Not the Best Option for North America – Catawiki - Online Auctions Review

Layout, functions, and overall design are all quite nice and easy to use. The problem for me is most auctions are overseas which means exorbitant shipping costs. Then there is the 9% auction fee paid by the buyer, not the seller, and topping it off most auctions I see have hidden reserves. Buyers do not like reserves. Either start with a price you can stomach or do no reserve. Professional EBAY sellers learned this 20 years ago. Having the option for pricing in my currency is also old hat for EBAY. I'm not fond of dropping out of the app every 15 minutes to load my currency converter. While it isn't entirely fair to compare directly to EBAY as it has had the luxury of growing into the beast it is today. What confuses me is why Catawiki didn't adopt the features that have made EBAY so successful. With all that said it is refreshing to not see all the garbage that is prevelant in the unpoliced EBAY wasteland. Still, I can't help but feel this should be much better and perhaps it will when more North American sellers start to populate it. Shipping costs cannot be helped but auction fees and hidden reserves can. As a buyer I will say there is absolutely NO reason for me to bother bidding until the reserve is met. How about we just start there? Truth is nothing gets people to overspend like a heated bidding war started with a no reserve auction. * I realize the hidden reserve is chosen by the seller and not Catawiki. My review is addressing the entire experience and not just the developer.
Review by uber toon on Catawiki - Online Auctions.