Did you know that anyone can sell their stuff on Amazon.com? If you are a seller looking to expand your market, Amazon is a great place to start. Like eBay, they have a number of options that sellers can choose from to help them maximize sales and increase profits.
Selling without a Store
Ebay and Amazon offer varied selling structures. Both allow sellers to sell without having to commit to purchasing a store. However, selling outside of a store does not come without its fees. If you decide to sell on Amazon without purchasing a store, expect to pay $39.99 per month and a referral fee of 15% of the item’s sale price. The good news about selling this way on Amazon is that you won’t pay any listing fees. On the contrary, selling this way on eBay means that you will pay a listing fee and a final value fee. EBay listing fees are tiered; $.20 for listings starting from $.01-.99, $.40 for listings starting from $1.00-9.99 and so on. Plus, you will pay extra for any additional services, like the gallery image feature ($.35). On Amazon, images are free. EBay final value fees are also tiered; 5.25% for the first $25 of a sold item, then 3.25% for items with a remaining balance of up to $1000 and so on.
For the serious seller, an eBay store or an Amazon webstore might be a better way to go. There are 3 types of eBay stores: basic, premium and anchor. The basic eBay store will cost you $15.95 per month. You can increase your visibility some with a premium eBay store for $49.95 per month. Or you can increase your visibility substantially with an anchor store. This mammoth eBay store will cost you $299.95 per month. The features between the three eBay stores varies, but it is important to keep in mind that with a basic or premium eBay store, you are responsible for all of your marketing. With an eBay store, your products aren’t likely to come up in a search, unless you happen to have a somewhat unique product. Even then, your product will only show up at the bottom of the page. This is a big drawback to an eBay store. On the other hand, with an Amazon webstore, much of the work has already been done. Unlike with eBay stores, your Amazon webstore listings will be cataloged well. With an Amazon store, you don’t have to worry about product placement. Your products will have the same visibility as an Amazon product. An Amazon webstore will cost you $59.99 per month. Again, there are no listing fees and the referral fee drops from 15% to 7%. You will need to purchase a domain name; however, this should only cost you about $10 annually. Visit GoDaddy.com to inquire about a domain name.
Product Restrictions
One major downside to selling on Amazon is that there are many product restrictions. Apparel and accessories are two huge categories that are restricted to certain sellers. You can email Amazon to try and get authorization to sell in the restricted categories, but there are no guarantees. On eBay, you are free to sell just about anything. If you typically sell items that are in Amazon’s restricted areas, Amazon may not work for you.
There are other features to consider, but these are the basics. Building an online store can be both frustrating and time-consuming. However, both eBay and Amazon offer helpful tutorials. An online store can be extremely rewarding and a great way to maximize your sales and increase your profit.
