Moving from Ebay to your own website

[Scott@KarmaContent]

Hi,

I'm currently writing an article for a client of mine on the issue of whether Ebay sellers should consider moving from Ebay to their own e-commerce platform.

From my own research the reasons people have considered it include:

• Ebay fees
• Complaints/returns (unfairly treated by Ebay, left out of pocket)
• Want to move to a platform they control
• Prices being driven downwards
• Hard to differentiate from competition/can't build a brand

Reasons stopping people doing so include:

• Despite the above, Ebay is a fantastic shop window
• Expense of investment in their own website

I'm just wondering if there are any other reasons that people have decided to go one way or another? Or have adopted mixed approach using both platforms?

Many thanks!

 

[Paul Norman]

I sell over 95% of my stuff through my own platforms. Many of the brands I retail would simply not want to see their stuff on Ebay, and in reality, I can shift all I can buy through my own sites.

However, the biggest factor by far is profitability and customer service, which I can control. I am confident that I would not be able to retain the margins I do selling on Ebay.

But - and this is important I suspect - my websites are established, and have been for many years. I have invested heavily in them - for which I am grateful. It took time to build up the traffic to the current levels.

I would still do it the same, however. I do not like the 'cheap is best' approach of Ebay and Amazon. Neither do I like them taking control of my customer service, and not usually in a way the customer likes.

 

[antropy]

• Expense of investment in their own website

I'd probably expand this to include not just the website build but the on-going marketing efforts you'll need to get traffic.

Best strategy is to sell from both a website and eBay and Amazon. The more sales channels the better, generally speaking.

 

[Scott@KarmaContent]

Thanks for the input so far, very useful!

 

[loganmcqueen]

Why would you not have both, if both are profitable?

 

[toastking]

In my personal experience eBay has terrible customer service. If you don't want to be associated with that kind of customer experience then that'd be a reason to leave.

Also there is a perception of eBay businesses as 'small-fry' and so to appear bigger people will want their own website offerings. There are big eBay businesses but the perception, no matter how many sales or feedback received, from the general public is likely to be that they are not real businesses just someone running the eBay stores from their kitchen tables.

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

Not just the eBay fees but the PayPal fees also. UK eBay sellers are forced to only use PayPal for card processing via the store (in the US you can use your own merchant account/gateway) and depending on your card turnover you could be paying 3.4% plus 20p per transaction. Having your own platform means you can choose your own complete card processing solution and thus reduce your costs greatly.

 

[Scott@KarmaContent]

Some great points, thank you.

 

[Paul Norman]

And remember, the security issues, although easy to overstate, are not totally irrelevant. You can create multiple Ebay accounts easily, with you - the seller - having very little information about who your customer really is. And if it unravels, and someone's Ebay account is used without their authority, you - the seller - will have to pick up the bill.

Don't over think that though. Ebay does have a function. But if you can invest enough in your own website, and make it work, it will be more profitable.

People can, however, and do, run very profitable operations on Ebay!

 

[MOIC]

Do both.

Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.

People may well start from a "kitchen table" but can grow rapidly to large warehouses as well as selling through fulfillment warehouses in different countries.

It really depends on the product, how many you can get to fulfill all your potential orders and if you want to protect your "brand image"

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Both - how much do you have to invest to get the exposure that ebay can bring? Get the customer via ebay and convert them to your store.....!

 

[Chris34]

One major thing that hasn't been mentioned is the fact that Ebay can shut down your account just for not meeting their 'robot' criteria. So it's financial suicide to build a huge Ebay only business.

Let's say I sell 100 widgets to 100 individual customers. The widgets turn out to be a faulty batch and I have most of the 100 customers complaining to me about them. I contact all the customers potentially affected, apologise and refund everybody their money. Then 20 or so days later Ebay contacts those customers automatically asking them to rate their experience on 1 to 5 stars on 5 different categories. Anything less than 4 stars is classed as very bad in Ebay's eyes. Out of those 100 customers if I have just 5 of them give less than 4 stars on any 1 of those 5 categories (one of which is 'item as described') then I'd be on the limit of Ebay's selling criteria, if I got 6 then I'd fall foul of their criteria and be banned within a month without being allowed back (a permanent ban).

If you try and ring Ebay up to explain then they will not listen. Ebay doesn't care about their sellers, they only care about buyers.

Based on these facts it makes it common sense to move your further investments in your business away from Ebay whilst still playing the Ebay game for all it's worth.

It's extremely high risk to play the Ebay only game.


Chris.

 

[apricot]

I don't think any seller who is already on eBay would 'move' to own platform. They'd have as another channel but surely they wouldn't close their eBay products and move to their own website. Although, there is a fee etc, eBay does bring customers and sellers probably would end up paying for their website even more than what they pay to eBay.
I think the word 'move' shows ebay as a 'bad' platform and push sellers away but ebay does help to many sellers in the end. There is no need to create bad reputation for eBay.

 

[Leather Briefcase Company]

We started on eBay in 2004 - just to sell off an accumulation of samples.
Two years and nearly three thousand sales later we started our own websites because -
1. eBay was getting a bad reputation - many more sellers with dubious products, either copies, or shop-lifted items being fenced.
2. we were fed up with PayPal. [ judge jury and hangman in any dispute ]
3. we were building their brand, not ours.
4. some of our suppliers did not want their products on eBay, as it really upset their regular retail outlets.
5. the element of fair comment by sellers and buyers was removed, and eBay just supported buyers.

Occasionally I look at eBay today, it has some really good sellers, but I feel that there is too much tat, no proper descriptions, and a lot of overseas sellers who trade but do not pay VAT.
It's very poor compared to the lovely young trading company I remember fondly.

