Recently for my birthday I received money from my mother in law and of course I had to spend it. I had decided that I wanted a Mickey Mouse® telephone because of the one I saw in our hotel room down in Orlando. But when I got to searching for one I couldn’t find it. So of course I had to go to the Intranet to search for this phone. But while I did this search I decided I wanted to get a Winnie The Pooh® phone instead.
I looked all over for this phone, going to places that I had done business with in the past to compare prices. I came across a site where I finally found the phone I wanted and at the prices I wanted to pay. This site is an auction type-site but not like one I have seen before.
The Online Store
http://www.sell.com has a very busy homepage that offers you a huge variety of items for sale. Across the top you will find links that will take you to: Browse, buying, selling, profile, search, help, place your classified add and sign in/sign out.
You can do a search for anything you may be interested in buying. This search engine if found on the top left hand side of the page. Underneath this search engine you will find a variety of categories ranging from “New Classifieds, Feature Classifieds, Consumer Classifieds.” Underneath this category you will find sub-categories for topics ranging from Antiques to Real estate to Miscellaneous and so many more.
In the center of the homepage will find the “Featured Classifieds” that are available daily or weekly. And underneath these you will find the available “New Classifieds”. All of these show pictures of the items and a price. You can click on any of them and be taken to a page that gives you more information.
How It Works
This is a private auction site that allowed me to privately contact the seller of what was hopefully going to be my new phone via email that is handled by the site. After signing up and getting myself a free account this is what I did.
I typed into the search engine Winnie The Pooh® Telephone and only one came up. It so happened it was the phone I wanted. The asking price was $50.00 and I was able to make an offer instead of agreeing to that price because the seller offered a negation available message.
When the information on the phone came up, over on the right hand side of the page I was given this option. Of course I made an offer and clicked send and the seller received the offer from the site and not me directly.
The seller responded back to me excepting the offer. I received an email alerting me that there was a response from the seller. In the email I was able to click the link given to me that took me back to my profile page that allowed me to accept his response.
The seller then gave me instructions on which type of payment he accepted and in this case Pay Pal® was an option, which I used. (All major credit cards are accepted or you can pay by check or money order.) I sent him payment via echeck and in 3 days he had his payment. Now the seller mails me the phone. I had to pay the s/h for the phone, which was $6.89. The total I paid was $46.89.
On each page that you have gone to of a product you are interested in you will find links that will take you to: Q/A, Email Friend or Abuse. You will also find detailed information of the product with a picture. Well, most of the time there is a picture. I have seen some items without the picture.
You will also be able to find out what others think of the current seller that you are thinking of buying from. You will also be able to get certain information about them by going to their profile page.
If you click the “buying” link you will be taken to your profile page and from there you can see what transactions you have made. You can also see each and every single communication that you and the seller have made. This is really good because you can see at anytime just what you said and just what they said. This information stays on your account for future use should you need it.
You will also see how many responses you have made for other items and you can go into each one singly and read email responses if you choose.
You will find that some sellers are not negotiable on their items. So you will have to pay the asking price or pass on to another item.
Company Info
directly from the website “At sell.com, we’ve built a classified ad network that will help everyone buy and sell online. Simply list items and receive offers, or browse items and make offers... easy, efficient, and effective. Our technology will help consumers buy or sell items for that perfect price and can even help businesses reach new customers and suppliers.”
Should you like to contact the company for anything you can do so by clicking the contact link found on the company page. There is a form that you will fill out and they will get back to you. Really easy to do. Also, from the company or contact page you click on the “Back To Our Market Place” link found in the upper right hand corner and you can go back to shopping.
How I Feel
If you are interested in this place you really just need to go and look around to get a better idea of how it works. The website is very easy to get around and pretty self-explanatory. The pages load very quickly and it is very easy to find out about the seller and to see ratings on the seller. I don’t know about you but I like being able to see what others think of a potential seller.
I liked being able to communicate with the seller privately. In doing so the item of interest was put on hold until all negations was final. I had the option to accept or decline by clicking the buttons found at the bottom of each response given to me by the seller. You can always go to the help section that is offered if you don’t understand exactly what to do. This is a very helpful option.
The seller that I did business with was very polite and his response time was quick. He was also helpful in answering questions that I had about him and just exactly how to use the Pay Pal® option.
When I would check the response I was always taken to a page that allowed me to see what was going on, meaning the seller on his end would check certain links that would show me and anyone else that may come along that the item in question was under negations or sold or available. There is a bar like item that shows this information. While in negations with the seller I was able to click the name of the product on this bar and was then taken to all email response between the two of us. This was very easy to do and convenient as well. Each email is dated and the time of day sent is given. I also had the opportunity to review each response before confirming to send. And below the list of emails I always have the option to send another note, rate the seller/file a complaint or close. While the negations were going on, I was able to choose also from “offer, buy or deny” in this same location.
Overall I was impressed with https://sell.com and I think the concept is really great. Like I already stated, the site is very easy to get around and your information is safe and secure and you choose to do business with who you want and how you want. You can agree or not and then move on.
If you have a problem with the seller you can report them and the staff will work with you in resolving the matter.
I hope that this has helped in some kind of way.
God Bless!
©LKD 2003
Price is US Dollars