7 out of 10 sellers said that they made more money on eBay than Facebook or Gumtree according to eBay research from 2018. From a representative sample of people, eBay is where you’ll realise the highest prices for your unwanted items – good to know at this time of year when thousands will be ungratefully listing the Christmas gifts they didn’t really want or disposing of old tech which has been replaced by a newer shinier model.
eBay have recruited Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan who has appeared on countless UK TV panel shows including Dave’s The Task Master to front the campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slP5HTAVTB0
Although the make more money on eBay message is clearly aimed at consumers, it’s also relevant to business sellers. While we’re constantly hearing that Amazon shifts more merchandise and is the consumer marketplace of choice to buy, we also hear from professional sellers that margins are better on eBay and greater margins mean more profit.
For those sellers in the 2nd hand market or selling distressed goods eBay is the default marketplace – Amazon has moved so far away from used goods that even a peeling label on a box can lead to poor feedback impacting future sales.
There is of course the sales velocity angle to consider – it’s better to sell 100 products for £5 profit per item than it is to sell 50 at £6 profit. The lure of Amazon is too great for many sellers to ignore simply based on the sell through rates that can be achieved.
However Amazon fees are often higher than eBay and products are often more expensive on Amazon – if consumers were only to price check between the two marketplaces then eBay would often be the winner.
As the new year starts, it’s time to run your metrics and check exactly where your profits are coming from – do you make more margin after fees on eBay or Amazon? If you make more margin on eBay is it worth increasing your use of eBay Promoted Listings to boost sales velocity or are you better off with higher fees on Amazon and accepting less margin in favour of higher sales?
6 Responses
7 out of 10 sellers said…. Once again they forgot to ask me, or maybe it one of those surveys that I just ignore.
If they had of asked I would have had to agree, but I am guessing that if you asked Facebook sellers the same, the answer may have been reversed.
Amazon fees are higher, by about 3-4%, so using promoted listings on eBay could boost sales velocity but would soon swallow up that margin.
You can get higher prices on Amazon, but again, if you are using eBay promoted listings you can increase your prices. Many customers seem to buy the first thing they find, you only have to look at the arbitrage sellers to see what they get away with.
It’s easier to list on eBay because you don’t have to have a barcode for your products, so pretty much anyone can do it.
That alone tells me that sellers will ‘get more money’ from eBay listings.
I don’t know about anyone else but my margins are higher on Amazon.
I’m a first time seller, a bit nervous but here goes!
For 2nd hand goods, nothing beats eBay in terms of a number of shoppers etc. no question about that. To ask eBay sellers about Gumtree? now, that’s a biased question in its core.
If you are comparing eBay, Gumtree and Facebook then of course they are going to sell more on eBay as Gumtree and Facebook marketplaces are more of a local market where as eBay is international.
What it fails to inform us is whether or not the fees associated with ebay are taken into account? When selling on gumtree etc there is no listing fee, no fvf, etc ( well if a private seller anyway). So if you see something for £10 you get £10… Ebay you have to take off the fvf at a very minimum.
oh and the fact that when you sell on gumtree etc you are much less likely to have fraudsters trying to rip you off afterwards!