 

[123 IT Solutions]

Most of the clients I speak to use eBay as a traffic tool. Once someone buys from their eBay store they include details about their online store in the packaging and invoicing along with a small discount for a repeat purchase through their online store.

 

[dtdigital]

The important things to consider are:

• Will you get the same exposure?
• How can you get your loyal customers to buy from the website.

A client of mine struggled to get the same exposure to their products after leaving eBay and so I suggested Google Shopping as it's pretty cost effective and they've never looked back.

PM me if you need more help

 

[exom_expert]

I'd add that having your own web site for your store, would also allow you to provide some custom functionality specific to your industry/niche, which is not available on eBay.
For example you can make special promotion campaigns with different conditions, like buy this with some of these and get 10% off.

 

[Jayser100]

Mr Consultant is right, it makes no sense to talk about choosing one or the other and I am always astonished that people think they need to have this mentality towards their business. Unless there are specific, technical reasons why not, you should look to sell on your own website, eBay and Amazon. If you're a little more adventurous you can also sell on Amazon platforms in other countries, and eBay sites in other countries too.

When people go online to shop, some go straight to Google, some straight to Amazon, some straight to eBay. Why miss out on any of these potential customers?

You may hate eBay for some reason, you may also hate Amazon but if you are making profits selling there, ask yourself this - are you in business to make money? If so, don't let your principles get in the way just because eBay hacked you off for some reason.

 

[BigTree]

We had our own store first but tried eBay to target customers our other marketing was not. In the end I closed the store as I felt it was damaging our brand and the buyers were a pain in the az.

We still have an Amazon store as the branding works a lot better as again use it to target new customers and direct them to our main store.

Something I will add though is that I no longer us eBay as a buyer as quality and shipping times became an issue due to foreign sellers and the same is happening to Amazon.

I use Amazon for everything but I'm increasing finding some items can take a month to arrive or items arn't as described. I'm started to source direct from online stores and I'm sure many other buyers are getting tired of the way Amazon are heading. It's becoming more and more a foreign sellers marketplace.

 

[japancool]

Both - how much do you have to invest to get the exposure that ebay can bring? Get the customer via ebay and convert them to your store.....!

Does that work, in practise? I have read many posts that say this is very difficult to achieve.

 

[japancool]

Mr Consultant is right, it makes no sense to talk about choosing one or the other and I am always astonished that people think they need to have this mentality towards their business. Unless there are specific, technical reasons why not, you should look to sell on your own website, eBay and Amazon. If you're a little more adventurous you can also sell on Amazon platforms in other countries, and eBay sites in other countries too.

When people go online to shop, some go straight to Google, some straight to Amazon, some straight to eBay. Why miss out on any of these potential customers?

You may hate eBay for some reason, you may also hate Amazon but if you are making profits selling there, ask yourself this - are you in business to make money? If so, don't let your principles get in the way just because eBay hacked you off for some reason.

I don't "hate" either ebay or Amazon, but with slim margins, the final value fees mean that we simply wouldn't make enough money to make it worthwhile. We can't raise prices to sell on ebay, because there are non-UK based sellers on there already selling the same products more cheaply than we are, so the listings wouldn't be attractive enough.

In addition, many of the people buying my products from overseas sellers on ebay are looking to avoid customs duties, which I obviously can't provide.

 

[rodion]

Hi
I think you can find pretty much feebback on this on ebay community forums

 

[makeusvisible]

We have had several clients wrestle with this dilemma.

Generally speaking, I would never advise someone to move their core business away from eBay 100%.....especially if they are profitable.

The approach that we have used in the past is to initially build a Magento based website, and integrate with eBay using m2ePro. This allows the customer to use their website as their management point for listing products and managing orders.

Somtimes we would then introduce a third platform...Amazon. So from the single management point, the customer now has listings on eBay, their own website, and Amazon.

The final step where a customer is looking to scale down their ebay, listings, is to look at driving traffic from Google Shopping directly to the main website. Again, this is handled from within Magento via the Google Merchant Centre. Some customers have found the cost-per-conversion on Google Shopping to be less than the final value fee on eBay..... but on some occasions, it can work out that the cost per sale is quite simply less on eBay.

Another issue that very often arrises, is that a customer with their own site, also selling on eBay will actually be competing against themselves on Google Shopping...... as eBay also add product placements there. It can be managed.... but it does need consideration.

Two key thing people need to remember when moving away form eBay to their own website....

1. How are you going to drive traffic, and is it going to cost less than you currently pay eBay. The businesses with the fastest ROI tend to be those where the customer is returning to re-purchase on a frequent basis... e.g. consumables.

2. Don't have all your eggs in one basket. The more streams of traffic/sales you have the better... e.g. Google Shopping, eBay, Amazon and Organic Google.

 

[silvermusic]

Another issue that very often arrises, is that a customer with their own site, also selling on eBay will actually be competing against themselves on Google Shopping...... as eBay also add product placements there. It can be managed.... but it does need consideration.

One of the benefits of making your own products is being able to target different markets with different products, or making adjustments to ranges specific to each platform. I do budget ranges on eBay that sell well but wouldn't sell that same product on my web site. Equally I do products on my web site which don't work on eBay as the platform is too price driven.

Not as much now, but I use to suffer from cannibalising myself on Google by offering identical product on both eBay and my web site. As time goes on I will totally separate the eBay business from that of my website. The two customer profiles are very different, but both good profitable markets in their own right.

As for getting eBay customers over to the web site, it's like trying to push water uphill. Not sure I want eBay buyers and their discount expectations on my web site either if I'm honest.