Are you wondering which platform( Amazon vs eBay) generates greater sales?
Is it Amazon or eBay that you’re looking for? Because there are various elements at play, the answer is “it depends.”
There are convincing justifications for both, so we’ll go over the distinctions between the two to help you decide whether to sell your goods on Amazon or eBay.
Selling on Amazon or eBay may appear to be similar from the outside. Both have been household names for years and are synonymous with the idea of an online marketplace.
One significant distinction is that eBay also serves as an auction site with a purchase-it-now option.
As a result, it’s the most popular option for people wishing to sell either new or old items.
But how can you know whichever one would bring you the most money?
Table of Content
Chapter 1: Selling on Amazon vs eBay in 2022: Which is better?
Chapter 2: What does it cost to sell on Amazon and eBay?
Chapter 3: Amazon vs eBay for Selling: a detailed Comparison
Chapter 4: Advantages and Disadvantages of Amazon vs eBay
Chapter 5: Order Fulfillment Options between Amazon vs eBay
Chapter 6: Frequently Ask Questions About Amazon Vs eBay
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Selling on Amazon vs eBay in 2022: Which is better?
Both Amazon and eBay are top-ranking e-commerce platforms. Amazon is #1 and eBay is the #3 top-performing marketplace. Let’s compare the two.
1. The eBay Marketplace
In 2021, eBay’s market share in the US dropped to below 5%. In the year 2020, it was exactly 5 % which is much less compared to Amazon. Moreover, it has 180 million active monthly users.
EBay’s focus is more on increasing buyers and on the few niches of products that the buyers like the most.
If we look at eBay’s scenario outside the USA, It generates massive sales worth of million dollars.
The buyers mostly are aged between 35 and 49 as compared to 45 and 54 on Amazon.
Amazon’s reach is mostly in North America and a few other countries only.
But eBay has a massive international reach that helps it in generating more than half of its revenue from international shoppers.
2. The Amazon Marketplace
Amazon is not just an online store. It has now become a way of life. It has approximately 310 million monthly active users. It has developed deep roots in Western Europe, North America, and India. According to a report published in 2019, more than half of the retail sales in the US belonged to Amazon alone.
You see how deeply Amazon has embedded its roots in the USA.
Similarly, another report of 2020 showed Amazon mobile app to be one of the top shopping app in the US.
Amazon holds more than 50% of the e-commerce market shares in the USA. It seems like Amazon is now a part of Americans’ lives.
Apart from above-mentioned countries, Amazon is now influencing the people of the African continent also.
3. How to Create Great Listings on both Amazon and eBay and Sell Like a Pro
To become successful on any e-commerce platform, be it Amazon or eBay, well-optimized listings are required. Let’s see what elements should a great listing must possess?
- The right product images
In e-commerce, the high-quality product images and reviews are the key players in sales. If the images are not of good quality, the buyers doubt the quality of the product.
If they urgently need the product, they still will prefer to buy from somewhere else.
To prevent the sellers from this, both Amazon and eBay have set a specific number of images of products that sellers must have to upload. For Amazon sellers, the number is 9. Where else, for eBay it’s 12.
- Title optimization
An optimized title is the one that contains the exact word for which the buyers are looking. This word is known as a keyword.
For example, a buyer wants a digital watch. He writes the keyword “digital watches” in the search bar of Amazon or eBay.
If you are a digital watches seller and have a perfectly optimized title, your product will appear in the search result.
The buyer will click your product, see the images. If your product impresses him, he’ll buy it. This is the power of HD images and a well-optimized title.
- Create an engaging and detailed product description
Most sellers do not pay much attention to product description but it’s the core of sales. The customers read the description before buying any product.
So, it should be readable, understandable, and describe all the features of the product. It should include all the information that is important for buyers to know.
A complete description, an optimized title, and HD pictures make a great package to attract customers.
Also read on; Ultimate Guide to Amazon Sales Rank 2022-2023
Chapter 2: What does it cost to sell on Amazon and eBay?
All businesses need investment. Similarly, e-commerce platforms need different fees for carrying out business activities. The fees charged by eBay include
- Insertion fees
When a seller creates listings, he has to pay a fee. This fee is known as the insertion fee. It is a pre-sale fee.
EBay offers its sell 250 zero insertion fee listings. In other words, free 250 fee listings. For more listings, sellers have to pay $0.35 per listing.
- Final value fees
A percentage of your product’s final sale price goes to eBay’s pocket. This fraction is known as the final value fee. It is a post-sale fee. It is 12.9% for most categories but can be low too.
