eBay vs Amazon: Which one is profitable?
eBay vs Amazon: Which one is profitable?
Selling in any online marketplace is profitable as long as you have understood every nitty-gritty of the selling process. Nowadays, eCommerce sellers have an array of options to sell their products. Undoubtedly, Amazon and eBay are two of the best marketplaces as Amazon and eBay users worldwide do their online purchases using these two platforms.
No matter whether you have started selling on eBay or Amazon you must have caught yourself in the questions such as Is eBay cheaper than Amazon? Or Should I sell on eBay?
Perhaps, it is quite challenging to decide where to sell and whether to sell or not. Before you jump to a conclusion, let us help you understand which one is profitable: eBay vs Amazon.
What is the Amazon site?
Amazon is a Seattle-based company which initially started as an online bookselling company. Amazon is an internet-based company that sells books, music, movies, housewares, electronics, toys, and many more.
What is eBay?
eBay is one of the oldest e-commerce marketplaces, unlike Amazon which doesn’t have products. Rather users list products for sale on which buyers bid during auctions. Anyone can sell anything they wish and people can buy. Later, send the product sold via mail.
Is eBay cheaper than Amazon?
Yes, selling on eBay is cheaper than selling on Amazon because Amazon charges more fees because of the profit margin. The standard Amazon charges are 15% per product whereas eBay charges 9.15% fees. On the contrary, eBay doesn’t charge any closing fee whereas Amazon charges closing fees on the sale of every product.
Is Amazon better than eBay?
If we compare these two prominent eCommerce platforms; eBay is less complicated as product listing, selling and receiving payment is quite easier than Amazon. Amazon takes about 14 days for transferring payments to a bank account.
Should I sell on eBay?
Selling on eBay is a good choice when you are selling a few products as listing your products won’t cost you much other than the work you need to do for listing.
When you sell products on eBay for instance for £20 and your profit margin is 30%, then you will earn £6.00 per sale. But if you want to make a decent profit, then you must sell in good volumes. But this is not the case with Amazon. This is why the fixed-price model works best for both platforms. It offers security and lets you predict and keep track of sales and profit which can be calculated using Asinwiser’s profitability calculator. Our profitability calculator estimates Amazon fees, profit, and ROI for large wholesale product lists rapidly and accurately. Inbound shipping, VAT, prep charge, and multi-pack are all backed by MFN and FBA fulfilment.
What are the payment methods that eBay and Amazon use?
eBay and Amazon use different payment methods. While eBay accepts payments through PayPal, credit, debit cards, cash and wire whereas Amazon has something similar to PayPal which is Amazon Pay and also accepts credit and debit cards.
Shipping Options for Amazon and eBay: Amazon vs eBay
Amazon shipping options
Amazon sellers are responsible for taking care of shipping which could be a huge deal and expensive too. But if you avail the benefit of Amazon FBA, then it will charge storage fees and saves you from the trouble of shipping products. When Amazon store your products in its inventory and sell products when the order is placed.
eBay shipping options
Whether sellers are shipping products on eBay or not; eBay trusted sellers can choose whether they want to offer a flat rate or calculated shipping which could be checked with the eBay price checker. Because when a product sells on eBay, sellers are solely responsible for packing and shipping the product.
Pros & Cons of Using Amazon vs. eBay
Here are the pros and cons of using both platforms.
Pros of selling on Amazon:
1. Lower fees
2. Buyer trust
3. More branding opportunities
4. Fulfilment services
5. Amazon Prime
6. Amazon reaches millions of potential customers.
7. Your products (when tagged) can show up under Amazon’s recommended products.
Cons of selling on Amazon:
1. More restricted categories
2. Extra FBA fees
3. More difficulties to list products
4. More competition
5. Amazon doesn’t allow you to grow your brand.
6. Your products may not have strong visibility in a digital ocean of products.
7. Amazon has high fees.
Selling on eBay pros and cons
Pros of selling on eBay:
1. Less competition
2. Customer loyalty
3. Fewer category restrictions
4. Easier to list
5. eBay has a global reach.
6. Setting up an eBay account is pretty straightforward.
Cons of selling on eBay:
1. Smaller audiences
2. Less buyer trust
3. No fulfilment service
4. Higher fees
5. You have to pay fees, and those fee structures may change over time.
6. You have to compete with similar sellers.
7. You may run the risk of not ending up paying for your items if a customer doesn’t pay.
Wrapping it up
Selling on e-commerce is a risky business. However, both Amazon and eBay have many ways to protect sellers. Is eBay better than Amazon? There is no perfect answer to it. Whether you sell on eBay or Amazon or both, Asinwiser got you back. Asinwiser profit calculator and FBA charge, both single and bulk, are essential for comprehending your figures when selling on Amazon. It not only assists you in determining the best things to sell, but it also allows you to keep track of the products you’re already selling to minimize margin erosion.
Having an intelligent software tool—Asinwiser—for online sellers will assist you to run your business in the right direction. Asinwiser.com is an excellent solution that will help you to target your potential audience with its all-in-one features such as brand story, product research, competitor research, profitability calculator, fba calculator, fba fee calculator and so on.