I also hesitate because of the year-in-advance membership without refund (I believe). Seems likely to cause unhappy ex-members to hound the site. ex-eBay sellers have high expectations, high criteria, and a strongly developed sense of outrage which is easily aroused. I would recommend GoAntiques considers this.

This is possibly why they are pre-screening their sellers. What I am being told is that not everyone can become a seller there. Something like Ruby Lane! You have to set up your shop and have it approved before you open. Also, if people are paying to be sellers, they are usually more apt to be the type of professional who would indeed ship their items.

If as PRG and cohiba said, they will be aware of the possible drawbacks and 'nip them in the bud' so to speak, then I have to believe they have a decent shot at it. It seems most feebay sellers have learned a lot from the scammers etc. on the site, maybe goAntiques will take what they learned and apply it to make this a viable venue. I know most Antique and Collector sellers have their fingers crossed on this one.

I have several questions and hope that someone in the forum could help me answer the following?

How does Ruby Lane compares to Go Antiques?

To me it looks like at Go Antiques you could list as many items as you want for a $39.00 fee per month plus 10% final value. Ruby lane $35.00 for up to 50 items and I think an additional .30 cents per item and the 10% fee.

Did Go Antiques start their own Auctions?

There was talk about the same, but I have not noticed any auctions on their site.

Based on your experience, would you recommend Go Antiques or Ruby Lane?

I'm currently looking for an alternative place to set up shop. I don't depend on Ebay for a steady income as I have my own booth at an Antique mall. Just looking for additional income at a reputable place that has enough sales to offset the fees.

I can not speak for goAntiques other than that I hear some are doing well there. as for Ruby Lane it is .30 to list an item up to 150 items, then .20 per item after that. There is no FVF!!! I have sold 23 items in the last 3 weeks on the site, and my bill for this month was 55.00, but I sold 10x that much. There is a 20.00 advertising fee, (which was included in the 55.00) which they put to very good use in Antiques and Collectible magazines, etc.

The greatest thing to me is the customer base. Every single one of my customers save one has been heavenly compared to feebay. No chargebacks, extortions, hatefulness, etc. So far I am very happy with my choice there and only expect things to get better as my sales feedback increases. Their feedback is not a pos-neg based system. It is based on number of successful sales or buys. People know if you sell on Ruby Lane you are a good seller, because they have the good sense to kick the Dog-Sellers to the curb. They will not tolerate a bad seller, or a Non-Paying Buyer.

This tool may be of assistance in evaluating what people are searching on google:
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=goantiques%2Cbuy%20antiques%20online%2Crubylane%2Cetsy&cmpt=q
You can change the terms lower down in the drop down boxes to see more interesting things. The very bottom of the page is most interesting to me - search terms related to the various terms.

This is a very cool tool IMO.

Another useful tool:
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/rubylane.com+goantiques.com+etsy.com/?metric=uv

I theorize the rise at etsy is in part due to the publicity that site received from Martha Stewart (?). The recent decline at goantiques may be due to ebay ending the live auction format that goantiques was using.

I concur with those assessments Purple.

After all, you could say Rosie O'Donnell gave feebay billions in unpaid advertising, and helped create the Household Word itself.

Too bad Einstein isn't still around. I would love to see what would happen to Atomic Mall with his endorsement!!!!

LOL dlrane!! I still haven't found time to play there

Found the one more tool I was looking for - a Quantcast comparison chart.
http://www.quantcast.com/profile/traffic-compare?
Added ha.com (Heritage Auctions) it relates, but it only takes consignments (when I checked in March or so). Took out etsy on this one because it "flattens" the others. I think quantcast's numbers may be more "reliable" than compete's or alexa's as it is based on a website embedded tool rather than users who have a toolbar. **edited to add: However, I don't know how accurate the "Panel Estimates" might be versus those directly measured because the website has embedded the measuring widget.**/edit**

Thanks PRG,
That is definately a chart I wanted to see!!!!!

