eBay Vs Amazon – Best Platform to Sell Online in 2021?


Where should I sell Amazon or eBay? To be honest, it isn’t very easy to give a precise answer to this query.

Choosing a platform to sell online is highly dependent on three major factors.

•    Type of the item you are selling

•    Type of account you own

•    How do you ship the orders

On this basis, you select the platform best platform to start your ecommerce business.

To find a productive answer, we have done some calculations on some factors and evaluate both the ecommerce marketplace based on those factors to find out an unbiased answer of eBay vs. Amazon.

Following are factors on which you are going to evaluate Amazon and eBay.

Here is our take on eBay vs Amazon. Get… set… sell!

eBay vs Amazon: Seller Fees

One of the primary concern of every online seller is the cost that seller needs to pay to enter in an ecommerce business.

Selling on eBay or Selling on Amazon, which one is less expensive to sell? That is the primary concern of every online seller.

I know this research has been done a lot of time already, and many of you have already known. Nonetheless, we will sort this out again for our overall calculation.

eBay Fees:

•    FVF (Final Value Fees) – 10%

•    Listing Fee – $0.3

•    Closing Fee – None

•    Paypal Fee – 2.9% + $0.3 flat rate

Amazon Fees:

•    FVF/Referral Fees – 15%

•    Listing Fee – $0.99

•    Closing Fee – $1.80

To compare both platform prices, we have decided to compare the free account of both ecommerce marketplace.

There is an incredible fee comparison between eBay and Amazon free membership done by Wheretosellonline.

We have a clear winner here, eBay gets an average of 5% more profit than Amazon.

 

eBay vs Amazon: Market size

Amazon is the retail market king, with over 310 million active users worldwide, while eBay has 180 million users.  Amazon is almost 1.5x the market of eBay, which is a massive difference for comparison.

With this market size, Amazon gains enormous leads in revenue that even outrank Walmart and becomes the world’s most significant retail sector.

The annual net revenue of 2018 was over $232 billion, whereas eBay had revenue of $10.7 billion in 2018. That is almost 20x times the revenue of eBay.

So there is no explanation required to tell how much bigger Amazon is in terms of market size. Bigger market.

 

eBay vs Amazon: Product Quality

There is a popular opinion for Amazon and eBay that is – if you want to buy a new item, you should go to Amazon, and if you want the secondhand/used item, you should go to eBay.

However, eBay claimed that 81% of the item listed on eBay are brand new, and around 3 million new products are listed every day on eBay USA.

Because of the eBay auction model, it is considered the best market to sell the used item. That is why most of the consumer base comes to eBay are in search of used product.

The buyer on eBay is more concerned about product quality than they are on Amazon. They prefer to buy from a seller with a feedback score of 100 and above on eBay. On the other hand, on Amazon, the buyer shows his trust in the product, making it much easier for sellers to do the business smoothly.

 

eBay vs Amazon: Customer-Centric – Trust

The customer-centric market easily gains the trust of their audience, making it much easier for the sellers to build their potential target audience that assures their survival in the long run.

To trust the gain of a customer is much easier for an Amazon seller than for an eBay seller, and the major reason for that is the customer-centric approach of Amazon.

Let’s understand with an example,

Assume yourself as a customer; where would you prefer to buy? – A place where you can return your purchased item and get amazing after-sales services or a place that does not have after-sales service?

One of the significant reasons for Amazon having such a massive audience is the trust they have managed to gain by their customer support service, special thanks to the A-Z guarantee.

However, it could be sometimes become a hassle for the seller to keep the high expectation for the buyer.

Although eBay lets the buyer decide to make their return policy but still, for a buyer, it’s tough to get the return or refund.

Amazon is a sure shot winner to gain the customer trust with excellent customer support service.

 

eBay vs Amazon: Services – Shipment

Both the platform provides the best possible services to make the seller’s function effective. In the ecommerce business, the most prominent service for any buyer or seller could only be of worldwide shipment.

eBay gives the facility of the Global Shipping Program. In this service, the sellers have to pack and ship their packages to the Global shipping center in Kentucky, and then eBay ships it further globally. Otherwise, you ship the product by yourself.

Amazon FBA program is a much more feasible and easier service where sellers only have to deliver the products to Amazon fulfillment centers. From there, Amazon takes charge of storage, picking, packaging, shipping, and customer support service.

Amazon charged some fees against their services, but it provides a lot of easement and saves a lot of time for your business.

 

eBay vs Amazon: Global Selling

International exposure is a major plus point when it comes to selling online.

Amazon is available in 12 global marketplaces across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Amazon customers span 180+ countries, with 14 dedicated international website domain.

Moreover, about 33% of Amazon’s sales were reported from outside North America in 2016.

eBay is leading the international market reach with 25 international domain websites across Asia, Europe, Australia, North and South America.

In 2016, about 62% of eBay sales came from international markets.

eBay has more international reach and scope, while Amazon is more focused on the local (USA) market.

 

eBay vs Amazon: Branding

Make the ecommerce a brand is the utter wish of every online seller.

Amazon is a great marketplace to give you store exposure to millions of buyer. Nonetheless, building a brand on Amazon is not that simple. Through the FBA program and customer services, Amazon makes the customer feel that they are the customer of Amazon, not yours.

eBay sellers get opportunities to get more brand exposure. The help of personalized HTML coding and tools that eBay offers to its seller makes it easier to develop a unique eBay identity.

Related Article:
How to Make Money on Amazon in 2021?
Is eBay Safe?
Shopify vs Amazon
What to Sell on Amazon

eBay vs Amazon – Final Verdict

Well, Amazon proved to be a better place to sell online. However, that doesn’t mean you are obliged to choose Amazon as your marketplace to sell.

The decision of eBay vs Amazon is completely based on your priorities, type of business, and basic business objectives that you want to achieve from your online store.

To make it easy for you to select between Amazon and eBay, here are some factors on which you can decide.

Why Amazon?

If you want a larger marketplace with reasonable fees and want smooth functions and easement, then you should go for Amazon.

Why eBay?

If you are willing to get some serious brand exposure of your online store, get access to the international market, and can handle all the hassle of storage, packaging, and shipping yourself, then eBay is a great place for your business.

If you find out some more factors that I should consider in eBay vs Amazon, then feel free to tell your opinion in the comments.

Now, you tell us in the comments below what ecommerce marketplace you prefer and why?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bilal Uddin

Bilal is a passionate content creator and digital marketing enthusiast who loves to find hacks and creative ways to produce prolific outcomes in strategizing content. Bilal is also an avid reader who loves to read mysteries in his free time.

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