I'm selling things on ebay. Im currently listing 100 auctions at a time (once a month) until my limits get raised as thats my cap. My end goal will be around 3k auctions a month. With that said, im considering opening an ebay store. but when i thought of that, one thing chimed in my head which was "build your own website" so whats your experience? Is an ebay store worth it? does it generate extra business or is it just handy for mass-listings (never ending BIN's with qty etc) the ability to have never ending updated quantity listings isnt really usefull for my niche, the only reason I would really have an interest in the store is if it generates more traffic/sales. has anyone done both an ebay store AND a stand alone website? need thoughts plz
Why not do both? Ebay has a lot of traffic, but not everyone is on ebay. Why not use your ebay store to redirect traffic to your own? This way, in effect, you have may other listings then what ebay is limiting you to. If your products are good and legit, you can capitalize on both. The only downside I can see is the payment processor. That is the benefit of having your own website, is the choice of payments you can/want to take. But again, if you are legit, then set up a long time business motto.
I recently see a lot of shops which also offer their stuff on eBay or other auction platforms. They get sales, and they can advertise the shop. (Get e-mails, adresses etc.)
I agree with what the others have said. I started out doing some sales on Ebay. I have since set up my own site. The issue is getting traffic. Ebay has all the traffic you could ever want. If you can list items there and still redirect some traffic to your site that is the best of all worlds.
This is essentially my "bread and butter" - I've consulted so many small companies that were exclusive to eBay and Amazon to setting up their own website and managing sales. One of the first things you have to understand is that eBay does have pre-existing traffic. You also have to understand that eBay is very competitive. You essentially have to be the cheapest to sell anything slightly competitive. You are also strong armed into offering free shipping or you risk low DSR's and eventually being removed from eBay. Next, are the fees. On an eCommerce website, things aren't nearly as competitive. If you would take all of the fees from eBay and invest those into advertising, you will get way more traffic than you will on eBay. For example, 1 item I have on eBay I will sell 1 every day. On my eCommerce website, I almost reliably sell 12 a day. I also charge 150% more for the item, and less goes to fees. I charge for shipping, whereas on eBay I have to offer it for free just to compete. I'm not even ranked for the top 5 for this item through Google.
I use both ebay and my own webstore, though my ebay account is mostly to advertise since i barely make any sales there due to the free shipping offers that are hard to compete with.
