Amazon.com and eBay.com are the internet’s two largest websites where people can sell products without having to put up with hosting their own website. Each site offers a user a simple form to fill out for a sales listing, and each website automates just about everything from formatting the listing to providing shopping cart technology.
Subtle differences do exist between the two sales options, however, so for anyone thinking about expanding and selling with a different company, examining each site’s pros and cons is a valuable exercise.
Things that Amazon Does Better
1. Fast sales
Amazon offers a very streamlined buying process on its website whether a purchase is completed for a product shipped from an Amazon warehouse or whether the purchase is from a third-party seller. The checkout and invoicing process on eBay takes a little longer and has more steps for the seller to complete while Amazon’s design is much more automated.
2. Feedback
Each time a sale is completed on eBay or Amazon, a buyer has the chance to leave feedback. Negative feedback impacts a seller’s ability to have successful sales on eBay much more than on Amazon. The feedback given on eBay is usually more impactful to sales because of the higher level of communication between the seller and buyer.
3. Marketing
When a seller offers goods on eBay, those items may show up in search engine feeds and will provide a small amount of external marketing to a seller’s listings. Amazon’s marketing options are much heftier, and a person can create an Amazon feed to showcase products. Amazon feeds make good money and can be placed on an external website of any kind.
Things that eBay Does Better
1. Auctions
The claim to fame for eBay is its auctions, and while the website offers fixed-price listings, higher sales are possible through the auction format. Sellers often underestimate the value of their item on Amazon and eBay and list it too low. With auctions, a seller can price their starting bid at a point that may result in a higher final bid price.
2. Tax collection
When a person sells anything on Amazon, the company automatically collects taxes that are taken out of the sale price. The tax collection structure on eBay is much more lenient, and the taxes are added to the sales price, so a seller never loses money on tax collection. The tax structure may change in the future, but for now eBay sellers have it much easier.
Overall, eBay and Amazon each offer certain services that are superior to the others offerings, but neither stands out as a clear choice above the other across the board. Depending on a person’s selling techniques, sales volume, and the type of product sold, one option might be better than the other. Sellers may benefit from using both services to sell different types of products. It may be a worthwhile investment of time to list specific goods with the particular vendor that offers a higher rate of sale for an item.
