Etsy vs eBay: Which Is the Better Marketplace to Sell?

Are you planning to establish your business online but can't decide on the best platform for you. You may have to deal with a lot of confusion as your choice sets the foundation for your online store. Etsy and eBay are the two most popular platforms, and each of them has its pros and cons list. Many people buy from both of these platforms, but do you know the number of people selling there?

Etsy vs eBay is a prevalent debatable topic, and you must get accurate information about both of them if you need to establish your online store. In this write-up-we'll provide some relevant information about the two platforms, compare both of them, and help you decide which one could be the best for you. So, let's begin with some detailed information regarding their establishment.

Basics of Etsy and eBay

Etsy

Etsy was established in 2005, and since then, it has connected merchants and shoppers whenever they need to create or purchase custom-made items. Coming to some stats, about 7.5 million sellers sold goods on Etsy in 2021, and the number will surely increase in the upcoming years. It is an excellent platform for independent sellers that like to manage their orders and inventory simultaneously.

eBay

eBay is a slightly more major online marketplace than Etsy, as consumers and retailers can trade almost anything here. Shockingly, about 19 million sellers have accounts on eBay, and the number is increasing rapidly as the platform gets more popular daily. You can easily sell new or secondhand items on eBay, and the ease of negotiations makes it a very competitive marketplace.

Pros and Cons of Selling on eBay and Etsy

Both online marketplaces have pros and cons; you must know a few to make your choice easier. So, first, let's take a look at some of the pros and cons of selling on eBay & Etsy.

Pros and Cons of eBay

• It is easy to use
• You can sell to people located worldwide
• It comes with a seller protection policy
• Transparent transactions

• The selling price is high
• Lack of complete control over your listings
• Sellers are pressurized to ship items for free
• You have to deal with a lot of bargain

Pros and Cons of eBay

• There's no startup fee required
• You get better control of your storefront
• No limit to selling products
• You can customize your way of shipping products

• High maintenance fee
• Tough competition despite being such a vast marketplace
• Lack of designs to set up your store
• You get no ownership rights for collected data

How Can Sellers Decide

After getting some decent knowledge about the two online marketplaces, let's dive further into the sellers' experience.

Selling on Etsy

Etsy is the best platform for content creators, artists, or sellers looking forward to selling creative products. There's nothing too complex here, and you can easily sell the items without having a deep knowledge of the eCommerce industry.

All you need to do is prepare the goods well and target the right audience to sell your products. In addition, Etsy allows you to integrate your online store with other eCommerce platforms like Shopify.

Selling on eBay

eBay is known for its flexibility to the sellers, which can be the main reason it is preferred more than any other online marketplace. You can make changes to the design of your product listings, customize shipping charges, and modify the return policies per your requirements.

eBay is perfect for all professional sellers or people interested in selling secondhand items. You can easily sell antique, handmade, or any unique products on eBay. Coming to the store expansion, you can easily integrate your eBay store with Shopify, just as Etsy allows. Another advantage of selling on eBay is it offers better management options.

Etsy vs eBay - 5 Factors Between the Two

Etsy and eBay are pretty much different from each other, so let's take a look at the top five factors that differentiate between the two.

1. Type of Products

As mentioned earlier, Etsy is a great option for artists and collectors, but all types of sellers can sell on eBay. Etsy offers a creative vibe, but eBay is open for all. However, you cannot sell some specified items on Etsy. Some of them would be animal items, tobacco, any kind of drugs, weapons, hazardous items, internationally regulated products, and anything that leads to some illegal activity.

Coming to eBay, you can sell new or old products at fixed and auction-based prices. However, just like Etsy, eBay also holds some restrictions when it comes to selling products there. You cannot sell adult items, wildlife products, autographed stuff, drugs, electrical equipment, event tickets or passes, stamps, currency, coins, and anything else that promotes illegal activities.

2. Ease of Use

When both of the platforms are compared, the first question that comes to people's minds is, "Which one is easier to use?"

Starting with Etsy, it is pretty simple to open your online store on it, but nothing guarantees that you'll succeed. You begin with a sign-up to your account, and after you're done with it, you proceed further. Then, you have to enter your store's name and upload a few products. There's no pressure to come up with a great name the first chance you get, as you can easily change the name of your store later. But be careful because you only get five opportunities. After that, you must register your account and get some tips regarding the items on your listing.

