"Going going gone" without the hassle (cqout.co.uk)

Member Name: tweepypie

Product:	cqout.co.uk
Date:	19/08/02 (180 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to use, bargains

Disadvantages: not widely used or known

When I first searched CQout.co.uk/CQout.com I was pleasantly surprised. My entire previous online auction experience had been based on ebay and QXL, probably the biggest providers. CQout is an essentially British website, but it does apply internationally, i.e. you get sellers from all over the world.

Use of this website is very easy indeed. On the left you have a variety of categories, in which you will find everything, from Buffy merchandise to office equipment. A search box will make it even easier if you already know what you are looking for.

“Today’s featured auction” is the “pick of the day”, although so far it hasn’t been anything that I have found interesting.

The “help” tab at the top does exactly what it promises: it offers help on the following topics: Introduction (if you are new to the site), General, Selling and Buying.

The Introduction and General categories give you information on the most basic subjects, like Terms and Conditions and your details (if you have joined them).

If you want to buy or sell on this site (well, presumably that IS the reason you have visited an online auction website) you will need to register. If you also want to sell, they require your credit card details. That is so they can a) charge you a small amount (currently £1 for European customers) and b) verify your details for fraud prevention. Buying is as easy as it is on any other website. in a few simple steps you can bid or set your own bidding limit.

Selling is surprisingly easy as well. It basically involves writing your own “ad” describing the item you would like to sell (either as normal text or in HTML – they even offer a quick HTML tutorial in case you are interested in using it for these purposes), adding the link to the photo of the item (which you would have added to your personal website account, if you have one) and that’s it. You can prev
iew and then post it and wait for people to start bidding. CQout obviously want a percentage of any sale, but I think their rates are definitely within reason, i.e. around 5% of the total.

If you have a lot to sell, they offer a “loyalty discount”, but that only applies to more than 100 sales. This feature therefore doesn’t really apply to the ordinary person (well, if I sold 100 items I owned I’d probably have to sit on the floor and eat off old newspapers). They also offer, for £2 extra, the “featured item” listing, which will enable your item to stand out (by making it bold and listing it first, etc.). Unless you chose a very crowded category I don’t think that that will be necessary.

You can also set a reserve price, under which you don’t have to sell (although I find it a bit pointless, because you can set a minimum bid. I assume it’s to get the bidding going in the first place, but still…).

They also offer Secure Pay with escrow service. The way it works is the following: You are buying/selling using a “middleman” who a) guarantees payment to the seller and b) doesn’t pay the seller until the goods have been received by the buyer, to protect the latter from fraudulent sales (i.e. where the item in question doesn’t actually exist). The buyer carries the extra cost, but I still think it’s worth it for items of a certain value.

You can, of course, find out about the seller or buyer by checking their rating. Previous buyers/sellers will have rated their service, so you can imagine that if 20 people have rated a seller as good and reliable, chances are they really are just that. Of course, this method isn’t foolproof, since it should be quite easy to fraudulently increase your positive ratings if you ask your friends and “fix” a few sales. Also, it discriminates against new sellers/buyers who won’t have any ratings at
all.

The only other thing I should mention is that, although very user-friendly, your choice might not be as vast as it might be on other sites, such as ebay. On the other hand I have found that the things on offer are reasonably priced. I have also found a few rarities that I haven’t come across anywhere else.

For those that have never used an online auction website: It is not only easy to use, but you do actually get things you can’t find anywhere else: Nintendo 64 games and controllers, very cheap books, collectibles that might not be sold anywhere else, autographs with Certificates of Authenticity, exercise equipment, etc. Sometimes these items are second-hand, at other times they are brand new. It really is worth checking them out if you are after a bargain.

Summary: