Which Online Store Do You Prefer?

[AudreyPratt]

If you have an online store, do you prefer ebay, Etsy or Amazon? And why?

[LeslieBarber]

I prefered my own ecommerce site. It was so much more profitable! Having said that though, we did sell through Amazon and found them to be awesome partners for our product. Curious about others' experiences?

[ALexRuf]

I used to sell my hand-made beauty accessories on Etsy and Vinted. And a good friend of mine suggested that I set up a standalone website using one of these wordpress beauty accessories store themes . With my own website sales trippled if not to say more. The key is to market your website, I use social media platforms for this purpose.

[AudreyPratt]

@ALexRuf What a great success story! Do you have any tips on how best to market your website on social media? Thanks for sharing! 

[NYZcoach]

I do have an on-line store https://store.neuroyoga.zone and I use "nopCommerce". It's a free open source ".Net" based platform that has multiple features in addition to the store; i.e. blog, newsletter, etc...

I use it for the security of the platform, very flexible and scalable, interfaces with multiple payment systems, and I can brand it anyway I want. Does require some techical skill to impliment.

If you are looking to do e-commence avoid Wordpress and its plugings, the security is just not there. This is comming from a seasoned web developer with over 20 years experience and doing sites for fortune 100 companies. :smileywink:

[AudreyPratt]

@NYZcoach Thank you for the valuable intel! This is super helpful feedback for anyone in the e-commerce business. 

[Shahji]

Hi ,

I have seen many clients of mine having their Personal Website and they also sell on Amazon or Ebay Or Etsy as well.The Only reason is that they want to expand their market reach and More Profits and ultimately what their goal is. So adding new platforms to sell is always profitable what they think. 

I am not sure what everyone else thinks about it but i also believe that if selling on multiple sales channels will somehow increase the Profitability and reach.Hence i might have to price my product at 22$ to compensate the fees associated for selling. But as you know Amazon or eBay are very big Marketplaces and customer hits are more on these rather than personal websites as it may not be that much popular. So there are upsides and downsides.

[EmilyCowan]

That's a really interesting insight, @Shahji! It certainly makes sense to meet your consumers wherever they prefer to shop. Do you see any downsides to selling on multiple platforms? Is there a point at which the effort of juggling various sales channels begins to cut into any gains in profitability?

[Shahji]

Hi @EmilyCowan ,

The Only downside i think is managing the Inventory synced across all the channels but softwares like webgility Unify or any other apps are managing pretty well. Other downside is always the fees associated on selling on these platforms. So Lets take an example i can sell a product on my website which will cost 20$ to a customer but on Amazon or eBay i have to make sure they are priced correctly so i can compete with Other sellers and also can make money on the sale.Hence all the cost benefit analysis needs to be done prior to listing on Marketplaces where competetion is waiting.

[Shahji]

But as you know Amazon or eBay are very big Marketplaces and customer hits are more on these rather than personal websites as it may not be that much popular. So there are upsides and downsides.

[EmilyCowan]

Great points, @Shahji! The biggest challenge sounds like pricing for profitability on each platform.

I wonder if there's some room to view giant platforms like Amazon and eBay as a kind of marketing outreach for products that are handmade or otherwise unique (the kind you'd likely find on Etsy). I definitely shop around online to find the site with the lowest price. If I happen to run across a truly awesome specialty product on Amazon, I might see if I can buy it at a lower price directly from the seller. It's an extra step for the consumer, but for niche products you can't find anywhere else? I wonder if SEO-blessed Amazon or eBay can also be viewed an opportunity for discoverability. In addition, listing there with a couple good customer reviews might lend more credibility to very small online sellers in the eyes of the consumer. I guess my question is, is there a marketing upside to listing on multiple channels that we haven't considered?

[Shahji]

Hi @EmilyCowan,

I can sum up some of the Pros and Cons on Selling on the Marketplaces,which are as follows but there may be others which i cannot recall ,

Pros:-

Already established market, so no need to create Demand.
Instantly recognisable by Buyers
Start Selling Fast as soon as uploading your first product.
No need to worry about IT and Infrastructure.
Some Marketplaces even handle your Inventory (e.g. Amazon Prime/FBA)
Already established 24*7 Customer support by Marketplace
Buyers Pay with confidence
Easy Product Shipping and delivery management
Test your Product’s acceptability among Buyers.

Cons:-

Lower Profit Margin even if there is greater Sales
Buyers are Not your Customers
Higher competition inside Marketplace between same type Sellers
Lower Brand Visibility
Product focused not Seller Focused
Missing details of customers for analysis and CRM
Higher requirement levels like Tax and Legal papers
Delayed pay-out duration
No Customer Loyalty
No direct communication between Buyer and Seller
Many products are Prohibited at Marketplaces
No Seller’s Store customisation available.

I hope this can help :)

[EmilyCowan]

Wow, @Shahji - thanks for that amazing list!! You make a great point about how online marketplaces reduce contact between producer and consumer, thereby limiting the opportunity to develop relationships and loyalty among a niche customer base. For many small businesses, that personal touch is a huge value add.

@SarahGonzales just wrote a fantastic piece on the evolving fashion industry that addresses this very issue. In fact, all this month in QB Community we are discussing the many ways technology has shifted the way we do business, and online selling/reselling certainly qualifies!

[flowerteas]

I use etsy for my handmade loose leaf teas and vintage teacups and ebay for all the related items that aren’t allowed or don’t make sense in my etsy shop. I tried my own website but it took enormous amounts of time and in 2 months I only had two sales and one of those was to my mom. 

Yes,i pay large fees to etsy and ebay but when I sell my handmade loose leaf teas on my local farmers market circuit those costs are high too. If I had a brick and mortar I would have overhead expenses that wouldn’t decrease if sales were bad so I like the flexibility of paying commission on actual sales to these big box platforms. There are some listing fees but they are small.

I like etsy better than ebay because in general it doesn’t have the swap meet feel that ebay has. Also ebay has really vicious timeliness standards. I had a few items with the wrong ship date and they put me on probation and restricted my seller standards. 

[EmilyCowan]

Hey @flowerteas - welcome to QB Community, and thanks for weighing in! If you can't decorate your own brick-and-mortar store, and hosting your own website isn't working for you, then at least you have the opportunity to brand yourself with a virtual frontdoor. I'd love to see it - how about you add your Etsy store link to your member profile?

(And thanks for sharing that about your website. I think many of us who sell products or services - myself included - have had the experience of mom or dad being customer #1!!) 

@SarahGonzales posted a fantastic piece last week about "6 Successful Small Business That Started at Their Local Farmers' Markets" - and I'm pretty sure all of them eventually shifted to online selling. Do you consider your online store a path toward expansion or simply another valuable revenue stream?