# Sell on ebay or Amazon or other? Need your vote and comments...



## prairiebird (Sep 26, 2006)

I'm beginning my research to start on online business in August. I used to sell our stuff on ebay eight years ago. It was okay. Never sold on Amazon. However I only buy on Amazon now, not ebay.

What's your experience as a seller? Or is their another company that's better?

I'm also going to be reading everything I can on business/blogging, etc. Hoping to get to know ya'll in the next few months. Looking forward to this new 'venture'.

Tia,
Prairiebird


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

It is really hard to say which I prefer. I sell on Ebay but sales have been really really slow this year. I often purchase things via Amazon and it never even occurred to me to sell stuff on amazon? i will definately look into it though. good luck on your venture! sisterpine


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## Pelenaka (Jul 27, 2007)

My answer really depends on which site my customer base uses.
I take it that because you asked about amazon your not selling antiques or yard sale type stuffs. Then again maybe you are.

I supose my point is that it's really doesn't matter how sweet a site/store is or how many incentives that give you the seller to use them, if the buyers don't wander into the store/site to buy then it's a moot point. 

We have had good sucess with selling on CL or a few buy & sell yahoo groups that are geared toward our area. But we sell antiques or used items like tools. Hubby also sells rain barrels that he's made.


~~ pelenaka ~~
http://thirtyfivebyninety.blogspot.com/2011/06/pretty-factor.html


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## mypatriotsupply (Jan 21, 2009)

Amazon by FAR. True, it really depends on what you're selling - but if you're asking for my opinion which company is better, has better seller support and isn't as fee hungry - Amazon all the way.

If you have a product that is a higher dollar product ($30+) I would seriously look into Amazon Fulfillment as well. We put our most popular product on Amazon. By the time you click that link, they may be out of stock again. Amazon moves that product so rapidly that its hard for us to keep Amazon in stock, after giving our direct orders top priority.

Amazon fulfillment has been a huge boost to our business.

But even if you don't use Amazon fulfillment, my goodness they beat the pants off eBay with customer service (in my opinion) and that matters to me.


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## prairiebird (Sep 26, 2006)

Thank-you folks!
Prairiebird


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## Ken Scharabok (May 11, 2002)

I do both, but is seems like eBay is more use friendly to the small seller.

Don't forget www.half.com.


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## sunflower-n-ks (Aug 7, 2006)

I don't sell at this time, but I assume it depends on what you are offering. Some things fit better on different sites. Handmade? Etsy seems good. I still check out offering on Ebay. I am not familiar with Yahoo, but am learning to use Amazon for information and to buy. It is a learning curve. I bumped into some selling sites when i was looking for a perticular item. I will be checking some of them out more when I have time. There are a ton of selling sites out there. Maybe use more than one?

The "local" free ads could be checked out also. Craigslist, and there are a huge amount of "yahoo" selling sites for most areas. Someone sells on those locally and I assume she SELLS or she would not spend the time over the months and years listing items if she didn't sell them.


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## Justin Thyme (Jun 3, 2011)

What are you selling? Your product alone may best dictate where you will want to sell.
I can tell you right off the bat, though, that unless you plan on selling tens, even hundreds of thousands of new items eBay will be out to destroy your business from the get go.
The new eBay policy, as described by John Donohoe the CEO, is to take ebay away from being "the flea market of the internet." He doesn't like lots of little sellers ("little" seeming to include selling hundreds of items a month- check out the eBay "Seller" and "Trust & Safety" Forums, on site) selling used or even a few new items. He likes BIG sellers with thousands of items. Even if they're nearly all the same. 
The small seller is being forced out of, off of eBay through a variety of unhappy protocols, which you can get a taste of by checking the forums. After seven years of continuous selling on eBay I cannot recommend as a venue. Unless of course you already are an established major corporation or a big-time foreign drop shipper.
Amazon seems like a good place to check out although I haven't personally yet and there are a variety of smaller, early-eBay like sites you might consider. But pick a lot as their traffic, all together, doesn't add-up to eBay's.
Here is a list of sites, taken from one of those aforementioned forums.
http://www.powersellersunite.com/auctionsitewatch.php


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## Bandit (Oct 5, 2008)

Another site to do a little research on the different auction sites 
http://www.auctionbytes.com/
and there Forums
http://forums.auctionbytes.com/vbulletin/
Another comparison if You are selling homemade items
http://handmademarketing.org/etsy-vs-ebay/


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