- Fees for processing payments
EBay has its payment managing system. When sellers use this system, they have to pay for it. This fee is the fee for processing payments. It is a part of the final value fee.
- Fees for upgrading your listing are optional.
Upgrading a listing means creating a specialized and distinct listing to attract the attention of customers. Upgrading includes using bold fonts, subtitles, etc.
That’s it for eBay. Let’s move to Amazon fees.
Amazon is expensive as it charges more compared to eBay. Sellers have to pay Amazon selling fees. It includes Amazon referral fees and variable closing fees.
This fee is common for both fulfillment by Amazon and fulfillment by merchant sellers. The FBA sellers pay additional FBA fees too. Additional fees that all sellers have to pay include
- Individual per-item fees or subscription fees
Amazon offers two different seller accounts; an individual and a professional account. Individual account holders pay $0.99 per unit, they sale. Whereas, professional account holders pay $39.99 per month.
- Refund administration fees
When a customer demands refunds for some valid reasons, Amazon charges $ 5 or 20% of the refunded amount, depending on which is less among the two.
This fee is a refund administration fee and is only applicable if the customer demands refund.
Now, I hope you are clear on why Amazon is more expensive than eBay.
Chapter 3: Amazon vs eBay for Selling: a detailed Comparison
Do you know how the two platforms came into being? If not, let me tell you this interesting story.
Amazon was initially a website for books. It was a kind of online book store. But Jeff Bezos always wanted it to be something more.
With time and advanced technologies, this website also improved and now it’s the world-leading e-commerce marketplace.
EBay was an auction website founded by Pierre Omidyar. The first item sold on this website was a broken laser pointer.
Over time just like Amazon, it also grew and now sells many other things. Auctions do happen too but it has now shifted to sell and buy format.
Now you know the history, so let’s jump to the key elements that differentiate both platforms.
1. Audience
According to a report in June 2021, Amazon’s monthly visits for that month were 2.5 billion and that of eBay was 885 million.
Amazon’s unique monthly US visitors are more than 213 million while eBay has only 66 million monthly users in the USA.
The buyers on eBay are mostly the collectors of new and unique items. People 45 years and above are the money spinners of eBay.
Apart from it, the website is well-known among kids 15-19 years. If we talk about Amazon, According to a report of January 2020, adults 18-34 years made 81 percent of the Amazon prime members in the US.
So, the audience on Amazon is more as compared to eBay but it does not mean that eBay is any less or not a good website.
2. Membership
In many ways, Amazon is a game-changer. It has many crunch points, one being the Amazon prime. You would be surprised to know that Amazon prime has 200 million Prime members worldwide.
Now you might be wondering what Amazon prime is? I don’t know anything about it and so many people are already its members.
Why is it so admired? I’m going to give you the answers to these whats and whys?
Amazon Prime is a paid service provided by Amazon that gives many perks to its members. These perks include
- Speedy shipping
- Special prime day deals
- Free movie streaming
- 10% off on a few selected whole food purchases
- No Amazon Fresh delivery charges for orders of $35 or above
- If you are a student, Amazon Prime Student will offer you a free 6 month trial with extras like deals and coupons for students
These are only few benefits of Amazon Prime but in actual, the list is quite long. EBay does not have a membership offer like Amazon Prime which is one of the major differences between the two.
3. Trust
In businesses winning customers’ trust is very important. If the business is online selling, many people are hesitant to buy online. Only a fraction, approximately 25% people buy things online.
Fortunately, Amazon is trusted more by many. It has strict policies that secure buyers from being scammed.
They maintain the buyers’ privacy by not sharing their personal information outside Amazon’s online marketplaces. Moreover, they offer refund services to customers too.
In the previous years, a lot of people were scammer by the sellers on eBay. This created a bad image among the general public.
Though now eBay has improved much still people are doubtful. Moreover, its refund process is also a hassle. Therefore, people choose Amazon when it comes to trust.
4. Fulfillment
Amazon offers two fulfillment options
- Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM)
- Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
But eBay gives no option to sellers. They have to do everything by themselves. Taking orders, packing them, shipping, and delivering, everything is on the seller’s shoulder. He has to spend his own money to do everything.
5. Fees
When it comes to fees, Amazon demands many. Let’s start with the selling plans.
Amazon offers two selling plans. The individual selling plan and the professional selling plan. For the former, you have to pay $0.99 per item sold and $ 39.99 per month for the latter.
