Ebay Vs Amazon Vs Own Site

Abbymoo

I've been selling dropship items, with a reasonable amount of success, via my own website. However I'm wondering if the exposure on Amazon would be greater and also allow me less time doing SEO work.


I've used eBay in the past but it seems to have gone downhill a lot in recent times. If you've sold via the above platforms which did you find brought better results?


If you don't mind sharing your thoughts !

soolin

I would caution against drop shipping on Amazon as they do expect things posted within 2 days and you might not be able to guarantee that. Although as long as your item is in the Amazon catalogue then it won't cost you to list so it might be worth a try, if it isn't in their catalogue then you will have to become a pro merchant to list a new catalogue item and that will cost you £28.50 a month. Overall the fees can be pricey as well.

Ebay fees can be a little lower, but you will have to pay to list but again might run into problems if your shipping is slow, you must also make it clear you do not hold the stock yourself.

googler

You can SEO your own site until you drop, but there's little or no chance that will get you the visitor traffic that eBay and/or Amazon do.

Unless your site has a USP that you haven't mentioned ... ?

c.ford

The problem with setting up a store on Amazon or EBay is that you run the risk of cheapening your brand. People see Amazon and EBay as generally a place to shop for cheap goods. I generally associate cheap goods as being of inferior quality. Look at the big retailers and emulate what they do.

soolin

c.ford wrote: »

The problem with setting up a store on Amazon or EBay is that you run the risk of cheapening your brand. People see Amazon and EBay as generally a place to shop for cheap goods. I generally associate cheap goods as being of inferior quality. Look at the big retailers and emulate what they do.

I think you'll find a lot of big retailers now sell on eBay and Amazon....

Kayalana99

c.ford wrote: »

The problem with setting up a store on Amazon or EBay is that you run the risk of cheapening your brand. People see Amazon and EBay as generally a place to shop for cheap goods. I generally associate cheap goods as being of inferior quality. Look at the big retailers and emulate what they do.

I agree with some of this, but on the contray I sell top quality goods but my prices are set to be competitive - they are a lot lower then what I would sell offline if I hadn't of had an eBay shop. I often get comments on how cheap my products are - but I just don't think it's fair to charge someone more then eBay when they take a 15% cut including paypal.... esp since most people know I run an eBay shop and could see themselves.

bf4player

Dropping shipping is likely to become more difficult on ebay as they are bringing in a defect rate as a measurement come autumn.

However if you have the time, i don't see why you shouldn't give it a go.

I think for me it would come down to how reliable my dropshipper was. If you've had a good history with them and they have always delivered on well and items have stayed in stock. then it could work.

Maybe try ebay, if that works open on amazon, then if that works open on play

patman99

Don't forget that Amazon regularly check to see if you have an account elsewhere and will send you a warning email if they find you selling cheaper than you are on Amazon.

As Amazon have set P&P that gets added to your item selling price when you sell an item, you can quite easily sell something for 1p and still make more than you would by selling it for £4 on ebay.

Don't forget Ebid. It costs nothing to list (or sell) once you have paid for the 'Seller+ account package'. I quite often find that stuff that sells low on ebay sells for more on Ebid. It really depends on your product line.

bf4player

patman99 wrote: »

Don't forget that Amazon regularly check to see if you have an account elsewhere and will send you a warning email if they find you selling cheaper than you are on Amazon.

Sorry if i'm wrong about this but i believe they dropped this policy a couple of months back?

I've not personally sold on ebid. Never been sure if it's worth the time to put all my listings on there?

soolin

patman99 wrote: »

Don't forget that Amazon regularly check to see if you have an account elsewhere and will send you a warning email if they find you selling cheaper than you are on Amazon.

As Amazon have set P&P that gets added to your item selling price when you sell an item, you can quite easily sell something for 1p and still make more than you would by selling it for £4 on ebay.
.

I agree that the prices net of fees are the ones to take into account not just the listing price when comparing Amazon and Ebay. However, as per bf4player says the requirement that Amazon expect you not to list cheaper elsewhere has been dropped.

bf4player wrote: »

Sorry if i'm wrong about this but i believe they dropped this policy a couple of months back?

I've not personally sold on ebid. Never been sure if it's worth the time to put all my listings on there?

Patman has great faith in ebid, but I think it is an absolute waste of time. I have been registered there for about 10 years and have not even covered my seller lifetime payment. However, it is free to do a basic listing and who knows, at some point they may well get a buyer or two. I would caution against taking out any paid subscription though until you know your item actually sells.

mimilovell

My mate use to sell on ebay and amazon, until she decided to pack it in as it wasnt worth it anymore to operate from the UK. She had to sell off her house and has now gone back to China with her family and operate from there.

This because Ebay and Amazon doesnt care about protecting your business and right, they only want to make their buyers happy. Also the policies they release make it a breading ground for thieves to buy from.

Apparently, ebay is just a race to the bottom. Chinese manufactueres and sellers look on there to see what their product is worth on ebay, and then open up the own ebay site and undercut everyone until they are only sellers of that item. With them paying 0% import tax because they declare everything as a gift to their customers, the customers come back to them because its cheap. You on the other hand, operation from the UK have overheads and need to pay tax when the goods arrived to you. Also because a lot of ebay sellers dont want to pay to return shipping items back to the China, they just buy from you and swop the goods. When I popped around for dinner, I use to see her UV marking all her goods, but when the goods came back there was no longer a UV mark on it, and the item has been obviously used. When she told ebay, they said because they didnt send or receive the goods, they cant prove that she did mark the goods and according to buyers they always say they sent it back in origianl condition. Even though she takes picturs of the condition the goods were sent back in. Ebay will always side with the buyer. I use to buy from ebay but now every time I look, the goods are said to be in the UK but when you look at the bottom of page the registere address is outside of the UK. I never use to look at the address before, this was until I brought Andriod Tablet, it arrived by RM within days. It was great, until I opened the box and found the button was dodgy. I then found that the seller ebay account was registered to some eastern European country and for me to send it back to their country would cost a lot, and also RM only tells you that the item has been delivered and there is no signiture. And ebay needs a signiture to prove the seller has received the goods back. So I kept asking the seller for the UK address for me to send the item back, he kept on diverting the quesiton. After a month the case was closed and ebay said I couldnt reopen the case, and that I should have escalated the case. But even if I did, they said the registered address is outside of the UK, and the sellers hasnt said on their terms and conditions where to send the returns goods to. So even if I did esclate the case, I would be expected to send the goods back to the seller at his registered address. After that I dont use ebay anymore, but I do agree to support small UK businesses. If I do find something I want on ebay, I just call/email the seller to see if they have website I can buy from, and pay by credit card.