Etsy or EBay?

Strangey18

I am thinking of trying to generate additional income by selling my makes on either EBay or Etsy - what would others recommend? I currently make wax melts and dog bandanas and hair scrunchies and would love to hear from anyone who is currently selling their makes - thank you!

XzavierWalnut

I sell on both and the charges are roughly the same. Main difference is Etsy charge $0.20 per listing which lasts for 3 months. I sell approximately 40 items on Etsy and 230 on Ebay. I get a lot of likes on Etsy but only had 16 sales in 2023 whereas over 100 on Ebay.
Etsy only allow 9 pictures which is probably enough.
With both of them it takes time to build up positive feedback which helps to make future sales.

DullGreyGuy

Strangey18 said:

I am thinking of trying to generate additional income by selling my makes on either EBay or Etsy - what would others recommend? I currently make wax melts and dog bandanas and hair scrunchies and would love to hear from anyone who is currently selling their makes - thank you!

Any reason not to list on both?

Our experience is from several years ago and Etsy feels to have changed since then... even their adverts now focus on being able to buy cheap things rather than handmade or other more positive things. When we were selling we advertised on both but had much more success on Etsy once having gotten over the hurdle of those first dozen sales. The one downside was that once we'd started making sales (crocheted items using locally sourced natural yarns etc) you'd quickly see others copy the design but in synthetic materials selling at a 1/4 the price. 

Etsy used to have people that would pay a premium for handmade, made in the UK, organic materials etc and so sales were inevitably impacted but still made a reasonable number a month. eBay always seemed more focused on the price and as soon as a design was copied the few sales we had been getting would almost instantly stop. 

Our problem was that as the sales grew so did the number of enquiries, trips to the post office etc and there was no economies of scale. Making as a hobby was very different to being a 1 person production line and if you were to really sit down and work out the total cost of each sale and the amount of hours put in you'd be lucky to be earning a couple of pounds an hour. Did consider going "exclusive", making only in spare time and selling 2-3 items a month at triple the price so you actually maybe made minimum wage but it decided against it so closed it down. 

prowla

As a buyer of various things, I don't think I've ever found what I wanted on etsy.

(That said, I wouldn't be in the market for those particular items anyway.)

soolin

XzavierWalnut said:

I sell on both and the charges are roughly the same. Main difference is Etsy charge $0.20 per listing which lasts for 3 months. I sell approximately 40 items on Etsy and 230 on Ebay. I get a lot of likes on Etsy but only had 16 sales in 2023 whereas over 100 on Ebay.
Etsy only allow 9 pictures which is probably enough.
With both of them it takes time to build up positive feedback which helps to make future sales.

When selling as a business, which anyone making to sell is, then eBay charge 25p a listing and that lasts for 30 days.