eCRATER Review: Is Legit or Scam?

eCRATER is an online market place and also free online store builder where you can Buy and sell products. was launched by Dimitar Slavov. His driving force was to create a “clean and simple” eCommerce platform where buying and selling is easy. Given his background in programming, Dimitar got to work in early 2004; and in September of that year, eCRATER was born, hosted in Irvine, California.

In this internet age, where online shopping is increasingly becoming popular, every business owner will do well to have an online shop. Also, it’s not news that listing your products in an online marketplace can drive up sales.

However, the technicality of writing codes or the cost of using a third party to do this can be off-putting. This is where eCRATER comes in. It advertises as a free “web store builder and online marketplace”.

Thus suggest that with eCRATER, you can create your online store and list items for sale, and your items will be seen by the huge traffic from the marketplace. However, the big question is whether it is worthwhile to use eCRATER. As a Seller, will you have the top experience of having an online store and successfully selling products?

Also, as a buyer, will you have a top buying experience characterized by a hassle-free ordering process, and receiving delivery of top quality products? How about another service that we’ll expect of an ideal shopping platform (like delivery times, returns, etc)?

In the first place, is eCRATER legit?

Yes, eCRATER is legit. It is not a scam website because what we witnessed while investigating the site. You may continue reading to know why we said they are not fraudsters.

This eCRATER review will examine eCRATER in order to provide the information that will help you answer these questions and more.

eCRATER review at a glance

• website: ecrater.com
• An online store builder and online marketplace
• Launched in 2004 and based in California
• Can be used to sell and buy virtually anything
• Offers impressive customizable options for your store
• Free to use (no store creation fee, no listing fees, no sales commission where you bring the sales in yourself)
• For sales brought to you by eCRATER, Sellers’ commission is a low 2.95 of the item price
• Does not offer buyer protection
• Customer support available via email (online contact form)

eCRATER advertises as a “free web store builder and an online marketplace”. This means that eCRATER serves two distinct functions. The first function of eCRATER is that it is an “online store builder”. This means that it gives people who have products to sell the opportunity to create an online store to list and sell their products. The online store comes complete with a unique URL.

The second function that eCRATER serves is that it is an online marketplace. That is, it shows every item listed by Sellers in a generic place, where Buyers can browse items to make a purchase. In this regards, eCRATER simply connects Sellers and Buyer for selling and buying.

Is eCRATER legit?

Every online shopper asks the “legit question”; and for good reasons. There are just too many scam stores in cyberspace; and except you determine that a store is legit before using it, you just may be ripped off. Thus, the big question is whether eCRATER is legit.

Our first check of a legit online platform is legality. This is because platforms that are 100% legal are less likely to be scam. Interestingly, eCRATER ticks this box. It is a duly registered business in the US, with headquarters in Irvine California.

Another check of a legit online platform is visibility and industry-wide recognition. This is because the scam stores largely operate in the shadows. Interestingly, eCRATER also ticks this box. eCRATER has been featured by giant publishers and media houses that include Business Insider, Mashable, Business Week, CNN, CNN Money, and more. Suffice it to say that a scam store cannot gain the recognition of such high profile industry watchers and followers.

The ultimate check of a legit online platform is fitness for purpose. This is because the scam stores are simply set up to rip people off, and do not live up to their mandate. Interestingly, eCRATER does not fail outrightly in this regards. In its first function (being a web store builder), eCRATER aces it. As a Seller, you’ll have your eCRATER-powered online store live in minutes. In its second function (being an online marketplace), there are mixed reactions, especially from Buyers.

That is, while you’ll find satisfied buyers who received delivery of real and functional products; you’ll also find a good number of Buyers complaining of not receiving delivery of their order, or being delivered items that are overwhelmingly unsatisfactory. This bring to fore something that characterize most online marketplaces – presence of a few bad eggs (scammers).

Conclusively, while there is no doubt that eCRATER is a legit platform, there seem to be some scam Sellers using it. Thus, if you enter eCRATER as a buyer, you should have on your discerning glasses and use due diligence to tell the legit Sellers from the scam artists.

