March 28, 2024

eBay VS Amazon VS Etsy : Which is the Best Online Market Place?

When you sell crafts online, choosing the right platform is paramount. There are a lot of different options available for craft business owners. Three of the most popular are Etsy, Amazon, and eBay. But each offers different options and benefits for artisan shop owners. Here are some comparisons and basic information that can help you make the best decision when it comes to choosing Handmade on Amazon, Etsy, or eBay.

What is an Online Marketplace?

 

Unlike an independent website, an online marketplace offers space for multiple vendors to sell their products. Usually, an online marketplace has better visibility, more streamlined processes and is thus preferred by customers who don’t know about a brand but need the product.

Some examples of an online marketplace include

eBay

Amazon

Etsy

AliExpress

Walmart

More recently, with the addition of the Instagram Shop feature, Instagram is coming close to becoming an online marketplace as well.

Benefits of Selling on an Online Marketplace

 
Ecommerce solutions aren’t for everyone, and third-party marketplace giants like Amazon, Walmart, and eBay have capitalized on the ease of setup and brand recognition they have built in the online sales world. Here’s more about what these marketplace solutions bring to the table for small business sellers.

1. It’s easy to start right away

Do you have something to sell but don’t want to build your own website? You’re in luck! Online marketplaces are designed to be easy to use. You can set up a storefront in minutes and then enjoy the full benefits of payment processing, advertising, and even distribution and shipping channels in a fraction of the time of sourcing and registering for these tools on your own.

2. No tech experience or marketing resources required

Unlike hosting your own website, you won’t need much technical skill to get started selling on marketplaces. If you’re familiar with social media platforms, you’ll have what it takes to list products or services and get your accounts receivable information set up. Everything from marketing to customer service resolutions are handled on the same platform through a single dashboard.
 

3. No site or server maintenance is necessary

While third-party marketplace providers sometimes experience technical difficulties, most are hosted by large cloud providers that also serve other major corporations. As reliability goes, they are best-protected against hacks or outages, and you can rest assured that your store will be online when your customers need to shop. You also won’t have to worry about updating your WordPress plug-ins or handling server maintenance. All of this happens behind the scenes, which is a major upside of a marketplace.

4. You get access to a large customer base

Millions of people shop at Amazon and Walmart. In fact, these are often the first places people think of when it comes time to shop. If you have your store on one of these two sites, the odds that people will find you are better than if you bought an obscure domain that consumers don’t know about. You can piggyback on the built-in customer base that already exists for these large online retailers.

5. There is existing brand familiarity

Again, brand familiarity is a big perk for businesses. Like the example above, people are already familiar with major retailers and what they stand for. If your company aligns with these values and you want to market your business within the same customer-base, you can do so much more easily without spending large amounts of money to get people to hear about you. Even a brand-new company with no easily-recognizable name or logo can become known by association.
 
 
 

