The first two names that come to our mind when we hear the word online marketplace are Amazon and eBay the pioneers of the eCommerce industry. Although they belong to the same ecosystem their approaches are different. There are differences in operation, shopping experiences, and payments. eCommerce merchants can gain immense exposure by selling their products in these market places. Moreover they can expand their product range without having to increase inventory. But to decide which marketplace to go for, a lot of aspects e.g. products, competition in your category, marketplace fees, restrictions, benefits etc. have to be taken into consideration.
Below is a comparison between the two market places on some key points:
| Point | Winner |
| Fees | Amazon |
| Format | Tie(depends) |
| Payment | eBay |
| Feedback | Amazon |
| Branding | Tie |
| Tax | eBay |
| Return Policy | Amazon |
| Shipping Charges | Amazon |
Now let’s have a look into the details of how we concluded this:
Fees –
The Fee structure of the two are significantly different. eBay charges on the basis of listing so you will have to pay for every item you list irrespective of the whether they sell or not. But Amazon doesn’t compulsorily require you to pay anything upfront. You can choose to pay a monthly subscription fee. So in case you have a large catalogue Amazon would be better for you.
Format –
In case you are selling collectibles then eBay would be the right choice for you, as collectibles and unique items are always preferably sold on auction and eBay allows buyers to bid to buy an item. On the other hand if you sell regular items then Amazon is more appropriate for you. Buyers pay higher average price for products in Amazon. So it depends on your product line.
Payment-
In eBay payments reach your account immediately, allowing you to transfer to other accounts. While in Amazon the transfers are made at least two weeks later which means getting payments will be a slower process if you decide to go with Amazon.
Feedback –
Although eBay and Amazon both have excellent feedback system allowing buyers to give positive as well as negative feedbacks , Amazon allows buyers to make a choice by themselves unlike eBay. When a buyer comes and searches for an item, eBay lists the items by sellers in descending order of the positive reviews it has got. If you are a new seller in eBay this would be tremendously disadvantageous for you. As a new seller you might be very reliable but just that, you might not have received any reviews yet. So as per eBay’s rules you wouldn’t be getting a fair chance to compete without even a fault of your own. Amazon on the other hand shows reviews but doesn’t list items this way giving you a fair chance to compete. Amazon A-to-z Guarantee plays a major role in allowing buyers to consider your product reliable.
Branding –
Initially eBay used to allow sellers to provide a link to their own dedicated store or website in their About Me page. So, then it could be used as a platform to market your products or even to generate leads. But later eBay changed their policies and stopped allowing giving link to any external page. Amazon on the other hand never allowed sellers to have this ability since beginning. So on this note they are similar now.
Tax –
In Amazon sellers are responsible for collecting the sales tax, as in they get no choice other than adding it to the price of the items. It in a way eats into the seller’s profits. eBay on the other hand has a mechanism to collect sales tax in addition to the item’s price.
Return Policy –
In both the marketplaces you might lose out to the buyer if they succeed to prove that your item was not genuine or doesn’t resemble the item described. So you will have to refund but the process is far more complicated and messy in eBay than Amazon.
Shipping –
Many people avoid ebay in the fear of getting ripped off in terms of shipping charges. EBay allows sellers to put in any amount as the shipping charge but discourages charging more than the correct amount by penalizing those sellers. But many sellers find a way to bypass this by lowering their visibility in the default search. Also ebay gives extra perks to sellers who offer free shipping but this in a way affects the sellers who can’t afford it. In Amazon the scenario is completely different. Based on the product category Amazon has defined separate “shipping credit” for sellers. The amount stays fixed no matter it covers your actual shipping cost and you have to deliver invariably at that cost only. It can be configured while setting the price. But in most cases it does cover the actual cost as it has been designed to suit the sellers as well. So for this very reason, many consumers avoid eBay.