I agree with some of the above comments on Ruby Land and Go Antiques. They are more picky who sells on their sites, which eliminates all the scammers, fraud, ebay related problems etc. Ruby lane does cost more as they charge the $39 plus extra for how many items you sell. They do a lot of advertising and that is a plus. GoAntiques charges the $39 plus 10% for unlimited liststings. They also advertise very well and have a large customer base. They were the ones that had live auctions on eBay for 6 years, and finally eBay screwed them like everyone else with all their changes. They decided with all the money they can save from having live auctions on ebay, they are going to start their own live and timed auctions within the next two months. This is what they say, they did a thread on here from the new owners of GoAntiques which is Worthpoint. They keep their companies separate but say their auctions will have the newest hi tech available to do them, better than eBay auctions. I do not know what that means but we will wait and see. It does take time to set up their own auctions , so I am being patient waiting to see what they look like. They also advertise big time and are the oldest online mall on the Internet. I have bought from GoAntiques, Ruby Lane and used to have a site on Tias.com another online mall like the others. I have never had a problems with any of the 3 and you get proffesional service from them, their shops are easy to set up. So its a personal decsision who to sell with or sell with all three. If you are a super power seller in antiques and collectibles, sometimes whole antique malls list on there sites, you can get better rates. So if I were not sure who to try, I would check the pros and cons of each, but they all have a huges customer base of returning customers and are what I consider safe to buy on.

This article tells about Worthpoint buying GoAntiques. I think once they start their auctions they will go way past Rubylane on buyers and sellers.

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/08/25/story7.html
Business First of Columbus - August 25, 2008
http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/08/25/story7.html
Friday, August 22, 2008 | Modified: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Gavel falls as Worthpoint buys GoAntiques
Business First of Columbus - by Dan Eaton
An Atlanta-based operator of an antiques Web site plans to acquire GoAntiques Inc. in a bid to take on eBay Inc. in the online antiques marketplace.

WorthPoint Corp. is paying an undisclosed amount for Dublin’s GoAntiques, which runs an antiques and collectibles price guide with more than 27 million items.

“EBay was built by collectors, but in my mind they left that behind,” said WorthPoint founder and CEO Will Seippel.

The combination of WorthPoint and GoAntiques, he said, can fill that void – and quickly. The deal will put WorthPoint’s more than 50,000 users seeking prices and buyers and GoAntiques’ 1,300 dealers and 350,000 members in the same virtual space.

GoAntiques CEO Jim Kamnikar said he and his wife, Kathy, were pursuing a business combination to grow their company. WorthPoint was attractive, he indicated, because it has the backing of venture capitalists. “(WorthPoint) made good, fast inroads into social networking,” Kamnikar said. “That was part of our growth strategy. They were already doing what we were interested in.”

WorthPoint offers expert advice on how to preserve and sell antiques and collectibles. Kamnikar described it as an online version of TV’s Antiques Roadshow.

“It all dovetails together,” he said. “We didn’t have the human interaction. ... Our data was missing from their marketplace.”

Kamnikar said GoAntiques, founded in 1994, has 17 employees and could double that within the next year. Seippel said technical, telemarketing and customer service will be run from Central Ohio, while sales, marketing and media operations will be in Atlanta.

Purple Reading Giraffee what doe IMHO mean, you always use that term

Purple Reading Giraffee what doe IMHO mean, you always use that term

In my humble opinion

@dollyway,
I, too, hope this goAntiques auction format turns out to be a hit. I will definately use it for liquidation purposes. I don't want to pay maintenance fees on items that are not moving that good. Thanks for the article.

IMO = In My Opinion
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion
JMHO = Just My Humble Opinion
JMHPSO = Just My Humble Pot-Stirring Opinion

and if it doesn't already exist, I think I shall add JM2C

Dollyway - I keep hearing about "going to start their own auctions", but I haven't seen a link to a place where GoAntiques themselves talk about it. (For instance the Worthpoint press release says nothing about that particular plan). Do you have one? (a link that is, not a plan *giggle*)

purple_reading_giraffe Thank you for explaining all these text messages lingo. I do not text message but my kids do. As far as a link, there is no link, but I have spoken to the sales manager of Go Antiques myself twice and he says they will start the auctions within the next couple of months. If he says it and WorthPoint says it, I believe it, as they are a big operation, not like some of the small time startups listed on PSU. They have been in business for years, and I know to start up a quality auction site that will be equal or better than eBay is worth waiting for. They are taking their time to do it right I suppose, it can't be done in a couple of days, like some of the auctions sites listed on PSU. I have not talked to him since the economic crisis, but I think, or hope that would not have changed their plans. You can call him anytime to discuss it with him, by going on Go Antiques and look up their contact office in Ohio. I have also read other articles in the past about them being the new ebay on the financial sites but don't remember now where they were. I would call him and see what is up or the thread they posted here had a number of someone who you could call anytime. If you call them and find out something please share it with us. I still think they are a good site that has a huge customer base and will start their auctions since they had sucess selling on auction on eBay for 6 years. It would be nice to see eBay go out of business buy a reliable company you could trust.