Ebay Or Amazon? Which Is Best For Sellers?
Ebay Or Amazon? Which Is Best For Sellers?
Should you sell on eBay or Amazon? If youre a small ecommerce company which channel is best? Its a question more and more businesses are thinking about these days and theres no easy answer. However based on our many interviews with eBay PowerSellers as well as with folks at Amazon we can offer some guidance.
If youre just getting started and looking to build your brand handsdown eBay is the winner. The challenge for Amazon sellers is that its difficult to separate yourself from all the other thirdparty sellers and all told there are over a million of these. Pretty much they all look the same on Amazon. Also theres no simple way to build a customer list for email marketing purposes. While on eBay you can ask customers to optin to receive your newsletter if you use a thirdparty checkout theres no way to do that on Amazon.
Now Amazon is not without its advantages. PowerSellers tell us and our own experience has shown us that Amazon customers pay more on average than eBay customers do. They are also less work to deal with. Let me explain. Because of the cloud of fraud that hangs over eBay whether deserved or not a lot of buyers build in a discount to account for this possibility. Amazon however has a strong AZ guarantee in place for buyers and therefore the perception is that fraud is much less of a concern. And because customers are more comfortable they wont necessarily feel the need to test you as some eBay buyers do and communicate with you regularly during a transaction to make sure youre legitimate. Obviously responding to emails like these eats up a lot of valuable time!
But we want to caution eBay sellers not to move off eBay too quickly. A lot of people get started on eBay but then move to other channels such as Amazon or even their own websites before they are ready. You first must establish yourself as an eecommerce brand. Build a customer list thats loyal to YOU and not eBay. When youve done that you and youre consistently grossing say 5000 per month then its time to venture beyond eBay. But even then you may want to keep an eBay presence if for no other reason then to drive folks to your website.
No matter what be prepared to work hard but also reap the many benefits that come from working for yourself. Most people who do this wouldnt go back to the 95 world for anything.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Brad Schepp is the author of 14 books including the bestselling eBay book eBay PowerSeller Secrets. He has worked as an editor for several Fortune 500 companies including McGrawHill and Time Warner. He’s a graduate of Rutgers College.
Brad’s latest books are eBay PowerSeller Million Dollar Ideas and How eBay Really Works. The second edition of eBay PowerSeller Secrets will be out this November. You can order Brad’s books through the website he shares with his lovely wife and coauthor Deb www.bradanddeb.com or through retailers such as Amazon.
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