eBay and Amazon are both highly successful selling platforms, differences in operation, shopping experiences, and payments can leave sellers confused about which one they'd prefer to use.
Need help deciding whether to sell on eBay, Amazon, or both? Here are ten reasons to choose Amazon over eBay for selling.
- You like elegance and simplicity. In comparison to Amazon's
selling platform, eBay's is a disorganized melee. Imposing order and
regularity is up to you as a seller. You have to work with two platforms,
eBay and PayPal, write your own
item descriptions, shoot your own
photos, know eBay's
rules or risk being
suspended, arrange for your own
fulfillment or shipping,
and manage your listings and
fees.
In short, selling on eBay is a very involved, often complex, and usually
ongoing process. On Amazon, once you've read through the documentation and
found your niche, you can essentially "set it and forget it."
- You want to get the absolute best price for your items. The
average selling price (ASP) on Amazon is simply higher for
most similar items, in
particular for items sold using Amazon fulfillment (since they become
available to Amazon Prime customers). This is because eBay's shoppers tend
to look for
savings or for
uniqueness, while Amazon's buyers are looking for
convenience without regard to price or and without much regard for the differences between you and your
competition.
- You're a small seller and want better visibility. When you're
just starting out on eBay, you can be buried at the end of search results,
eclipsed by
top-rated sellers and those with higher
feedback thanks to the
best match search system. On Amazon, when buyers look for an item, the
sellers they're shown are rotated, so that even new sellers get exposure.
Since Amazon buyers aren't typically evaluating sellers as they buy, you're
virtually guaranteed sales if an item is selling on Amazon.
- You don't want the fulfillment hassle. On eBay, it's up to you to
see that a buyer gets what they paid for. This means either that you build
and maintain relationships with fulfillment partner(s) or that you handle
fulfillment (i.e. inventory,
packing, and shipping) on your own. On Amazon,
you can just send everything to Amazon, at no cost, and let them sort out
the delivery whenever someone makes a purchase—while at the same time
gaining lucrative Prime buyers who buy on convenience, not cost.
- Your margins are tight and you need to minimize fees. You pay nothing to "list" items on Amazon, and in many cases less than you do on eBay when an item actually sells, though this isn't true in all cases. On eBay, since you pay to create listings, there's an up-front cost involved in keeping an inventory on sale or an eBay store open, and the fee structure is somewhat more complex.
After reading this list some may be ready to hop on over to Amazon already, but others may prefer to hear just a little bit more before taking the plunge into the competing selling environment. Read on for more reasons why Amazon might be more your cup of tea.