If you are using the Amazon FBA service, you’ll have to pay separately for it. In addition to these, you’ll also pay referral fees and variable closing fees.
On eBay, for creating a listing you pay insertion fees and a final value fee that is a small percentage of the sales prices.
This percentage ranges from 2% to 12%, depending upon the product categories. Additional fees include a payment processing fee and listing upgrade fee which is optional. In short, eBay is cheaper than Amazon.
6. Product Quality
When it comes to selling good-quality products, Amazon seems strict. Both new and second-hand things are sold on Amazon but it ensures that they are in good condition and properly working.
Broken or bad-quality things are not sold by Amazon. This is the reason Amazon is trusted more by buyers.
On the other hand, eBay has no such criteria. Sellers sell broken or non-functioning things on it.
Even eBay’s first item was also a broken laser pointer. The defective items are sold at cheap prices. People buy them and spend additional money on repairing them.
Amazon is a good choice for those sellers who sell new or slightly used but working items. Whereas sellers should sell antiques and collectibles on eBay because of no strict quality control rules.
7. Pricing
Amazon is an e-commerce giant. Worldwide, more than 6 million people are selling items on Amazon and the number is increasing at the same pace. Too many sellers mean a lot of competition.
If you are selling a product that hundreds of other sellers are also selling, it means an even more competitive environment. In such a case, to generate more sales you have to keep the price a bit lower than others.
If we talk about eBay, it has low competition. People mostly buy from the auction section because they prefer Amazon for brand new items.
This section contains used items that are not available anywhere else or are expensive. The prices of items in this section are not fixed. But there are chances of losses too.
Chapter 4: Advantages and Disadvantages of Amazon vs eBay
We have discussed so many things about Amazon and eBay. It would be unjust to leave the advantages and disadvantages of both platforms unaddressed. So, let’s just dig into it.
1. Advantages of eBay
Some of the advantages of eBay are:
- It offers 150 free ads to sellers every month.
- EBay has fixed charges for its services. It helps sellers in managing their budgets.
- Sellers decide the product price. In other words, they have control over the prices.
- Sellers can directly contact the buyers.
- The traffic on eBay is high and segmented.
- To start selling, sellers do not need any online or physical store.
- It has different portals and business tools that make it easy to spread your business across the borders.
2. Advantages of Amazon
Amazon has some advantages that are common to eBay. These are listed below
- Being the top most e-commerce platform, Amazon has segmented and high traffic.
- Being a seller, you do not need to have any online store. Just signup as a seller on Amazon, tell your product details, and start selling.
- Similar to eBay, Amazon also have advanced business tools that help you grow business internationally.
- The customers trust Amazon blindly. It means that they trust your business too.
With every good comes the bad. Both these platform has a few disadvantages too.
3. Disadvantages of Amazon
Let’s start with the draw backs of Amazon.
- Amazon is a highly competitive marketplace.
- You have to pay a lot of fees to Amazon like the sales fee, shipping fee, returns fee, FBA fee, and many others.
- Amazon offers two selling plans, the individual and the professional one. If you want a good profit, you’ll have to pay $39 per month for professional account.
- Amazon does not let sellers control the prices.
4. Disadvantages of eBay
Now, it’s time to highlight the cons of eBay
- You just compete with other sellers on eBay.
- Like Amazon, you also have to pay few charges to eBay like sales fee and publishing fees. The good thing is that they are fixed.
- EBay also offers different selling plans like Amazon. For basic plan you have to pay $20 approximately, for the advanced plan you’ll have to pay $40 approximately, and for the Premium plan the charges are approximately $150.
Chapter 5: Order Fulfillment Options between Amazon vs eBay
EBay and Amazon both offer fulfillment options. Amazon provides two option, fulfillment by merchant and fulfillment by Amazon. Let’s explore each option to make a better choice.
1. Fulfillment by Merchant (Amazon FBM)
Fulfillment by merchant means that the seller has to do everything by himself to deliver the order. Amazon does not assist him except than getting the order. The seller stores its products in his own warehouses.
When a buyer places an order, he looks for it in his inventory, packs it properly, labels it along with the tracking information, and then sends the parcel for delivery.
Every step from looking for the ordered product in the inventory to deliver the product, seller pays for everything.
The alternate option is fulfillment by Amazon.
2. Fulfillment by Amazon (Amazon FBA)
Fulfillment by Amazon means it’s now Amazon’s responsibility to deliver the products. The seller sends the products to Amazon’s warehouses.
