I can't tell you how many times I get this question.

I would say it really depends on your specific niche. If you carry dollar store items or more of flea market genre then I would say ebay is the better choice.

Mainly because you would benifit from ebay's large audience at a more economic standpoint than you would if you invested money and advertising into your own website.

The main attraction to ebay is that they do all the advertising for you. Customers know ebay, they check ebay, and they definetly buy from ebay. So as a result the customers are there, its just up to you to lay your merchandise out for them to see.

If you were to open a website for dollar store items, it would be very expensive and time consuming to market each individual product. To create an adword campaign for each product would put you out of business the first week.

Now I'm not saying it can't be done with a website, because it can and it is. However its not an easy task.

I myself sell brand name apparel. So hands down opening up a website would be a better choice than using ebay. I'm not saying it won't work, because I sell on ebay as well and use it as another avenue of revenue. However I pull a much larger margin from my own website than I do ebay.

Why?

Having your own website is like operating a closed market, where you dictate the prices, styles, and terms. Once a customers visits your website, hes yours. You can tell him or her what the prices are and what your specific terms are. And if they choose to purchase something from your site you have the oppurtunity to form a long lasting relationship with that customer for years to come.

Now, with ebay, customers have choices and in my opinion too much freedom. Why do you think its so hard to find the right niche to even pull a small margin? You have thousands of competitors doing the very same thing you are(not really much)


I'll give you a real life example. I sell North Face Denali fleece both on ebay and my own site.

On ebay I get on average 70-85 for North Face denali Fleece. (Higher for rare colors and this holiday season)

On my website I have a fixed price of 110.00(free shipping) This price does not change. Its my store price.

I run a Adowrds campaign that costs me about 52.00 per day. I sell about 5-6 jackets per day at 110.00 each. Thats roughly 600.00 per day.

And I also compile a list of customers who bought from me and e-mail them weekly updates on new styles. They are now my customers who trust me and love my site.



Not with ebay...customers who purchase from me don't even give me a second look, they have a sea of choices.

For more advice or if you want to carry some of our products feel free to PM me.

Hi. Are you in the UK?

I'm located in the US

When I got money too invest, I will look into e-commerce. I am better in selling things and looking for trends than I am in SEO.

Sell on ebay. Use those sales to drive traffic to your own website. Build email list and profit.

Ebay is good to grab some quick customers than website. Cause it is more trusted. once your site get branded name then you wont need ebay

Originally Posted by yahhtrick

Sell on ebay. Use those sales to drive traffic to your own website. Build email list and profit.

This is your best bet. Always find away to generate site traffic you can even offer incentives like order from my site get 5% off.

I am looking for n. face with YKK zippers.
I am new to black hat forum but 10+ year online seller.

That's (almost) exactly what I do! I quit adwords a while ago and this is probably the cheapest advertising there is (except the word of mouth of course!)

You have several options - again - depending on your product.

I use "good until cancelled" - set it and forget it, so you don't have to dick around with it once you set it up - you can have the same price as on your website if you wish, although you may find out that you will sell more if you lower it a bit. I use fixed price, so it's "buy it now" and I don't have to worry about low bids.

And the main thing is that you sneak your website link (it's easy to put "more info" inline link inside the description). You don't have to sell any item on ebay, you get almost free advertising for your website!

Originally Posted by yahhtrick

Sell on ebay. Use those sales to drive traffic to your own website. Build email list and profit.

One of the very first ebooks I ever read way back in the day... The Hidden Cash Machine Hiding on eBay - covered this topic and question perfectly. Bottom line, use your eBay sales to seed the building of your website.

Depends. Mass quantity items. -> Ebay

good idea!

Originally Posted by wholesale83

I'm located in the US

wholesale83, could you PM me?

I am looking for n.face with YKK zippers.