Better than eBay? OnBuy review unveils the truth

Fed up with eBay and want a new marketplace to buy and sell? Then you may have stumbled across OnBuy. But is this a site that can be trusted and does it offer enough to make it worth making the switch? Let’s take a look.

With so many places to buy and sell, it can be quite difficult to choose the best option. Do you go with an established marketplace like eBay, which has millions of users worldwide but fairly high prices? Or somewhere like Facebook Marketplace, which has limited reach but is free to use?

Well, there’s another choice – OnBuy.

What is OnBuy?

OnBuy is an online marketplace very similar to eBay. However, there are no auctions and you’ll pay a fixed sum. Based in Dorset in the UK, it was launched back in 2016. OnBuy takes a small fee as it connects sellers with buyers as they look to sell their items.

At the latest count, there are over 35 million products listed and 7 million buyers.

Is OnBuy legit?

OnBuy works very much how eBay used to. When you make a purchase, you send the seller payment by PayPal. If there’s an issue, you’ll contact the seller directly. If that doesn’t work, you can contact OnBuy for guidance or go straight to PayPal.

Some major brands sell items on OnBuy, including:

• AO
• American Golf
• HP
• Unilever

How do you know if a seller is genuine?

Because OnBuy is a marketplace, you could be dealing with lots of different sellers. But OnBuy operates a rating system that allows buyers to share their feedback of sellers. Ratings are given out of 5 and you can also write a brief summary. If you’ve used eBay, you’ll know the process.

How much are the fees?

If you’re a buyer, then you won’t have to pay any fees.

Here’s the important thing about OnBuy: it’s not aimed at the individual seller who wants to sell the odd item.

If you want to sell, you’ll need to take out one of their subscription packages, which start from £25. You’ll also need to pass their verification process.

When an item sells, you’ll have to pay a fee of between 5 and 9%, depending on what you’re selling. On top of this, you will also need to pay a transaction fee of 2%.

In most cases, this is still slightly cheaper than eBay, which usually charges sellers a fee of 12.8%.

Any downsides?

OnBuy isn’t really suited to individual sellers. Because of the monthly subscription fee, you will really need to be selling quite a few items to make it worthwhile.

When it comes to buying, if you’ve ever used a marketplace before, I’m sure you’ll know that they’re generally very easy to use… until something goes wrong. OnBuy makes it clear that ‘the transaction is between yourself and the seller – OnBuy simply facilitate it.’

If there’s an issue with a purchase and the other party isn’t being very helpful, although OnBuy may give you a bit of help, you’ll need to take it up with PayPal. But this can be very hit-and-miss, with PayPal seeming to make some strange decisions at times.

What other people say

There are plenty of reviews for OnBuy. Over on Trustpilot, the company is rated an excellent 4.6 out of 5 from over 50,000 reviewers.

On the positive side, users praise the good prices and the ease of use. However, there are quite a few complaints from people that have never received their purchase or they have had issues returning faulty items.

Is OnBuy worth using?

If you find something for a good price, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use OnBuy.

But just to be clear, it’s not always going to be plain sailing. Some of the time, you will be dealing with an individual seller or a small business, and you will not always be guaranteed a great service. There are issues with every marketplace and unfortunately, OnBuy will be no different.

In most cases though, this should be sorted fairly easily through PayPal.

If you’re thinking about using OnBuy to sell the odd item, it probably won’t be worth it. The subscription fee is just too much to make it a decent alternative to eBay.

OnBuy