! Check out nycluxuryandstyle.ecrater.com for some really amazing deals – I hope to have my listings up in the next week or so!
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:41 pm
I have been a seller on Ecrater for about a year. It was a great site to start out on and I still have my shop but I also have my own website at elipey.com. I will wait a few months longer and then close my ecrater shop, as I as competing with myself now. For those of you who have a small shop and not a lot of knowledge, you can’t beat Ecrater. For those of you who buy, as the folks said above, with any site, you need to check out the store before you buy, look at their ratings, look at how they present their merchandise and when the last time they updated their shop. There are a lot of wonderful items at Ecrater from a lot of wonderful sellers. Alas, you will always have bad apples everywhere. Elipey
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:49 pm
I love buying and selling on ecrater.com Make sure you pay with Paypal or Google Checkout so that you are protected if you don’t receive the product.
April 25th, 2010 at 10:29 am
In addition to ecrater being completely free there is a great community of people there. You can always get your questions answered quickly in the forus by either the moderators or the more experienced ecrater sellers.
June 27th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
I have been selling hand dyed wool on eCrater for 1 1/2 years, and I am thrilled. My sales have tripled this year and I know will increase again next year, as I add products and market myself. But although the site is free, this doesn’t mean I (or anyone) can simply hang out a shingle and expect sales to come. It takes work, and some time spent doing SEO. It’s a jungle out there on the web, as every other person wants to sell online. I spent about six weeks devoting myself to SEO for my eCrater site, and now I appear on page one of a Google search for ‘hand dyed wool’, which is my main search term. And all I pay is the Paypal fee for each transaction. No domain host, no monthly upkeep, no listing fees. It’s wonderful! I will eventually have my own site, but in the meantime, I have gotten great exposure at eCrater and I can maintain my listings there even after I open my other site. Why not? It’s free!