Amazon vs eBay: What Is Better to sell on amazon or eBay to make more money in 2023
So, you have decided to sell goods using the dropshipping system, but you still have little idea why Amazon.com is better than eBay. Here’s your answer: eBay comes for the price, and Amazon.com comes for the quality. Using eBay or Amazon is simpler than yesterday’s sales, whether you’re listing products while at home in your jammies, getting the money instantly, or delivering packages. But which large e-commerce site is best? Today we will talk about What Is Better to sell on amazon or eBay. So, let’s find out this…
About eBay:
eBay is an online auction site. Its purpose is to sell goods between people. Due to the growth in popularity, manufacturers of goods have appeared on eBay, and many online stores, for which the site has become a good place to sell. eBay is a marketplace where large and medium-sized businesses, as well as ordinary people, offer their goods to everyone and everything. And with the purchase of PayPal, eBay has revolutionized the electronic payment industry, which has contributed to the even greater popularization of such commercial platforms.
eBay is a place where buyers find sellers, while sellers send goods to their buyers themselves, and the marketplace has nothing to do with this product. True, the company recently launched a fulfillment service, but only for its large clients.
But let’s focus on the part of eBay that compares to Amazon – the Marketplace. Back in its heyday, eBay used to charge users a listing fee based on the item’s initial bid, and after the sale, the final price.
Currently, eBay offers a few free listings to every seller. Sadly, eBay still applies a final pricing fee. eBay now levies a flat final value fee of 10% of the selling price, simplifying final value commission calculations.
eBay offers membership plans for electrical sellers that, for a monthly charge, give them access to a variety of free listings, a reduced listing fee for going over their quota, and a less streamlined but more affordable price range.
Sellers have the option of updating their listings (better positioning in search results, more photos, etc.) or offering their products at a fixed price in addition to the marketplace. The same fees apply to fixed-price listings as to auction listings.
About Amazon:
Amazon is similar to eBay in that you enter a very large market that many buyers trust, a huge customer base is achieved through higher commissions and more competition.
Twenty to thirty different categories are available for retailers to put their goods in, and Amazon sets and collects shipping fees for BMDV sellers. These predetermined delivery costs are excellent for customers who are aware that when purchasing BMDV products on Amazon, the final cost may be quickly determined without having to check each seller’s shipping costs.
In 1997, Amazon shares went public at a price of $18 per share, while eBay did so a year later. If $1,000 worth of Amazon shares could be purchased just after the IPO, they could currently be sold for $2.1 million. Shares of eBay would currently be worth no more than $352,000 if purchased for the same $1,000 following the IPO.
By simply entering the item’s UPC or SKU, Amazon enables people who sell products that are already listed on the website to list their products. As the necessary data has already been submitted by Amazon staff, this procedure cuts down on the seller’s preparation time. Periodic bank transfers are used to make payments to sellers, who are also covered by Amazon’s fraud protection service.
What Is Better to Sell on Amazon or eBay?
Both companies have become kings in the market, almost monopolizing it over the years of their existence, however, the American Amazon is worth more. Let’s take a look at why this happened and why Amazon remains a better investment in e-commerce overall than eBay.
Sales and Competition:
BuyBox on the Amazon.com marketplace allows you to keep your competitors in check and keep their prices within a few dollars maximum. What’s more, knowingly overpricing may result in you receiving an email from Amazon stating that the item can’t be listed due to a listing error.
As you can see, the photo shows an item in the BuyBox, which is on sale for a little more than $10 (the starting price is about $13). At the same time, three third-party sellers (on the right in the picture) are selling the same item for $14.38, $14.39, and $14.99.
Fees:
Let’s get back to the question of price. In terms of competition, the price on eBay is a reason to be sad, but in terms of cheapness, the price on eBay is a reason to rejoice.
Amazon has a multi-step process to create a seller account. Users automatically sign up for a professional account and fulfill Amazon orders. The account information is entered based on the existing user account (if any). Finally, there is the tax information section.
The only actions needed for eBay sellers are creating an account (or using an existing one) and starting to sell. Funding a bank account takes a little more effort. Unlike Amazon users, who normally receive payment by direct bank transfer, eBay users often receive payment via PayPal.
As you can see, the only pricey items on eBay are watches; otherwise, Amazon.com’s prices for similar items are far higher. You can’t dispute it since eBay is winning here.
Traffic:
Customer traffic on Amazon.com is much higher than on eBay. eBay is a wide valley for sellers: if you have dried hammerhead fish gills, there is always a chance that there will be a collector for your products. On Amazon.com, they go mostly not to sell, but to buy for 188 million people who visit the marketplace every month, there are only 2 million sellers. What does such cool customer service lead to? Moreover, out of 188 million buyers, 80 million visitors make a real purchase every month.
So, monthly Amazon. com is visited by 188 million people. This is 21 million more than the total number of eBay customers. Total on Amazon. com has 304 million registered buyers.
Buying experience:
The winner is undeniably Amazon.com. When putting up a product for sale, whether it is a women’s umbrella or a new gadget, you know in advance how much you will spend – and how much you will earn. If you are dropshipping, you already know how much to provide the supplier, how much the marketplace will charge in commission, and how much profit you will make. When selling in Private Label, in the same way, you know the cost of storing the goods in the Amazon warehouse, and the amount of the commission – and you can calculate the future income from the sale of one unit of the product, subtracting the costs from the price of the goods.
You never know how much money you’ll make on eBay; if the profit from the sale of a one-of-a-kind vase may match the price of your apartment, it is improbable that you will be able to make much money on mass-produced goods. You can’t tell, in any case. Although it is a win-win lottery, the total amount of wins won’t be known until the very end.
Customer Support:
In 2006, the issuer launched the Amazon Web Services cloud service. Now, this segment brings the trading platform most of its profits. Amazon uses this money to subsidize its low-margin online marketplaces, brick-and-mortar stores, and the Prime ecosystem.
At the same time, eBay does not offer its customers any subscription, it does not have a cloud service that would support the expansion of the e-commerce ecosystem. That’s why Amazon continues to expand, while eBay seems to have lost momentum and is treading water.
Payment Method:
Since eBay bought PayPal, there are no other payment methods for online auctions. Whether you are the owner of a gold card three times in several countries of the world, “No PayPal – No party”. As a result, there are a lot of problems for residents of third countries, including account blocking, conversion in several stages, inability to withdraw funds, etc.
Amazon.com is more loyal in this case: anything but PayPal. Here is a list of allowed cards for paying for goods:
Verdict:
What Is Better to sell on amazon or eBay is really difficult to answer this question. Both sites are more than suitable for online shopping. Here you really want to consider your shopping inclinations and the particular items that you need to buy. The most universal advice is to compare prices for a particular product on eBay and Amazon, look at the possibility of direct international delivery or delivery through mail forwarders, and only after that make a decision on a purchase on a particular site.
Whether you’re selling on eBay or Amazon, research is key. Given the various pricing philosophies employed by each business, an item that can be offered for a low price on Amazon may fetch a high commission from eBay. For others, the higher price may be justified by the customer service received and the reach of a certain audience.