Selling products online has been more and more popular for both companies and individuals. Two of the most prominent platforms for online shopping, eBay and Amazon may be your first choices. Yet, they are not alike in many perspectives and have different reputations. When selling products online, here are some factors that can help you decide whether you should reach out to the market by Amazon or eBay.
(Note: to read the condensed version of the article, scroll down to the bottom of the page.)
- Prospective Buyers
Professor Penina Wiesman from Fordham University Lincoln Center pointed out that people have developed a routine going to certain places for certain products. She said,”If I want to buy clothes, I probably won’t choose Amazon or eBay but go to a clothing store; if I want to buy books, I will go to Amazon. Also, If I want to buy at the auction, I will turn to eBay. It’s all about what I, as a customer, want.” Some different features of eBay and Amazon in terms of buyers’ choices are that, firstly eBay is mostly for “used products,” while Amazon mostly for “new products”; secondly, eBay has more active international users than Amazon, while Amazon’s market is more domestic.
2. Buyers’ Impression of two sites
Professor Wiesman pointed out that people may have trust issues towards eBay. She used her mother as an example, “My mom feels like shopping on eBay is like ‘buying things from a stranger’s basement’ because of her stereotypical impression of ‘auction products’.” In this case, Amazon has its own warehouse, a saying that gives out a feeling of quality, uniformity, and safety of cooperation. What should be noticed is that such impression may tight most likely to the Amazon products directly sold by Amazon, not by third-party sellers. In other words, selling products on Amazon is competitive in a sense that you need to compete with Amazon.
3. Payment
eBay has its advantages at PayPal payment, which, according to Hill Media Group, makes people feel safer than credit card, while Amazon doesn’t.
4. Return Policy
Usually on board with the buyers, Amazon offers the full refund to buyers if the goods are “materially different” from what the seller describes, which is an appealing feature for customers. As for eBay, it is rather time-consuming to communicate with your buyers and figure out the best way to return the products, lest they leave some harsh comments.
5. Feedback
Speaking of comments, it is the nightmare for eBay sellers (yet sweet dream for buyers). Feedback carries great weight in the eBay community so much so that if your product has received some negative comments, it will not be on the top of the page, which is less noticeable and thus reduce your selling rates. If you have a dedicated website, you can gain ranking through good and ethical SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization, which can help you increase your visibility in a search engine’s unpaid result page (SERP). The more often a website appears on the first page, the higher the frequency of visit to the site will be. GVATE(New York City SEO and Online Marketing company) is on the first page of Google Search engine because of our unrivaled SEO knowledge and skills. Reach out to us for a free SEO consultation!
6. Interaction
Undoubtedly, the interactions between sellers and buyers are more active on eBay. That being said, you need to spend more time on eBay than on Amazon to communicate and transact with your customers.
7. Shipping
Amazon shipping is standard. eBay sellers can decide it themselves. However, some sellers on eBay may lower the default prices and increase the shipping charges, which can be misleading to the buyers.
8. Brower Issue
Amazon has problem adapting to Safari and Internet Explorer, while eBay has not yet found to have any browser issue.
9. Taxes
Amazon sellers usually add the sales tax into the price of their products. eBay, on the other hand, collects the tax additionally.
Generally, eBay and Amazon have their own specials and disadvantages. There is no one measurement or standard to decide which one is better than the other. However, the better option is the one that suits your marketing goal and your product offering.
[Nine points that you should consider before you choose to sell products on eBay or Amazon: prospective buyers, buyers’ impression of the two sites, payment, return policy, feedback, interaction, shipping, browser issue, and taxes. eBay is not necessarily better than Amazon and vice versa, but they have their own specials and weakness]-Condensed version of this article