Ebay or own website?

[yueandmey]

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']I am looking to start selling goods online. I have discovered that a lot of people have huge success in selling their goods on eBay. Would you recommend a startup business begin in eBay, and then relocate to a larger store using Magento? Does this progression work well? Do people experience problems doing this? Is there a stigma attached when going from eBay seller, to independent seller? Thank you.[/font]

 

[JamiePMortimer]

Hi yueandmey,

first of all, I've never tried to make the transition so have no experience.

That being said, there are benefits and drawbacks of doing it and you have to weigh up which is best for you.

eBay is a great platform that has lots of traffic, so for a new business, the hardest part is solved.

However, getting sales is going to be harder because you're basically on a comparison website. People will just look at price, so if you're not selling a unique product ten potential customers are looking at several competitors while looking at your site also.

In terms of making the transition, I'm told it's very difficult. Because people are used to going to these platforms to see the wide range of products available. In their mind, they're shopping with eBay, not you and that is the sacrifice you make getting an abundance of traffic. I don't think there is a stigma to it, there are plenty of established high street shops with a presence on eBay so that isn't an issue.

 

[MBE1]

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Fair advice, I used to sell a lot on ebay and then set my own site up, ebay is easy for getting sales, but very frustrating at the kid of clients and the constant meddling with your business by ebay, who obviously run ebay for their own benefit.

You can build a nice business and overnite ebay will sometimes find a way of ruining it, on your own website getting the sales is ten times harder, but you tend to have few if any issues regarding poor quality clients, scam merchants etc.

Ebayers are hard to migrate to a private site, they like shopping on ebay.

 

[HGSecurity]

We sell on several platforms (Ebay, Amazon and our own website) and by far the biggest bulk of sales are from ebay. Obviously costs more than selling from your own site, but at least you are shifting stock.

 

[yueandmey]

Ebay can shift a lot of stock I agree. However it seems to be very difficult to shift over to a 'brand' name. The company I know have had their own website for over a year and only manage to make a handful of sales each month from their website. Their eBay page is running hundreds of sales a day.

 

[danieldd]

Why not do both. I say this because setting a quality website that will get visits and sales means you will need quite some time. You cannot expect to have an earning website overnight.

Something else - there is enormous amount on competition for most e-shops. This is also worth considering - are there many other websites that sell goods similar to yours? If yes - stick with ebay, or take your time to create a better e-shop, or at least set a strategy to beat the competition.

Cheers!

 

[@Peter]

My experience with eBay are that of success when it came to sales. BUT the drawback I had was twofold...

1. Constant interference from eBay and nagging clients.
2. No control over the customer as they list on eBay

Now you want to ask yourself what are you selling and do you want the client base to resell or up-sell an additional or second tier product afterwards.

Now in my case I wanted the client for life as nowadays it becomes even more difficult to start an online business that sells products from start. However, there are ways to overcome this hurdle. I for instance did a course on how to set up my own website and eCommerce store. I then created my site in a day and the full store was finished after a month. Was hard work though but in the meantime eBay was giving me sales. The setup of the site and online shop costed me only the site hosting as the course I did was for free and very helpful.

Now my advice is start your own online shop alongside eBay and when your sales kicks off on your own site start decreasing the work on eBay.

I at this stage has a far better turnover on my won site than what eBay could ever give me and above it all have a personal relationship with my clients and have full control over what I sell and even when. My current closing ratio on up-selling is between 90% an 93% depending on the product which is far better than what I experienced on eBay.

Hope this insight helped.

Peter Jansen van Rensburg

 

[TJEntrepreneur]

eBay is fine if you're willing to sell on there exclusively. But as people said already, ebay is concerned with building it's own business which means complying with whatever rules they throw at you. It really makes more sense to build your own brand via your own website in my opinion. Building a brand on eBay is difficult cause you're seen just as another seller to many. Use eBay in the beginning to gain sales while having a strategy to build your own website in the longrun with the profits made.

