« Return to: Sold! How to Win at Web Auctions
| SITE | Auction type | Specialties of the house | What we liked | What needs work | Our take |
| Amazon.com Auctions | Person-to-person | Collectibles, flea-market fare | Nice look and feel, friendly atmosphere, $250 insurance against fraud. | Fewer products than EBay and Yahoo Auctions. | A good start, but needs more items. |
| Recommended EBay | Person-to-person | Everything under the sun, and then some | Vast trove of goods, easy browsing and bidding, free insurance, great help section. | Not much, but person-to-person auctions can be risky. | No other person-to-person auction compares. |
| Egghead Auctions | Merchant | Computer equipment | Decent--albeit slightly outdated--selection of PC hardware and software. | Clunky and confusing, no proxy bidding, so-so auction-tracking tools. | Not all it's cracked up to be. |
| First Auction | Merchant | Household goods, collectibles, jewelry | Best array of furniture, clothing, jewelry, food, and other noncomputer products. | No proxy bidding. | Like the Home Shopping Network, only online. |
| Recommended Onsale | Merchant | Computer and office equipment | Fine variety of items, efficient interface, extensive item tracking and help. | Proxy bidding could be easier. | Our favorite merchant auction. |
| UBid | Merchant | Computer equipment | Wide range of computer products, handy auction-tracking page. | Uneven item descriptions, proxy bidding not universal. | Try Onsale first. |
| Yahoo Auctions | Person-to-person | Toys, collectibles, flea-market fare | Slick user interface, easy browsing, range of merchandise second only to EBay's. | Fewer fraud safeguards than EBay and Amazon.com Auctions. | A worthy EBay alternative. |