uBid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| uBid Inc. | |
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| Type | Public (OTC: UBHI) |
| Founded | Chicago, Illinois, USA (1997) |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Key people | Jeff Hoffman, CEO |
| Industry | Auctions |
| Products | Online auction hosting, Consumer electronics |
| Revenue | ▲$42.8 million USD (2005) |
| Website | www.ubid.com |
uBid Inc. (OTCBB: UBHI) manages an online auction and shopping website thats offers both goods sold directly by the company and items sold by pre-approved uBid Certified Merchants. It is currently the 2nd largest online auction site by sales volume and is only available to US residents.[citation needed]
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[edit] Overview
uBid Inc., founded in 1997 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, runs an online auction site that calls itself "The Marketplace you can Trust". The company claims this title based on the secure nature of transactions on the site compared to other companies such as eBay. The site offers both products sold through uBid and products offered by other established businesses through the uBid Certified Merchant Program. The site specializes in new, refurbished and overstock consumer electronics such as computers and cellular phones, but has recently expanded to offer other services such as travel packages and jewelry.
[edit] uBid Certified Merchant Program
In order to maintain a trusted trading environment, uBid only allows established businesses who have been pre-approved to sell products on its site. Merchants wishing to be approved must provide tax and credit information as well as trade and bank references to prove their credibility. Once approved, Certified Merchants are allowed to sell their products on the site, however all payments and customer service inquiries are made directly through uBid in order to maintain consumer trust and provide the best possible post-sale service. Due to this system, Certified Merchants do not have any direct interaction with customers except for questions asked about products through the uBid site, nor do they see customers' credit card information.
[edit] Fees
Unlike eBay, uBid does not charge certified merchants for listing items on the uBid site. However, they do take a portion of each item's final selling price according to a tiered system with fees as high as 12.5%. At first glance, uBid fees seem much higher then eBay final value fees, however, uBid takes care of all payments, eliminating the need for an additional payment processor such as PayPal and the fees associated with them.
[edit] Promotions
uBid offers many promotions to differentiate itself from other auction sites. Many auctions on the site start for $1 and they encourage merchants to sell items in large quantities, called MegaAuctions. They have also started offering "Express Auctions", which run for a limited time for one day at a time and many auctions have an option to buy the product at a fixed price, called uBuyItNow.
