eBay vs ecommerce

Recently, I've been getting my parents started on eBay, and it's something they will likely continue for many years to come (fairly easy money with minimal work).

I've also considered starting an ecommerce website for them, which will target a fairly specific niche (don't have the budget to target a HUGE market, like "clothes"). I will do most of the SEO work and such (and outsource a lot as well).

So my question..what are the benefits/disadvantages of the two?

The first thing that comes to mind is that with ecommerce, you're not paying fees to eBay/PayPal. The DOWNSIDE I see is that you have a much smaller audience (unless you can somehow get more traffic than eBay..haha).

What do you guys think?

Hi,

i use both, eBay and two magento e-commerce shops with jewelry.

ebay is very good has a lot of visitors, lots of traffic and if your price is right then many good sales.
but... too many rules and some stupid customer...
Ebay is good for made fast money.

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your own e-commerce shop is a fine thing, but can be expensive with google adwords, you should absolutely use a niche store.
the best to do ist both, eBay and e-commerce shop and make a ebay customer email list to your own Store for a later newsletter action.

Sorry for my good English

ottomeier said:

Hi,

i use both, eBay and two magento e-commerce shops with jewelry.

ebay is very good has a lot of visitors, lots of traffic and if your price is right then many good sales.
but... too many rules and some stupid customer...
Ebay is good for made fast money.

-
your own e-commerce shop is a fine thing, but can be expensive with google adwords, you should absolutely use a niche store.
the best to do ist both, eBay and e-commerce shop and make a ebay customer email list to your own Store for a later newsletter action.

Sorry for my good English

Click to expand...

Thanks buddy! +rep. You're English is great, don't worry.

That's a good idea actually (building a customer list). Appreciate it buddy.

E commerce is game. Its all about finding a super niche product. Doesn't matter that the big boys are selling that product, but find a specific product and create the store around it. I think the only reason people don't do e commerce is because of customer service which is a real bitch.

But, once you outsource that, your game to scale it up. I am sure ebay is a lot easier and better for short term, while a magento store can make you money for a lot longer. Also, if you know seo, can you SEO an ebay store? lol

I did some calculations around with my ecommerce stores vs. my sales on Ebay. And the actual cost per sale on ebay for me is about $6 while my cost per sale on my own store comes to about $11.

People are complaining about Ebay and I have issues with them too but on Ebay everything is done for you. You get free targeted traffic, you don't have billing issues and you don't have marketing and development costs.

So to be honest Ebay has a lot of disadvantages but for me its the better option at the end of the day.