Is eCRATER safe?

eCRATER is safe. The “safe question” is another important questions that online shoppers ask; and also for good reasons. When shopping online, you share sensitive information such as contact details and credit card details; you’ll not want this data leaking out in this era of cyber fraudsters and identity thieves. Thus, the ideal online platform should adequately safeguard users’ data.

In this regards, eCRATER says that the protection of users’ data is important to it. While it does not give the details of its data protection measures; it’s safe to say that eCRATER is safe. This is because, while complaints about eCRATER are rife, you’ll be hard pressed to find any relating to compromise of payment instrument data.

Products

Whether you are a Seller or a Buyer, you’ll want a platform that supports a range of products. Thankfully, eCRATER ticks this box. You can sell and buy virtually anything in the platform.

The product categories that you’ll find include: Antique, Art, Automotive, Baby Products, Beauty and Fragrances, Books and Magazines, Cameras and Photo, Business and Industrial Products, Cell Phones/ PDAs and Accessories, Clothing and Shoes, Collectibles, Computers and Networking, Crafts, Electronics, Entertainment Memorabilia, Flowers and Gifts, Glass and Pottery, Health and Personal Care, Home and Garden, Jewelry and Watches, Miscellaneous, Movies and DVDs, Music, Office Supplies, Real Estate, Services, Sex Stuff, Sports and Outdoors, Sports Memorabilia, tools and Hardware, Toys Games and Hobbies, Video Games, Wholesale

eCRATER for Sellers

Store-builder function vs marketplace function

If you have products to sell; you can use eCRATER to simply build your online store and sell yourself, or you can create your store and then sell using eCRATER’s marketplace services.

When using its marketplace service, items that you add to your store will be added to the eCRATER marketplace. That is, your items will be found by anyone browsing the product categories in the eCRATER website; and when Buyers do product search using the search button on the website, your items will be shown in search results. eCRATER will also put the items on Google Shopping, meaning you items will get more to drive more sales.

However, when you choose not to use the marketplace service, eCRATER will not drive traffic to your store and your items. That is, notably no adding to Google Shopping; your items won’t even be found in the product categories or in search results when customers use the ECRATER website. You’ll have to drive traffic to your store yourself. eCRATER will furnish you with a unique URL for your store; you can then do the legwork of advertising your store by putting your link wherever.

Setting up to sell

To use eCRATER as a Seller, registration is required; and completely registration will lead to the creation of your store. You don’t need to have any coding skills to create your store. Registration is relatively straightforward; simply click “Register” in the eCRATER website.

In the registration form, the information you’ll fill include your desired store name (which will come out as www.example.ecrater.com). eCRATER allows you to use your custom domain with your store, but this is a premium service which cost $5.00 per month. There’s even a 5-day free trial period, so you’ll see how it works.

Other information required includes address, name of contact person, location, telephone, and email address. While Sellers from all over the world can use eCRATER to create stores and sell their products; being able to ship to US locations is a requirement.

The good part is that the eCRATER-powered store is customizable. You can choose between pleasant template, change the color scheme, add logos, and more in terms of design. To make your store a reflection of you, you can add texts (sections like about, terms, FAQ, and contact page). You can also create categories for your products, to improve your listing. eCRATER also has a set of premium templates to improve the look of your store.

Adding products is also relatively easy. Simply go to the “Products” link, and select “Add New Product”. In the page that opens, fill the required information which will form the details in the product description page when the Buyer clicks on the product.

There’ll be the option to add a photo; eCRATER allows up to 10 photos per added item. eCRATER also simplifies adding products to your store, as it supports the importing of products from eBay stores. If you have a lot of products to add; eCRATER also supports bulk list listing.

Shipping

When a customer buys your item, you’ll have to ship it directly to the Buyer. Unlike some marketplaces, eCRATER does not provide shipping label. The Sellers handles everything. Thus, when listing products, you’ll have to set up the shipping method that you’ll offer. eCRATER supports 3 different methods allowing you to choose what best works for you. These are: flat rate, weight matrix, and USPS calculator (which is only available to US Sellers).

