I have been selling online for years using eBay and Amazon, but it wasn't until a few months ago until I found SidelineSwap. SidelineSwap is an online Ecommerce website that specializes in the sale of sports equipment, new and used. The website, created in 2012, offers a new platform to sell sports equipment in a way eBay, Amazon, and other websites can't.
I was first attracted to the website because of the price that people were getting for used lacrosse equipment when compared to eBay. Being a lacrosse player, I go through equipment all the time due it breaking, wearing out, or just getting old. Because of this I have extra equipment that is still usable sitting around my house and inside of my lacrosse bag. After viewing the website and signing up, which is a relatively simple process, I put my first item up for sale.
The first item I put up for sale was an STX Proton Power, an old head that had been sitting around my house for a while. After I put up that head, I listed another lacrosse head, a white Nike CEO. After I put them up for sale I closed out of the SidelineSwap app and continued on with my day. In about 5 hours I had about 3 messages for my Nike CEO asking for a "trade". What trading means is that you view the person requesting to trades locker (another word for profile page) and find something they have up for sale, and you send them your item and they send you the item you wanted. No money is exchanged, just physical goods. While this is a good feature, it gets repetitive very fast. What I mean by that is that if you have an in demand item up, people will be trying to get you to trade for something in their locker, and a lot of the time the items in their locker are complete garbage. Basically the trade feature is a great idea but gets very old, very fast.
After a few days and a lot of traffic I knew I had the white Nike CEO lacrosse head up for about $15 higher than market value. As I wanted to get rid of the head quickly, I reduced the price about $10 and it sold in about 10 hours. After the buyer paid I hit the "print label" button and printed the label. However, this is not as easy of a process as eBay. On eBay printing a shipping label is a pretty straightforward process that ends with a screen that allows you to print the label to your computer. SidelineSwap does not have that feature, instead, it makes you print the internet webpage and then send it to your printer. While not a huge deal it certainly rubbed me the wrong way after doing it for the first time.
After I packaged and shipped the head out the door, I waited 48 hours and the buyer accepted the package and I had my money. If you are going to sell on SidelineSwap know that they take 12% of the final purchase price. Meaning if you sell a $100 item, you walk away with $88. This is lower than eBay fees, as eBay charges 13% of the final purchase price. Another thing to keep in mind is that the money is not immediately available after the sale, you have to wait for the buyer to accept the item or wait 48 hours after the item has arrived at the buyers doorstep. As for the other lacrosse head I had listed, I let it sit for a few months as it didn't get too much attention because it was an older head. But after about 2 months the head did eventually sell and I shipped it out without difficulty.
SidelineSwap does have other categories besides lacrosse equipment. The categories they offer are Lacrosse, Baseball, Hockey, Skiing, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Football, Basketball, Softball, Snowboarding, Apparel,Electronics, Field Hockey, Figure Skating, Fitness, Motocross, Running, Skateboarding, Sneakers, Tennis & Racquet Sports, Women's Lacrosse, and Other. Don't let the amount of categories fool you, many of them do not generate many sales due to lack of eyeballs viewing them. SidelineSwap's best selling category is lacrosse, and that's what they are known for. Recently however SidelineSwap has been making a big push to expand there sales in categories like Snowboarding, skateboarding, and baseball to name a few. So while you may not have as many eyeballs viewing your item as on eBay, you wont have as much competition either. Lastly, Somethings to be aware about when using SidelineSwap for the first time. The pictures you see on the website are far from professionally done, and that's okay. You can get yourself a real advantage if you take nice pictures that show off your item in a flattering way. The last thing to be aware of is that the camera option on the SidelineSwap app is absolutely awful. When you take a picture it has a designated crop area that only appears after you have taken a picture, cropping out some of your items entirely. You will see what I mean once you use it but it is very annoying at first.
SidelineSwap is going in the right direction, but hasn't hit its sweet spot just yet. The website has been successful up to this point because of it's lacrosse niche, but needs to expand to become relevant. I have had a good experience using the website to sell my old lacrosse gear and have gotten better prices on SidelineSwap than on eBay. And while there is much to improve upon, I can definitely say that if you trying to sell sports equipment of any kind SidelineSwap would be my first destination.