Coming to eBay, you can easily set up your online store here as you'll be provided with the instructions. In addition, you get useful suggestions to promote your products. After you create your account, you can choose if you want to run it as an "Individual account" or "Accountant in Business." Before you make a choice, you must give some thought to your business size and other factors. After that, you'll get an overview of your selling page. You can choose similar products as you set up your store, as it will save you time that you can use to select the right listing template.

3. Selling Charges

You have to pay a decent fee to become a seller on any of the two online marketplaces. eBay offers 250 free listings to the sellers, and Etsy makes the charges very much predictable. Now, let's get into some details regarding the charges:

Starting with Etsy, store owners have to pay three types of fees:

Listing - You have to pay 20 cents to list your items, and this facility expires after four months.

Transaction - For each item you sell, you have to pay a 6.5% transaction fee, including the shipping charges.

Payment processing - The charges depend from country to country, but if you're selling in the US or Australia, you'll have to pay 3% + $0.25 for each transaction.

Etsy also charges a fee for advertising as sellers can create ads according to their budget. The default fee is $1, but if the ad gets a click, the merchant has to pay for it. However, there's no guarantee that ads will work in your favor.

Now, coming to eBay, sellers have to pay monthly or yearly. If you want a seller's subscription on eBay, you have to pay for:

Insertion Fees - As a seller, you can create up to 250 listings each month without paying a single penny. Beyond that, you have to pay $0.35 per listing, which is known as insertion fees.

Final Value Fees - The sellers have to pay a percentage of the price at which they sell an item. It is a minimum of 12.55% of the total sale price and the extra $0.30 for the transaction.

Listing Upgrades - The sellers can change the listings as they like. So, upgrades like larger photos, additional photos, listing on international eBay sites, and more are available at a reasonable price.

Other than that, you'll have to pay the selling fee, but it depends on the item's price, the format, and the category you've selected for the listing. In addition, you have to pay that only if the product is being sold.

4. Shipping Charges

When it's about Etsy vs eBay, you just cannot miss the way of shipping and its charges, so let's take a look at the comparison in detail:

Shipping with Etsy is more accessible as it offers sellers subsidized postage labels. It is cheaper than investing in carriers like FedEx and USPS.

Notably, Etsy has made life a lot easier for sellers by providing tools that help them with shipping. Etsy's easy-to-use calculated postage makes it possible for sellers to estimate their shipping costs and charge their buyers accordingly.

Their convenient shipment monitoring system lets you get a quick overview of all the orders under your account, showing you where they are in their journey toward your buyer while also allowing you to change delivery warnings before they ship out. And finally, the customs form assistance option enables you to upload the necessary customs forms required by certain countries before the order leaves your hands rather than doing so on arrival and having to pay costly fines.

Although eBay does not require sellers to offer free shipping, many retail stores still find it necessary in order to compete with other sellers. Unfortunately, this can mean taking a hit on business profits through the extra expense it entails. However, the news is a bit brighter for those looking for wholesale merchandise at wholesale prices!

After all, one of the main advantages of using eBay is that postage rates are generally fairly low regardless of how much an item weighs or how far it has to travel. This is especially true if you bought multiple items from the same seller over a short period.

Additionally, while we're on the subject of pricing and discounts, eBay has already done some research into assuring their customers get good deals since they've been around so long. So what this means is that buyers can make use of their search feature to find specific items at specific prices, thus avoiding any surprises when they go to check out.

5. Customer Support

The seller support center offered by Etsy is very simple and covers a lot of issues. You can get help regarding order handling, business management, questions regarding payments, issues regarding listing tools, and more. However, sellers often complain that Etsy takes very long to solve their queries.

eBay offers an effective seller support system as you can contact their help center if you need information related to selling fees, creating listings, selling tools, and much more. However, the system is quite basic, and it was highly appreciated during the COVID-19. In fact, some sellers consider eBay's customer support better than Etsy for one more reason. And that is, you can communicate via email, phone call, live chat, and even via social media platforms.

Conclusion

In the end, it is concluded that both marketplaces are great and offer amazing benefits to their sellers and buyers. eBay is great for business owners witnessing growth in their online business, and Etsy is perfect for small business owners looking forward to reaching more audiences.

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