Pricing

An important consideration is pricing. You’ll want to know what it will cost to use the platform.  eCRATER shines in this regards. It is absolutely free to use the platform. You can create your online store, and add your item, all for free.

However, it should be said that the eCRATER shining light (in terms of service pricing), while still shining blindingly in comparison to other platforms, has dimmed somewhat in recent times. This is because, in times past, it was completely free to use eCRATER. Many “free” online marketplaces, are free until your item sells.

When a sale is made, you’ll then have to pay the marketplace a commission (called the Final Value Fee). Formerly, eCRATER was free all the way. That is, even after a sale is made, you keep the payment 100%.

Currently, eCRATER is free for sales that you bring to your store yourself; while there’s a small commission for sales that eCRATER brings to your store. Thus, if you simply use eCRATER to create your store, and then proceed to exclusively drive your own sales, you’ll get to keep all that you make.

Thus, while exclusively driving your own sales, eCRATER is 100% free. But when Buyers come to the marketplace, then get to your products, and make a purchase, eCRATER will charge you a 2.9% marketplace fee.

On the whole, eCRATER’s pricing is arguably the best you’ll find. Not only is it free to create your online store and list your items, but when your products sell, you’ll not have to pay commissions on some of those sales (sales your bring yourself).

Where you have to pay commissions (sales brought to you by eCRATER), the required commission is relatively small (only 2.9% of items price).

Another important consideration is when fees are dues, as no Seller will want a platform that always bangs on the door for its fees. eCRATER also does well in this regards. For sales, it sends to you in any given month, eCRATER will generate and send you an invoice 15 days after that month ends.

Selling Pros

• Relatively easy to get started and create an online store
• Supports importing of products from eBay stores
• Completely free for all sale you bring to your store (no FVP)
• A relatively low 2.9% marketplace fee is charged when eCRATER bring you sales
• Fees are due 15 days after a particular month

Selling Cons

• Sellers must be able to ship to US locations
• No longer 100% free (eCRATER now charges a small fee for sales it brings you)

eCRATER for Buyers

Buying using eCRATER

Unlike many online platforms, eCRATER does not require buyers to register. Without having to create an account, you can search for items, add them to your cart, and proceed to complete checkout.

Thus, buying in eCRATER is relatively straightforward, as it is in many online shopping platforms. To find an item, you can browse through the product categories on the site, or you can use the search button.  After finding an item that you like, clicking on it will take you to its description page, where you’ll find its details.

The page gives you the full description of the particular product and holds more pictures to allow you view the product from other angles. It’ll give other details such as shipping terms and return policies.

One of the best buyer resources in the product description page is the customers’ reviews. eCRATER advices that you look up any reviews that customers have dropped about a particular Seller, as these will help you discern whether a Seller can be trusted.

If you like what the product, and are okay with the shipping terms and other seller’s policies, you can add it to your cart. You can then continue shopping to add more products, or you can go to your cart to complete checkout. You’ll have to add your shipping address and select a payment method to complete the transaction and submit your order.

eCRATER supports a range of payment methods, but what will be available will be what the particular Seller choose to offer. These include Credit cards, PayPal, Money Orders. Cashier checks, Personal Checks, and COD (available to US Sellers through USPS).

Shipping

Shipping is an important consideration in any online purchase. You’ll want to know whether the retailer ships to your location, how long it takes, and how much it takes. In terms of shipping destinations, one of eCRATER’s requirements in admitting seller is shipping to US locations.

Thus, all Sellers in eCRATER ships to all locations in the US. Also, you’ll find many sellers in eCRATER who ship to worldwide locations. Thus, you’ll be able to buy from eCRATER from many parts of the world.

In terms of delivery times, eCRATER says in its “Terms of Service” that it has the right to reverse order and return funds to the customer if “at least 5 business days since the order paid to date have passed” and the order has not shipped. This will mean that it gives Sellers 5 business days to ship out orders (except custom-made items).

