Sellers have such a large variety to choose from now when it comes to selling their goods online, the choice can often be quite overwhelming. Two of the best online marketplaces are Amazon and eBay, therefore many people will start looking into these options first. They are household names across many countries around the world.
Ebay pioneered the third party marketplace business model early on, and sells both fixed price and live auction items as well as many eBay deals and discounts. The platform is successful in a very different way to Amazon, having 25 million sellers worldwide.
Fees
One of the main reasons why sellers choose eBay over Amazon is that fees are lower across the board, plus eBay does not charge a closing fee. However, eBay does charge a PayPal fee to sellers which is 2.9% of the sale price plus a small flat rate. Sellers should take this into consideration when deciding which site is best to sell their wares. On average, a seller will keep 5.13% more of her profits on eBay than if she sold the item on Amazon.
Seller Tools
The tools that an online marketplace offers its sellers can be a bit draw when it comes to merchants. Both Amazon and eBay are not that great when it comes to providing these tools, however eBay offers a few options that Amazon does not. Neither site comes with social media tools, but eBay offers seller success resources and shop analytics, and both come with mobile readiness.
This lack of tools when it comes to Amazon could be due to the fact that online merchants were not part of the site’s original business model, and were only introduced in later years.
Shoppers
Amazon and eBay both stand out dramatically when it comes to traffic statistics. Other smaller sites don’t stand a chance with coming up against these global giants. Both sites have about a 25% bounce rate, which means that over 75% of shoppers will view more than one page
on the site.
On average, a visitor will spend 11 minutes and 32 seconds on Amazon, and 13 minutes and 10 seconds on eBay. This means that although a few people will just come and go, a lot of people will be spending a longer length of time on the site. Both have high levels of relevant and engaged traffic, making them attractive options for sellers.
Stability
Sellers appreciate a platform that runs smoothly, changing platforms can cost them both time and money. Over the past few years, Amazon has undergone very few changes, with their restrictions staying pretty much consistent. eBay, on the other hand, seems to make changes fairly regularly. Things like detailed seller ratings, the fee structure, how the search engine works, and other things have changed over the years.
Selling Options
Both sites allow selling items for a fixed price. This simply means that you name price, list item, and wait for someone to agree with that price and make a purchase. eBay offers sellers an alternative option in the form of an auction. It used to be a purely auction based site, and the ability to list fixed priced items is more of a new feature.
If you are not sure what the item is worth, then putting it up for auction is a great option as you can let the buyers fight it out. The product has a time limit, so the bidder with the highest price when the time runs out will get it.
The infographic below summarizes the differences:
