Should you be selling on eBay?

Wondering if you should be selling on eBay?

I’ve been selling on eBay since 2014. Believe it or not, it used to be my most profitable platform! Let’s break down the pros and cons of eBay today to help you make an informed decision if eBay is the right platform for you to be selling on. And I’ll let you know where I stand towards the end – it might surprise you! Keep in mind that this post is mostly my opinion and experience with my particular niche of products with selling on eBay.

Pros – the good about selling on eBay

There’s good and bad to every platform. We’re going to go for the good first. What makes eBay a good marketplace to sell on? Let’s dive in.

Ease of creating an account

Creating a selling account on eBay is easy. It will probably be the easiest platform you can sign up with. A business account will involve a little more – but you’ll be in in no time and ready to list products.

Competition

I’m not saying that there isn’t any competition (who knows, for your particular niche product, maybe there isn’t?!). But, the competition of fighting for a sell is definitely different on eBay than other platforms. Here’s why:

eBay will list your item higher up on search results if you’re following their rules. If your listing has all the requirements, you’ve been a good seller with little to no issues, your listing is well made and you have solid keywords, your price is set well, and it is selling, then you’ll be more successful at being in front of buyers.

This isn’t the case with some other platforms out there – which makes it slightly easier to be in front of customers’ eyes. You’ll also not be competing with the platforms own products (like Amazon who sells their own products in addition to 3rd party sellers).

Quick Payment

Getting paid on eBay is quick. You get your money almost instantly – unless you’re brand new. In which case eBay may make you wait just a bit until it releases payments.

Global Selling

Selling globally is simple on eBay. I used their Global Shipping Program which made selling internationally much easier with no extra cost to me. They have great options that make shipping internationally easy. My products sold better globally than any other platforms. Part of this reason is because eBay is one of the top global marketplaces.

Cons – why eBay isn’t so great

Here’s where my opinion may come in stronger than other sellers on eBay. Keep that in mind as you read through the cons that I came across while selling on eBay.

Your target market doesn’t shop there

The most important thing to look at when choosing a selling platform is if your shoppers are going to that marketplace. Chances are, you’re reading this post because you sell things similar to my niche (graphics products like stickers, decals, digital designs, handmade items, tshirts, sublimation products, etc.). And for me, my target customer didn’t shop at eBay. They used to, but not anymore. If your customers are looking at eBay to purchase your product, go for it. Otherwise, it may be wise to stick to other platforms.

Listing requirement changes

eBay’s listing requirements are quite extensive. When listing a product, you are required to enter the following information: description, condition, item specifics (brand, size, type, color, etc), category, UPC, part numbers, material, etc. While this may seem like it’s no big deal, it becomes a big deal when you have hundreds of listings, each with many many variations and you are required to add a new item specific to each listing AND it’s variation.

This happened to me over and over. I have hundreds of listings. Each listing has about 4 sizes to choose from and 20 colors to choose from. That’s 80 “items” for one single listing. I would be required to add new or newly required item specific at a deadline which would cost me days and days of work because I would have to change every listing AND variation. To say it was annoying is an understatement.

Unfriendly listing process with products that have variations

Going along with the requirements, their listing process was not simple. If you sell just a handful of items, it’s fine. But when you sell hundred of items, each with multiple variations like I just described, it makes it quite the headache to manage.

Some frustrations I encountered were listing all the variations, it was time consuming. Any editing on a listing (like removing stock information, removing or adding a new color or size) resulted in mind-numbing work. Their bulk editing was ridiculous and didn’t have all the options I needed to make for a smooth process.

Managing stock

My items are made-to-order. Which isn’t an option when listing on eBay. eBay puts a “cap” on the dollar amount you can have listed. When you have as many listings as I did with as many variation as I did, eBay calculates how much of a dollar amount you have listed. Meaning, if I were to sell every listing and every variation possible in my entire store, I would get $X of sales. For me, it was in the millions because of all the variations. eBay will cap that amount at a certain point.

On other platforms, I put that I have 1000 in stock (because it’s made to order and it’s not something that I need to track). On eBay, I can’t do that because it would result in too much in total “potential sales”. So, I had to go into every listing, and every variation and add low stock amounts so I could list all of my products. Which was extremely time consuming.

Does eBay tell you when a size small, white of a particular listing sells out? Nope. You have to regularly inspect your listings to see what was “in stock”. More often than not, the customer would reach out to me and ask me when white would be available *major face palm*.

Feedback system

Getting feedback as a seller is awesome and necessary to build trust and credibility to a customer. Those 5 stars mean a lot to customers (and to you as a seller!). But how about when a buyer wants feedback? eBay has a two-way system: Buyers can rate sellers, and sellers can rate buyers. Buyers would constantly ask to be rated – which took time that I don’t really have. Getting feedback as a buyer helped their overall star rating – which I believe is pointless as a buyer. I didn’t have my feedback on an automatic rating because I have run into buyers who were not good buyers. They wouldn’t pay, wouldn’t communicate, etc. And if you leave negative feedback for a buyer? It literally means nothing. Because you can’t leave “negative” feedback for a buyer. There isn’t an option!

This feedback system isn’t a deal breaker, but I do think it’s silly to leave only positive feedback to a buyer. What’s the point of it then?

Traffic loss for handmade / graphics products

eBay will tote itself as being one of the top platforms for sellers. And that so many millions of buyers are using eBay. A quick google search on traffic loss on eBay will show forum after forum of sellers hurting for the loss of sales. However, statistics show that eBay is a top competitor for online marketplaces.

Find more statistics at Statista

For sellers in a niche like myself, eBay’s sells have decreased year after year. This is because my buyers aren’t shopping on eBay.

High fees

The fees vary quite a bit on eBay. Fees depend on if you have a fixed or auction-style listing, the category you are selling in, the price of the product, upgrades, your performance expectations, payment processing, if you have a store, etc. I found that eBay was my least profitable of all marketplaces I am involved in. This calculator here is a great resource to predict eBay fees.

In comparison to Etsy, on a $20 item with $4 shipping, I was making almost $2 more on Etsy than I was on eBay. Again, keep in mind this is my niche/category (home and garden). The WAY you sell on eBay may be completely different and you may have better profit margins.

Conclusion – Where I stand

Like I said previously, eBay was my top selling platform when I first began in selling in 2014. It quickly got overtaken by Etsy within a year or two – especially after I nailed down my niche of products. A couple years ago I started getting frustrated by their constantly changing listing rules, the difficultly of updating/changing listings, and the rapid decline of sales coupled with higher fees. When my profit margins started to even out with the fees I was paying, I was done. I officially closed my eBay store at the beginning of 2021. This isn’t to say you WON’T be successful on eBay and that you should close too. This is just my experience.

When chosing a platform to sell on, the biggest questions you should be asking is: does my target shoppers go to eBay when searching for my product? What is their overall traffic stats when searching for my product? Are the fees associated with eBay leave me with a decent bottom line? How is their listing process and platform – easy? Do they offer good advertising? What rules do they have? How will I get paid? What is their feedback system like? Is it easy for shoppers to find all of my products (my shop/store)?

In researching for this post, I will say that eBay is definitely a top contender against online marketplaces and e-commerce sites. eBay is a great place for those selling bulk products at highly competitive prices. It may not be the best choice for someone selling handmade items, or a variation of items and specifics. In the end, is your buyers going to look at eBay for your products?