However, we found that many Sellers in the platform quote relatively low times for processing and dispatching orders for shipment. After that, how long the order takes in reaching you will depend on your shipping address.

Also, the shipping costs in eCRATER depend on the particular Seller. Sellers choose what shipping option they’ll offer and they set the cost. However, it should be said that when buying multiple products, you’ll have to pay shipping on all. Definitely, as a marketplace, when buying from different Sellers, you’re sure to pay shipping on every item.

However, when buying different products from the same Seller, or many quantities of the same product from the same Seller, you’ll expect to pay one shipping for the “one” order. However, this is not the case. But where the Seller is giving flat rate shipping, you’ll be able to get a reduced shipping cost for each additional product.

It should be said that you should pay particular attention to the description page of each item for its shipment details – where it’s shipping from, when it will ship, how long it stays in transit, and its shipping costs.

Returns

Many times, customers are not satisfied and will want to return the item and get a replacement or refunds. Thus, stores that offer returns are appealing.

Since eCRATER is not an online store, but simply a marketplace, it does not have title to any goods, is not involved in the transaction, and is not responsible for returns. It is the independent Sellers that are responsible for returns, and you’ll find this in the product description page. However, we find that many Sellers in eCRATER offer returns and give varying return window, especially the popular 30 days from delivery date.

However, as we’ll find in the complaint page, while advertising returns, when it comes to actually accept returns and issuing refunds, many Sellers are non-responsive or at best lukewarm.

In our opinion, the operating model of eCRATER contributes to lukewarm. This is because eCRATER does not collect or process funds for Buyer or Seller. Thus, it does not have a Buyer Protection.

Buyer-focused platforms collect purchase payments directly from the buyer, and will only release the funds to the Seller if the customer confirms receipt of the action and satisfaction with it. If the customer has complaints, the funds are held by the platform, until such a time when a resolution is reached.

However, with eCRATER not collecting funds, it becomes difficult for them to force the Seller to ensure delivery or resolution of any arising issue. However, eCRATER does say that there are situations where they may issue refunds. In our opinion, banking on eCRATER’s refunds is not wise. You’ll be better served by the Buyer Protection of your payment processor.

If you do not receive delivery of your product, or get delivered something that is overwhelmingly unsatisfactory, the first thing is to directly contact the Seller. If a resolution is not reached, you can then contact eCRATER. Contacting eCRATER is only possible, 14 days from the date of order placement.

The eCRATER’s promise is that when you contact them, they “will attempt to refund the transaction”. We don’t know if it’s just us, but that statement does not inspire any confidence about getting back your money. Also, in its answer to whether eCRATER offers buyer protection, it says that “Buyer Protection services would be offered by your respective payment processor if available”.

Don’t bank on eCRATER to help you get your money back if you do not receive delivery of your order, or get delivered worthless items. While you should dutifully contact the seller first, and then eCRATER later, you should also file a dispute with your payment processor. Know that there are windows for filing the dispute, so don’t let the Seller or the platform string you along until the window closes.

Buying Pros

• A humongous range of products
• Prices of listed items are relatively low
• Registration is not required to make purchases
• Product description page holds customers’ reviews about the Seller
• Many Sellers ship products worldwide
• Able to get reduced shipping rate for each additional item when buying multiple items from one Seller

Buying Cons

• Does not offer a buyer protection

Complaints

We know that it is impossible for a platform to be free of complaints. However, the ideal platform should not be drowned by complaints; rather, complaints will be few and far in between and drowned by positive reviews. Thus the volume and frequency of complaints can help to gauge how well a platform is performing.

In this section, we look at the independent customers’ review platforms to know what persons who have used eCRATER as Buyers and Sellers are saying about it. At best, eCRATER has mixed ratings. For example, its average rating is high (4.4/ 5) in Trustpilot; it is average (2.4/ 5) in Sitejabber; and it is poor (1/ 10) in Reseller Ratings. Also, in each platform, you’ll find users ranging from highly satisfied to highly pissed.