Sent from my HTC One using UK Business Forums

 

[Deleted member 203048]

Hi,

I'm web developer. I designing online stores, websites, logos, business cards, ebay templates.
Why do not start on ebay and with own online strore?

I can offer you a hosting on very fast and reliable server for 35 pounds/year, domain will be free for 1st year.

The whole package so online store+live chat+business card+logo=299 pounds

Please let me know if you need any help.

Regards
Peter

 

[GarethShaw]

eBay can often become a race to the bottom in terms of price. You have to offer a good product, great customer service and comply with all the rules they put on you. My advice is to start on ebay and amazon and look to drive customers to your website once you have a firm base. You can get going on eBay for peanuts without having a website.

 

[UseYourWeb]

Use both, for every ebay sale, place a leaflet in the package with details of your site and if I were you, I'd roll with some sort of 10% off or free delivery on orders through yours site using a voucher code contained in their ebay parcel
You'll find that once they've used you once (due to website only promotion), as long as you look after them and they're happy with the service, they are far more likely to shop on your site again.

 

[UseYourWeb]

also paying for google shopping listings via a froogle feed can bring in vast online sales via your own site through an existing customerbase (googles)

 

[UseYourWeb]

lol it has, its what my php class that exports the feed is called so bit of a habit

 

[TODonnell]

Ebay and Amazon have the 'eyeballs'. Your little shop won't, initially. They're great for reaching people. They take their % and their credit-card processor takes his whack. You can't complain about that. People gotta get paid.

One could copy customer info into an Excel spreadsheet as you go along. Then they're your customers. You can then import that info into any kind of mailing system and off you go.

One could also sell low-cost items on these platforms while upselling the more expensive stuff on your own site. eBay even lets you run pure classified ads. Pimp offa dem beasts!

 

[MyBusinessStory.co.uk]

I would choose own website every time, i have never sold on ebay for business but with your own website you dont have the added cost, you can also target your keywords better on your own website and this will rank better.

depending on your product there is also ETsy, i find them very good

 

[anthonyp01]

I would use both. Have eBay to get sales in and while your doing that, build your own brand and popularity in the mean time.

 

[Transpiredigital]

There are sooooo many more options than just ebay and why not use them all?

Certain sites will sell certain products better than others so use them all and also your own site

 

[Deimante]

I think ebay is amazing for selling your items, I've been using it for four years now. For clothes I'm using Vinted app I can sell, swap and buy there and I find very trendy clothes, so this is great for me!

 

[leshka_uk]

check understandingE [dot] com to see how you can DIY it. no point inventing a wheel and building from scratch. You need a good CMS system. Also you can get design done designcrowd [dot] co [dot] uk

 

[allquality01]

I would use both. Have eBay to get sales in and while your doing that, build your own brand and popularity in the mean time.

I would echo this advice. ebay can be a good 'kickstart' to help you move products while you are establishing a website, give you valuable impetus and experience in sales, returns, stock control etc. My only issue would be what you do once you have your website up and running, do you continue selling the same goods on ebay AND your own website? Obviously your ebay pricing is going to need to reflect the costs of sales (ebay/paypal fees).

 

[JonnyMP]

Are you selling handcrafted goods or artwork? If so, you might be better off using Etsy or other art based site.

You can still use traditional social marketing methods such as Facebook. groups, forums and Pinterest to spread the word about your products.

 

[Karimbo]

set the business up on ebay to get cashflow and then use the profits to fund your website building & marketing.

 

[Ataata]

Go for both, ebay charges are high and making own Magento or OpenCart store is affordable. Best thing is to brand both to look alike so your customers will get a clue where they buying from.

 

[Ataata]

Go for both, one minus that ebay charge quiet a lot. Make own Magento or OpenCart store is affordable. Best thing is to brand both to look alike so your customers will get a clue where they buying from.