Amazon vs eBay: Clash Of The Titans

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Amazon vs eBay Clash Of The Titans
When it comes to Ecommerce, the field is
dominated by two teams Amazon and eBay.
Although one tends to be more of an
underdog compared to the other, the power
and control these two have is more than
impressive. Both have millions of monthly
users, thousands of daily sales and their
own unique take on online selling. This
blog will compare the two and determine which
one would work best for what type of seller.
Founded in 1994 in Seattle, Washington,
Amazon has grown to be one of the biggest
companies in the world. It is now such a
massive entity that its owner, Jeff Bezos, is
the world s wealthiest man. Its sales pitch
to the world is to be Earth s most
customer- centric company, where customers
can find and discover anything they might
want to buy online, and endeavours to offer
its customers the lowest possible prices.
It has achieved this by selling hundreds of
thousands of almost every product under
the sun, from bicycles to vitamin supplements.
eBay is very similar and different at the same
time. What makes it vary from Amazon is its
online auction system. This works in which
people and businesses buy and sell a broad
variety of goods and services worldwide.
Ebay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995
in San Jose, California. Today, it is a
multi-billion pound business with operations in
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over thirty countries. In addition to its
auction-style sales, the website has
expanded since 1995 to include Buy It Now
shopping, allowing for a simpler, quicker
style of selling.
Both companies are similar in stature and
service. Therefore which one is best for
you and your business? Well, it comes
down to multiple different features of
each one. Features that both outperform the
other on. I will continue to breakdown
each feature and conclude the overall success.
Size (Customer Base)
In terms of potential customers, both
platforms provide far more than would ever
be needed. Amazon has nearly 200 million
monthly visitors, eBay has over 100 million.
The websites of Amazon and eBay are also
incredibly effective. For example, Both
Amazon and eBay have bounce rates under
30. This means that over 75 of all web
traffic view more than one page on the site.
Furthemore, this traffic usually browses these
sites for significant lengths (11 minutes, 32
seconds on Amazon and 13 minutes, 10
seconds on eBay). This shows the mass crowds that
both companies draw in. These site users are
clearly engaged and interested in what
these sites have to offer, which could
include your products. Yet, although both
have incredibly high numbers, Amazon is
still clearly more dominant in in most areas.
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This would give the impression that if you were
to sell on Amazon, you would be likely to access
more customers than on eBay. However, it is not
as simple as that. As Amazon is bigger, it will
provide a stronger competitor force than
eBay. This will make it harder to target
customers as you will have stiff
competition when trying to achieve anything
on Amazon. eBay therefore is arguably the
better place to compete as a small
business. This is mainly because of bidding
system, which means that pricing varies so
much that it is more difficult to be priced out
the market.
Price
Both have their own pricing pros and cons.
Both have been accused of charging sellers
too much, with eBay receiving the nickname
feebay. Both have also been the subject of
widespread satisfaction, allowing online
sellers to turnover good profits. The main
way they take money off sellers is very
different. Amazon charges sellers a fixed
monthly price. eBay charges sellers per item they
sit on the site. Each platform also has
multiple different charging strategies in place
Monthly fee This is what sellers pay to sell
on a site every month. This is 39.99 on a
professional Amazon selling account. Smaller
sellers do not have to pay this fee, yet
will
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have restricted access to Amazons seller
resources. However eBay does not have such a
fixed fee.
Listing fee This is charged each time a
seller lists an item, whether it is sold
or not. Amazon lets most sellers who pay
the monthly fee to have as many listings
as needed with no charge. However, if they do
not pay for the full seller package
monthly, Amazon can charge them for each
product they list, usually around 99
cents.With eBay, the listing fee depends
on what you fix the reserve price
at. The reserve price is the minimum
bid that you will accept once the auction
is over. If the best bid is below the
reserve price, you can re auction it.
Final value fee This is the percentage
that each marketplace keeps from each sale.
Amazon usually takes 15 whilst eBay
usually take just under 10. However, if
a significant number of items or sold then eBays
fee can rise as high as Amazons.
Closing fee This is what a platform
charges once youve sold an item. Only
Amazon charge this additional fee.
Paypal fee Sellers who use Paypal on
eBay must also pay to use it. This does
not apply to Amazon.
As you can see, there are no end of fees
that each platform charge. Therefore, in terms
of dissatisfaction amongst online sellers,
both platforms will cause around the same
amount. Yet, overall Amazon can be considered
the more costly place to sell online. For
example, its final value fee is 5 higher than
eBays. It is also the only one that charges a
closing fee, eBay doesnt.
However, Amazon does not charge a paypal
fee, unlike eBay. As a result, it is
unclear which one would be the most costly for an
online seller. It would probably depend on the
size of your business. As said previously, eBay
is a better place for a small businesses as it is
slightly less costly place to sell. However,
once your business has reached a decent
size, then selling on Amazon should not prove too
costly.
Products
Both platforms have different types of
products that are most likely to sell well
on them. The main difference is that niche,
specific products are more likely to be
bought on eBay
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as opposed to Amazon. For example, someone
who is just browsing and has not made
their mind up of the specific type of
product they want, may search for shoes
on Amazon. As it is effectively an online
supermarket, it is a great place to browse
and determine what you want to buy. If they
start their online shopping with a more detailed
idea of what theyre looking for,
they are more likely to use eBay,
to search for something along the lines of
Green Nike Air Max Size 9.
Tools/ Additional Features
Neither have gone overboard when it comes
to additional nifty features which could
make online selling easier. Neither provide
adequate social media tools/integration. This
is a real shame as social media is an excellent
place to boost a merchants online selling.
However, unlike Amazon, eBay does provide a
couple of useful tools that can be used to
help a sellers experience. For example,
eBay has, slightly limited, analytic system
that sellers can use to scrutinise their
store. It can show basic information such
as product sales and shop views. However,
both sites do have apps that allow for
great ease of access on mobile.
Result
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Amazon and eBay are too similar to allow me
to make a clear decision on whos better.
They both have their prominent
features and unfortunate defects.
Both have questionably high fees but make up
for it with a massive, dedicated following.
Therefore, it has to come down to what type
of business you are. If you are a fairly
new business, yet have a decent financial
resources, then you can afford to
take advantage of Amazons already well
established brand popularity. If you are
still a small company in most senses,
eBays may very well be the place for
you, as it gives you more control over your
store. This will often result in you being able
to do more about expanding your operation.
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