Difference between eBay,Amazon and Etsy

Point of comparison Amazon Etsy eBay
Audience Amazon has over 148.6 million active users worldwide in 2021. So there is certainly access to a wide range of potential customers. However, not everyone who visits Amazon is specifically looking for handmade products, so it’s not really a target customer group. According to Statista, Etsy had around 39.4 million active buyers as of 2021. Unlike eBay and Amazon, these buyers are primarily interested in handmade items, rather than a variety of other products. EBay’s user base reached around 182 million active users in 2021. However, not all of these users are interested in buying crafts. In fact, some active users are primarily interested in selling rather than buying.
Registration fees Amazon does not charge the registration fee, but takes a percentage of each transaction. Etsy charges 20 cents per ad. And the ads are valid for four months before they expire. You can pay an additional 20 cents to relist expired or sold items. The fees for eBay sellers can vary depending on the type of listing, since you can host both auctions and fixed price sales. In general, it’s free to build your first 50 lists per month, then the 30 cents per list beyond that.
Image options (free, paid and limitations) Amazon lets you add a main image for each product, and then up to eight alternate images for each listing, for free. Amazon also specifies that the primary photos should only represent the product for sale, not the designs or renderings, and any props that do not come with the product. Etsy allows you to upload up to five photos with each listing. There is no additional charge to add photos beyond the initial registration fee. Etsy recommends using photos with a width of up to 800-1000 pixels and images in landscape or square format for main photos. You can add up to 12 images for free with every listing with eBay image hosting. It also includes zoom and magnification functions so that customers can get a close-up view of your products.
Final selling costs Currently, Amazon takes 12 percent of each sale, with the sale price calculated to include shipping. As of August 1, 2016, this rate reaches 15%. Etsy charges a transaction fee of 3.5 for each sale. You can pay this fee, along with the registration fee, once a month. eBay also charges 10 percent of the total sale amount, which includes the item price, shipping, and any other charges you charge the buyer, except sales tax. The maximum amount is $ 750.
Video options (available or not) Sellers do not have the ability to add video to listings. However, Amazon itself may add videos for some vendors, but only those that are part of invitation-only vendor programs. You can create and upload a store video on the main page of your store. Etsy doesn’t have strict requirements for these, but recommends videos of around two minutes or less, landscape, and a maximum of 300MB. You can add FLASH files for audio or video to every eBay listing. So, you can upload a video to a third-party service like YouTube and then link or embed the video in your ad page.
Payment options Amazon accepts a variety of different payments, including credit or debit cards, checking accounts, Amazon gift cards, Amazon points, and even cash on delivery in some cases. Each Etsy seller can specify which payment methods to accept, including PayPal, credit cards, Etsy gift cards, and Apple Pay. Sellers can select the payment options you want to accept, including PayPal and credit or debit cards. You can also choose to accept payment upon pickup.
Inventory management features (can you easily export items from and to your site to these sites?) You can add your products through Amazon after you have applied and been accepted. But you have to add the information for each listing. There is no simple import function to add products from another site. You can add each listing individually on Etsy. But there is no automatic download or upload function. You can create listings directly on eBay. You can also upload your inventory data or ad templates via CSV or Excel files.
Rules To sell on Handmade at Amazon, you must apply and be accepted. You should also only sell items that are handmade by you or a member of your team, if your team is under 20. You can also set your own production time and even offer personalized products. But Amazon only allows you to set the production time for 30 days. Etsy allows sellers to list items that are handmade, vintage (must be at least 20 years old or older), or craft supplies. However, the definition of “handmade” has changed in recent years, to the dismay of some Etsy buyers and sellers. The site is much less strict now and will allow users to sell items that are mass produced in some ways. Thus, an object can present original works of art but actually be produced on a large scale. eBay offers the ability to sell a wide variety of items. So you don’t have to worry about restrictions on handmade items. However, there are rules for listing items in specific categories. For example, if you are listing an item like a piece of jewelry, it must have a good metal setting or a fine gemstone included. Fashion settings are not allowed without fine gemstones in this category. There are also prohibited and prohibited items, such as alcohol or hazardous materials, which are generally not allowed on eBay unless they have been pre-approved.
Store availability (Is a store available as opposed to individual listings?) With Handmade at Amazon, you get a unique storefront with a personalized URL and artist profile. There you can tell your story and offer ways to connect with customers. And of course, you can showcase all of your products for sale in this storefront, but they will also appear alongside other handmade products on Amazon when customers search or browse a category. Each Etsy seller can create their own store with their own header photo, profile, and policies. Buyers can see your products in your store or in Etsy categories or search results. You can create a dedicated store if you have an eBay seller account, a credit card on file, and a verified PayPal account. eBay also offers options for Premium or Anchor stores as long as you have a high level of performance.

Tips on Marketing Products on Amazon, eBay, & Etsy

Amazon, eBay, and Etsy are global marketplaces with thousands of sellers competing for customers’ attention.

How to make your products stand out?

Here are some tips:

  • Include keywords in product titles and descriptions to help customers find your products.
  • Don’t participate in pricing battles. Instead, aim for a superior shopping experience.
  • Display high-quality photos of the products you are selling. Consider hiring professional photographers, if you don’t have the necessary equipment and skills. Photos should display a product in detail, from different angles, and even in life-like situations.
  • Offer great customer experience, as it is one of the most important things in e-commerce and one of the ways to be different from the competition. Try to always be there for your customers, answer their questions, provide additional information and quickly address all the issues that might arise.
  • Consider social proof as your main weapon. Try to get positive customer feedback and generate positive customer reviews. The availability will make you stand out among the competition and make you more trustworthy in the eyes of potential customers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *