Amazon vs. eBay: Why One Will Eventually Leave My Business

Amazon vs. eBay: Why One Will Eventually Leave My Business" - After years of selling on both Amazon and eBay, I'm facing a tough decision. In this video, I explain the pros and cons of each platform and why one might not be worth keeping.

**********************************************************************

*************************************************************
**************************************************************************
DISCOUNT CODE: GSP15 All Caps for the discount
*******************************************************************************

******************************************************************************
STUFF I USE BELOW

USE GSP10 to get 10 percent off you order. I receive no commission.





****************************************************************************
******************************************************************
*********************************************************************
***********************************************************************
Legal Disclaimer - Some links found in the description box of my videos may be affiliate links, meaning I will make commission on sales you make through my link. This is at no extra cost to you to use my links/codes, it's just one more way to support me and my channel! :)

[bearsmom]

About 10 years ago I sold big time on Amazon and was ungated in every category. After I got my kids through college I quit it. I felt like a hamster on a wheel trying to feed that beast! Now I have fun treasure hunting at garage sales with my grandkids and selling a few things a week on ebay for fun money.
BTW, it was funny hearing you mention Mansfield Ohio! That's where I'm from. 😊

[hotdogs]

Iam with you. I use to sell on Amazon for years. Sold $100k a year but it got to aggravating and expensive. The fees, the gated categories, the pay per click, and the returns and the returns. People use things and return or do return scams on you thinking ohh it's rich amazon not thinking it's small third party sellers. Amazon i had somwtimes a 30% return rate
For some categories that were womans categories where I sell the same stuff on ebay and have about 1-3% return rate at worst. I now sell 100% ebay now for the past few years only.

[generalmerch]

I just like selling on eBay because it feels like it's my own business

unlike Amazon where I feel like I'm an employee of Amazon.

[judydaines]

I agree 100%. Amazon has really gone wonky lately and I don’t have a clue. I send in the books and hope for a profit at this point.

[tommasi]

Great explaination, good to know that the problems we have other people have the same problems. Yes also, going after items for ebay is a learning experience. You buy something cool and don't know much about it, but you learn and increase your knowledge.

[mcgruber]

What could work for you is to have some type of grandchild/relative that is in middle/high school learn how to scan the books for Amazon for you. That way they could earn money while scanning bins of books for you at a time, and they would also be learning how to source. I have taught my niece in middle school how to do some of these things, and I pay her for her time.

[Kevin-rscr]

I have owned and operated a publishing company for the last 20 years. About 12 years ago Amazon started going downhill. It is a terrible company to do business with and I would advise everyone to do as little as possible with them. I cannot overstate this, doing business with Amazon has caused me such terrible emotional agony. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I would say just focus on the better books that will sell on eBay.

[juanitajohnson]

Thank you!!! We're approaching retirement in a couple of years, and I have been feeling bad that I just can't seem to get myself started selling on Amazon -- it just seems so intimidating and we don't have tons of storage space to run a big enough Amazon biz to do enough volume to offset the fees. Maybe my gut has been trying to tell me to just stick with Ebay and my consignment booth!

[christeneotoole]

Excellent video, Mike. It sounds like you should go eBay only when you decide to semi-retire. You can always go back to Amazon if you wanted too. There is a lot to doing a fun-partime job when retired. After all, you need to do what you “want to” in retirement. Plan to relax more and enjoy life and what is left of it!

[bobbdrake]

There's also the option of doing Merchant Fulfilled and books with higher ASP and doing less volume. I average $28-32 per item and keep about 75% of the gross (I exclude shipping here, but my real shipping costs are less than what I bring in from shipping charges even after the fees taken out of it). Returns a lot less merchant fulfilled... My listings have good descriptions and photos on Amazon too. Ebay customer service is way better though--I'm very impressed with them after selling for a lot longer on Amazon and then ramping up Ebay in January.

[sdarlingt]

With Amazon FBA it's more like working full time. As Mike says you have to "feed the beast". Mistakes on my part were costly when I packaged a shipment of books incorrectly. I had to stop because I was unable to source sellable books. With Ebay, if you need to take a break then it's no big deal. Definitely like selling on Ebay much better than Amazon. If you have the time and can source the books, Amazon could make some serious money. Just takes a lot of work.

[damienhawthorne]

I used to do FBA for a brand product we did, but the inventory policy sucks at Amazon. The majority of what I sell goes on eBay, but I do have about 100 items on Amazon and I’m doing FBM, because they sell at a premium on Amazon. But I do feel like it is harder to get an item sold on Amazon due to the FBM option as my items can’t go Prime.

[MakeMoneyGR]

i had 1700 books on Amazon that i sent out from my house everytime i had a sale and they kept shutting me down making me prove i am me.. After that happened like 5 x . I pulled the plug i copied all the information on the amazon site to locate the location of all the books i had . Like shelf 2 cabinet 5 etc. Then relisted all my books on another site and never looked back the best thing i done.

[SandyRandall-co]

Thanks for the great video. Just a quick question not related to Amazon. I recently picked up some golf clubs to sell and trying to figure best way to ship. It seems usos is more than ups or fed ex. Noticed most of your clubs having standard shipping price of $14.95 or close to that. What carrier is best to ship golf clubs? What is best way to determine shipping price?

[ClydeButler]

We have scaled way back since retirement and don't sell on Amz any more. Just too much jumping through hoops there. Enjoying eBay a lot more after scaling back there as well. When it becomes too much it's time to reassess. Great points!

[harlock-]

I have sold media on both Amazon and eBay for 20+ years and I agree with your assessment. Trying to get help on Amazon is nearly impossible. I'm a small fish and they don't seem to care a lot about us. Just sending in inventory has gotten more complex and much more expensive. I enjoy eBay much more than Amazon, but for now I do both. I do wish eBay would evolve a little. It could learn from some of the things that the smaller venues (Mercari, Whatnot, etc.) are doing such as being able to identify hashtags to help the search and live selling. I'm sure that change is like turning a Battleship for companies the size of eBay. Thanks for the content - you look a lot like my uncle who grew up in Massachusetts! 🤣

[davesoddnends]

Good topic Mike and no doubt you'll do what's best for you and your family. When I started my semi-retirement a couple of years ago, I knew I wanted to play on Ebay. Having watched you, Raikan, and others, I serious thought about the doing Amazon FBA until I saw what a beating it could be. As I approach 70, and much like you, I want to control things and do things at my pace and my time. And I've always said that if it stops being fun, I'll give it up. So, I want it to remain fun and likely won't go down the Amazon path. I may possibly look at cross-listing on other platforms like Mercari, etc., but even then I'm not sure I want to learn the nuances of each. Time will tell, but keeping it fun is the imperative for me. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on things!! Dave

[jasminek.]

I started selling used books on Amazon about 8 and 1/2 years ago FBA. I've always dabbled very lightly in eBay for about 20 years, just selling a few items that I was familiar with. In spring of 2023 I switched to FBM because Amazon was making me so nervous. January 2024 I became an everything seller on eBay (again bc Amazon was causing so much anxiety) . My sales between Amazon and eBay right now are about 1/2 and 1/2 and I love doing ebay. I know if something happens with Amazon- eBay will be my home and I'm okay with that. BTW- I get way more excited when I see an eBay sale notification on my phone versus an Amazon one lol.

[HustleMagnets]

Mike august was horrible....my bday month so i kinda half assed to be honest....well september def is making me pick up the pace. 15 total sales on august when i usually average about 25-28 sales a month. Already 9 sales 4 days into the month. I did immediately pick up the listing pace so im sure that had something to do with it. Im getting a usual supply from one of my sources that i always get this time every year, so im definitely excited about september!

[CherylBrew-fo]

Love all of your videos!! Very inspiring 😊