C'mon! Lleyton's dad takes on eBay

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 01 July 2008 12:52

Business IT - Networking

Disillusionment with eBay's attempts to force PayPal onto all buyers and sellers has sparked interest in other auction sites. Glynn Hewitt, father of Australian tennis star Lleyton Hewitt (who was knocked out of the Wimbledon tournament overnight) is looking for a piece of the action with eSwap.com.au.

"We created eSwap.com.au as an alternative to eBay and to offer consumers more choice when it comes to online auctions," said co-creator Denis Ryan. "We have no plans to force users to pay using only one method of payment."

Lleyton and his wife Bec (reportedly expecting their second child) will act as the 'faces' of eSwap.

eSwap does not charge for listings, although sellers can choose various ways of making their ad more prominent. These range from 75c to show the item in bold in category lists and search results, to $9.95 for random placement on the home page and 'featured items' list.

Auction fees start at 25 cents for items sold for $5 or less, then 4.95 percent to $75. From there, the rate tapers down to 1.5 percent over $1000.

A flat fee of $15 applies to car, motorbike and boat sales.

"Our motto is do it better, do it cheaper and keep it Aussie owned and operated," said Ryan.