Some resellers use eBay and some sell on Amazon. There are pros and cons to selling on both platforms, so we’re going to dive into what those are and explain why we chose eBay for our business.
Let’s dive into eBay vs. Amazon for resellers.
One of the beautiful things about this business is there are so many different ways to run it. Some people find success on eBay, while others swear by Amazon or other platforms. Amazon and eBay are the two biggest platforms out there for selling which is why we’re reviewing them today so you can make an educated decision on what you want to do for your reselling business.
Differences In Shipping Time
When shopping for ourselves, the majority of the time that we’re actually spending money on eBay is, if I can’t find it on Amazon. The reason we go to Amazon is because they’re quick. I can order something in the morning and sometimes have it by the afternoon with Amazon Prime, so it’s very convenient. If you’re trying to build feedback on eBay though, you should switch your Amazon purchases to eBay if you can so you can build that feedback faster.
A lot of consumers gravitate toward Amazon for certain products and the fast shipping. If you’re doing more retail arbitrage, you may find Amazon works better for you. When selling items, we focus on high-profit items. These are usually items that cannot be found on Amazon, so there are buyers who are looking for items on eBay because Amazon isn’t selling the stuff we’re selling.
eBay Vs. Amazon Returns
One of the big reasons people buy from Amazon is the ability to do returns. That’s why we personally don’t want to sell on Amazon because we don’t like returns. You have to have a big profit margin and you have to know what percent you’re going to get back in returns.
When shopping on Amazon, sometimes we order stuff in multiple sizes because we don’t know what will fit, and we know we’re going to return the one that doesn’t. Amazon makes it so easy to get that return.
If you don’t like it for whatever reason, you can return it, which is awesome as a buyer. It’s not great for sellers. It can be hard to know what your income will be because you can be forced to take a return. It’s way more appealing for us to be on eBay where we don’t have to take returns.
We have felt the effects of eBay trying to be more like Amazon in this respect. When Amazon first came to the game, eBay wanted sellers to start doing free returns to be able to get top-rated seller status, but we don’t do returns with our high-profit items. People are investing a couple hundred or a couple thousand dollars in our items, and they’re asking questions before they buy the item on eBay. We don’t typically have returns as long as we’re delivering the product we say we’re going to deliver.
That’s one of the biggest things is the returns that Amazon really forces their sellers to do, and that’s why we prefer eBay.
Used Items Do Better On eBay
eBay is more of a platform for used items versus Amazon. We sell used items because we like the thrill of the treasure hunt. Some people might not enjoy that, and they prefer to sit at their computer and do drop shipping. They can go find a product and go put it in their store and then get it fulfilled by Amazon and they never have to touch the product. Generally Amazon is selling more new items while eBay gravitates toward used items.
Amazon also has two different ways to fulfill orders. You can have Amazon fulfillment or fulfillment by merchant. If Amazon does it, you’ll have more fees because they have to store your item so you’ll pay for that as well.
We can’t tell you an exact comparison of eBay versus Amazon because we don’t sell on Amazon, but we did an interview with John Muscarello of The Side Hustle Podcast and he shared some of his numbers.
Getting Started: eBay Vs. Amazon
It’s way easier to get started selling on eBay versus Amazon. With Amazon, there’s a lot of red tape and you have to be ungated in certain areas to sell those items. That doesn’t happen with eBay.
When you’re starting with eBay they limit how many listings you can have until they know you’re a legit seller because they don’t want a scammer jumping in. I could go onto eBay as someone who’s never sold an item before and open an account in 10 minutes and immediately list an item. I can’t do it with a $5,000 item because eBay won’t let you do that kind of transaction right away, but I can sell $25, $50 or $100 items without any feedback.
Fees On eBay vs. Amazon
Fees are different for both eBay and Amazon.
When selling on Amazon, the fees vary on the product being sold and the way they are fulfilled, by Amazon or by the Merchant. Other fees include Amazon referral fees, a percentage calculated on total sales price for every item sold; and a fixed closing fee if you have an individual selling plan ($.99 per item sold) versus the professional one, $39.99 per month.
FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) sellers have fulfillment fees and monthly storage fees.
Refund administration fees also exist to process refunds and reimbursement. The fee is $5 or 20% of the refunded charge, whichever is less.
eBay also has fees you should be aware of: insertion fees, what you get charged when you create a listing that exceeds your monthly limit; final value fees, the percentage eBay takes when your item sells based on the item’s final sale price including shipping and handling and payment processing fees; and optional promotional fees for listing upgrades or ads. Fees are based on category.
Searching On Amazon Vs. eBay
On Amazon your searches are run of the mill items that people are selling. Your item might be 5-15 pages down before someone sees your item, and chances are someone won’t scroll that far just to buy it from you. There’s a lot more that goes into selling your items on Amazon vs. eBay.
With our items we sell on eBay, there’s generally very little competition because we’re selling large items that most people won’t ship. Somebody will see our item on the first or second page when scrolling. It’s easier for us to get traction on eBay versus Amazon.
Some people do really well on Amazon like our friend Jessica Larrew with The Selling Family. There’s tons of resources to get started on Amazon. For starting on eBay check out freeflippingcourse.com to learn more.
Show Notes
Free Flipping Course: http://freeflippingcourse.com/
How To Resell On Amazon – Interview With John Muscarello
The Selling Family: https://thesellingfamily.com/
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fleamrktflipper/
Check out our FREE Workshop: https://courses.fleamarketflipper.com/flipper-university-workshop-webinar
You can find us at: https://fleamarketflipper.com/
FURTHER RESOURCES
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