Buyers Complaints

The buyers’ complaints have one theme – scammed in eCRATER, and Customer Service did nothing to help. The being “scammed” is not receiving delivery of items, or getting something that’s overwhelmingly unsatisfactory. For example:

• Aleia in Trustpilot says “item never shipped, the seller does not communicate, ecrater does not refund” The review continued “I bought a skincare item and never got any tracking, no product; filed a complaint with ecrater. They tried communicating with seller ion my behalf but seller again did not respond. Ecrater the suggested I file a resolution case with PayPal. I did and PayPal refunded me as they could see that seller again was not answering to resolution case…”
• Tobi Q in Sitejabber says “If there was a choice of a triple zero (000) I would give them that” the review continued “I ordered something through this [site], the company name was macgenius. They hit my bank account that’s sure. Didn’t receive s***, this place is a total f*** scam job. Shouldn’t even be allowed to be on the internet. I think I’m going to call the FTC and let them know a few things”

There are many such reviews of Buyers not getting their items, getting some poor imitation of what was ordered, or getting something entirely different. It wouldn’t hurt too much if you can simply process a refund. But the complaints reveal that the defaulting Sellers either blank off or give Buyers the runaround; such that the only hope of refunds is filing a dispute with the payment processor used.

Sites Similar to eCRATER

• Amazon
• AliExpress

Customer Support

The ideal platform should provide resources for assisting users with questions or complaints. eCRATER does this by offering self-help and contact-help resources. For self-help, the platform has an FAQ page which holds articles that answers many of the questions that users have asked in the past.

To aid navigation, these articles are grouped into three broad categories – General, Buying, and Selling. In each category, you’ll find section withholding articles that treat related questions. For example, “buying” is arranged into “before ordering” and “after ordering”; while Selling is arranged into “getting stared”, “managing your store”, and “administrative tool”.

For contact support; eCRATER provides an email service. Being that eCRATER is a marketplace; your first contact for anything will be with the Sellers. eCRATER allow for this contact from the product description page (pre-sale) and from the “Order” page (post-sale). When you have to contact eCRATER directly, you can send them a mail using an online contact form accessible from the “Contact” page of the website.

Contact Channels are not enough; you’ll also want a swift response. The customers’ reviews suggest that eCRATER does relatively well in its response times. However, while eCRATER does well to respond to customers and to reach out to the Sellers, the assistance it offers is limited by its operating model. Thus, many times, it’ll advise you to file with your payment processor if you need your money back.

Conclusion

If you have a business and will want to take your business online, eCRATER’s web store building service is definitely a fine solution. With eCRATER, you don’t need any website building skills; more importantly, you don’t need any money.

But you’ll have your store live in minutes, with its unique URL to advertise it. More so, the customizable options that eCRATER offers are impressive. Apart from choosing free templates, changing the color scheme and adding logs, you can also add sections like about, terms, FAQ, and more.

eCRATER’s other function is a marketplace where buyers and sellers come to buy and sell. The best part of using eCRATER is that it can be used free of charge all the way. Where you drive all your sales, you’ll not pay any commissions to eCRATER. However, where eCRATER drives sales to you through the marketplace there’s a commission payment; but this is relatively small (only 2.9% of item’s price).

As a buyer, it is relatively easy to buy using eCRATER; you don’t even need to register to make a purchase. You’ll find that it features a humongous range of items; there’s virtually nothing you cannot buy in eCRATER, from physical product to electronic products, from real estate to services and more.

More so, you’ll find that pricing is relatively fine. Many products in the platform are listed at unbelievably low prices.

However, because eCRATER is a marketplace, while it is a legit platform, it is not immune to the “scam Sellers” problem. Its operating model also does not help. It’s not known for strictness in screening Sellers; it’s super-easy to use; and there is no in-house Buyer Protection. Thus, when buying using eCRATER, you have to know to tell a legit Seller from the scammer.

If you’re successful in that, you’ll get a satisfying buying experience; but if you fail and fall for the scammers in the platform, it’ll be a regrettable experience.