Whenever customers place orders, Amazon packs and ships the product to the destination. It is now Amazon’s headache to deliver the product on time.
One good thing about Amazon FBA is that if your product get damaged or lost while being under Amazon’s care, it offers you reimbursement for those products.
You need to have a valid Amazon FBA reimbursement report.
Amazon FBA service has now made business on Amazon easier. Sellers just have to pay extra fare for availing the service.
3. Should You Use Amazon FBA or FBM?
This question leaves many sellers baffled. But a comparative analysis of Amazon FBA and FBM indicates that the former option is much better than the latter one.
This is because sellers do not have to worry about delivering products and managing inventory.
Amazon deals with all these things and customer service inquiries. Just a few extra sum and sellers get so much relief.
Chapter 6: Frequently Ask Questions About Amazon Vs eBay
1. Are buyers loyal to eBay or Amazon?
Both marketplaces have a large audience. In the US, Amazon is more dominating. Whereas, eBay has more than 60 million buyers outside the USA. It is seen that Amazon’s audience is wealthier than that of eBay’s.
They prefer to buy new products. On the other hand, on eBay people also buy from the auction section which has mostly used products that are sold cheaper. The eBay buyers find Amazon an expensive marketplace. Many cannot even think of making purchases from Amazon.
Likewise, Amazon buyers find it more diversified and in accordance with their expectations.
Many think, if they can afford a good product from Amazon then what’s the need to look for other platforms.
So you see it totally depends on customers’ choice which platform they choose. They are loyal to it.
2. Is there a way for you to make more money by selling on eBay or Amazon?
In terms of profit, eBay is winner depending upon a condition. If a seller sells the same product on Amazon and eBay, he will earn more from eBay.
The reason for this is that Amazon charges many fees including Amazon FBA as compared to eBay. After paying all the charges, the earning becomes less than the earning of eBay.
If the seller uses Amazon FBM he don’t have to pay Amazon extra charges for keeping, shipping and delivering his products. In such case, he will get more money from Amazon.
3. What kinds of things may I sell on eBay and Amazon?
EBay started as an auction site. The first product sold on eBay was also a used laser pointer. But as the time passed, it got improved.
Now, sellers can seller both new as well as second hand things on eBay under auction section.
EBay has not strict quality control guidelines. Sellers can sell anything no matter what’s its quality.
Moreover, its official website has almost 11 categories of products.
These categories include motors, electronics, collectibles and art, home and garden, clothing and accessories, toys, sporting goods, business and industrial, jewelry and watches, and eBay refurbished. Sellers can sell in all these categories.
Amazon was originally an online book store where new and second hand books were sold. It has strict quality control rules.
Sellers can sell both new and used good here but it encourages the selling of new goods more. It has almost 36 product categories that further have many subcategories with millions of products.
There are some categories of Amazon that are open for all sellers, some for just professional holders, and for some categories special approval is required.
The categories open for all sellers include home and garden, clothing and accessories, tools and home improvement, outdoor, sports, electronics, baby products, office products, toys and games, and video game consoles and video games.
4. Is selling on eBay or Amazon easier?
Amazon has more competitive environment than eBay. Hundreds or even thousands of sellers will be selling the same products creating a lot of competition.
In such situation, if a seller wants to gain more traffic, he has to keep the price a bit lower as compared to others.
EBay do not have much competition. Moreover, selling here is much cheaper as compared to Amazon.
If you are a new seller, chances are that you may not find more sellers on Amazon than eBay which will make selling products challenging for you. But Amazon is a name that could be trusted blindly.
Though eBay has improved much but still people are reluctant to trust the way they do on Amazon. Keeping this in mind, I think it’s easy to sell on Amazon.
5. Do purchasers place more faith in eBay or Amazon sellers?
Normally it is seen that more people trust on Amazon, especially the population of the US. It has achieved this reputation due to strict product quality rules, less scams, easy refund policy, and easiness that it creates for customers.
In the past few years, eBay buyers complained a lot about scams. Moreover, there return policy is just a headache for buyers.
But it does not indicate that buyer’s don’t have faith on eBay. Many buyers buy only from eBay from the auction section for collectibles and antiques.
Though the quality of such items is not good but it does not bother them a lot.
Conclusion
Both eBay and Amazon are good e-commerce platforms. In some ways eBay beats Amazons and vice versa.
Amazon has strict rules and regulations while eBay has given relaxation to the sellers.
It is also a cheap platform. Which is the best platform depends on customer’s needs and preferences.
