You have two options to sell on the Internet -- sell through your own website or sell through eBay. Here are the pros and cons of each approach
Creating Your Own Website
Pros
Allows you to establish your own "real estate" on the Web;
Allows you to attract a bigger audience; not limited to eBay buyers (not everyone buys on eBay)
Scaleable as it allows your business to grow;
Allows you to give more information about your business to your visitors and give them reasons to trust you
Allows you to give more information about the product, play around with factors that can increase conversion
Gives you a more professional look
Makes you look like a "big" business (an e-commerce seller that also sells on ebay "looks" so much bigger than a purely ebay seller)
You can put in as many items you want without paying listing fees
You can sell as many items as you can without paying value added fees
Less restrictions than eBay (you are more free to write your sales copy)
Easier to market on the Web
Measurement and tracking of sales is easier to do because of greater flexibility in installing statistical software
Cons:
Requires technical know how to create a website (or money to pay someone to do it for you)
Expensive especially if your website requires special programming
You have to think how your site will look or hire a web designer to create your website
Fixed price (price you set is what you get)
You're basically a "nobody" and you have to build your reputation, brand and traffic from scratch.
Harder to market and you may need to spend more on advertising.
Selling on eBay
Pros
Auction format; prices can go up higher than you originally set it for
eBay's brand and size of its market
Gives instant access to millions of buyers
Offers a level playing field between small sellers and bigger, better branded sellers
Cons
Listing and final value fees - you pay every time you put a product up for sale, and when it is sold
There are more restrictions and limitations in terms of how you can write your copy and present your product
Harder to get onto search engines
Link exchanges are more difficult
Increasing competition (it is not as easy to sell now on eBay with increased number of people selling on eBay)
Does not allow you to have metrics that can help you improve your product presentation and increase sales, such as conversion, shopping cart abandonment, unique visitors and pageviews, among others.
2006-08-15 08:23:49
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answer #1
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answered by imisidro 7
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You know what the solution to this is, don't you? Don't buy horse products from them. Walmart tried this in our rural area. It didn't last long b/c they were carrying crap. That, and everyone knew you could drive a couple of miles in the country and get a custom made leather halter from the nice little Amishman for what you could buy their cheap-o nylon halters. The same thing has happened with a lot of "specialty" items. If there's a fad, they're going to capitalize upon it. Quilting. Scrapbooking. Whatever. While its hot, you'll see several feet or an entire ailse dedicated to little must-haves for a little bit cheaper than the scrapbook shop or the Quilt shop. Problem is, as the fad fades, sales drop, and less an less is offered until they carry little if any of what you need. You can always go back to the specialty shop when that happens...IF it's still there. Lusi...yup. Horrid nylon halters with flimsy clips and snaps, terrible nylon bridles with a gawdawful nasty looking curb bit made of some mystery metal, probably infused with lead or some other toxic metal from a 3rd world country...Combs and brushes, hoof picks. Sawdust horse feed. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. You know, being relatively conservative politically, one wouldn't think I would put much into the whole "sustainable" mantra that has been tossed around for the past few years, but I believe in what makes sense, regardless of which "side" of the political spectrum claims an issue as its own. Do you think the rising fuel and energy costs and such will prove the mega-marketers are not, in fact, "sustainable" and we'll see a return to more small, local merchants? They are notorious for promoting certain specialty items at a loss until they run the little guy out of business, then returning the prices of the items to a comparable level of what they were at the specialty shop...as the margins shrink, it's on a much greater scale for the big guys... From a service perspective alone, how nice would that be!!!
2016-03-16 22:28:52
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answer #2
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answered by Anonymous
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eBay is not the golden grail of Internet sales that everyone seems to want to make you believe. Even in the hottest categories only 50% of the listed auctions finish with a sale. Unless you put reserve prices (or higher starting bids) on your items there is no guarantee you will even get your expenses paid.
One thing you can guarantee is that you will pay eBay for a store or listing fees every month.
Look at the Internet from a different view. Ask yourself why someone should visit your website and what value you will offer them. Create content that attracts visitors so the Search Engines will want to list your pages.
Don't just add to the mindless clutter of "ready to sell" web site templates that promise you income streams for little effort. A true Internet business takes just as much effort as a brick and mortar storefront.
What is your unique proposition? Why should someone be willing to buy from you and not your neighbor? Answer these questions and you are ready to start exploring goods and services.
2006-08-14 23:45:15
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answer #3
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answered by Michael Myklin 3
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Ebay, but if you want something set and stable amazon...though the people drive the prices down really low on certin things, which would make selling things on there unprofitable.
2006-08-15 00:49:15
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answer #4
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answered by christopherjruiz07 2
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ebay is the best way read some tips and articles on sales on this site
2006-08-14 23:04:12
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answer #5
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answered by Elite female 3
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have you ever...ever heard of ebay?
2006-08-14 23:17:08
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answer #6
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answered by waterdancer 4
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e-bay shud help
2006-08-14 23:29:45
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answer #7
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answered by mortal_sinner 3
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