eBay power sellers: Amazon is kicking eBay's tail

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eBay is paying for its arrogance: I've been on eBay for over 10 years. I use it mostly to sell off older electronic and photo gear after I upgrade. The last few times, I used Amazon instead.

1) eBay has been nickel-and-diming sellers for a long time now, just because they can. Monopoly tactics only last so long before they cause a backlash.

2) The decision to ban negative feedback from sellers means buyers' feedback is essentially useless as a gauge of trustworthiness.

3) The experience on Amazon is much more streamlined for sellers, not just buyers. It takes much less time to list an item as Amazon already has detailed product descriptions.

4) Amazon offers seamlessly integrated listings and payments. You don't have to worry about fraud as much as on eBay because you are paid by Amazon themselves.

5) Your items are offered as a used option to people considering a new purchase. The high "foot traffic" means higher exposure.

6) Amazon listings do not incur a charge, they only charge you when you successfully sell. What's more, Amazon listings don't expire until 30 days.

7) eBay is still the place to go for unusual items, e.g. 1960s classic film cameras. Most of the time, Amazon doesn't even have listings for them.

eBay's futile attempt to chase new item sales will prove their undoing. They had a highly profitable niche as the world's virtual garage sale. eBay simply does not offer as good user experience for buyers as any online retailer, let alone Amazon. Their design is crude and amateurish, and the prevalence of fraud does not make for a stress-free shopping experience. At the same time, the changes they made in the last 5 years have durably alienated occasional sellers such as myself (admittedly in the very long tail).

For a volume seller, it makes much more sense to use a professional e-commerce platform than a flea-bitten one, or even roll your own with software like Magento.

The PayPal business is a good one, but the future I see for eBay is its commerce business shrinking down to cover only collectibles and other unusual items.; Posted by: fazalmajid Posted on: 04/06/09 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use