Over the years countless business have launched themselves wholeheartedly into the Amazon or eBay market place with … let’s just say ‘mixed’ results. The essential question we want answered is how do these internet superpowers treat the little guy, and is it really worth injecting your time and energy into eBay/Amazon stores when you could be building your own site?
We want your comments for this topic, feel free to email us your experiences and more and more blogs will follow.
It’s fair to say that eBay and Amazon have faced much controversy in recent years in relation to their somewhat ‘underhanded’ dealings with sellers both big and small, from the usual timely amazon ‘review’ right before your disbursement date and the eBay ‘refund all’ agenda, as we have all seen in the past. How can business get ahead on this footing, and are the claims of ‘eBay millionaires’ really true. I personally find it very hard to believe. I am sure that some business out there exist working quite well In association with eBay and amazon, however all the companies I have spoken too have a very different outlook on the internet moguls.
eBay.co.uk
There are countless forums/blogs on the net outlining the problems that one might face working with these third party sites, the vast majority of which seems to snowball overnight. One particular case is where a UK based dressmaker sold a wedding dress via eBay to a customer in the USA. 4hours after making the purchase the customer opened a case claiming that the item ‘was not as described’ and demanded tracking info. When the dressmaker got to her computer that morning eBay and PayPal had already refunded the customer the £1,500 and suspended her account!
We have all heard horror stores like this, and some of us have fell victim in similar ways. But let’s stop for a moment and break down the situation down into a nice little graph.
It’s safe to say that the traffic generated on the eBay marketplace is every entrepreneurs dream. High volume, high coverage, high visitor engagement, what more could you want… well maybe my money, for a start. Yes that’s right, all too often eBay sellers have been slammed with the 30, 90, 120 day payment freeze and account suspension. Loads of blogs suggest that when a seller contacts eBay or PayPal regarding the account suspension, they start playing the ‘blame game’.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that sir, but that’s a eBay not PayPal matter, hold on I’ll just get you their number”
“No, no, no… I’m sorry but it appears that ‘PayPal’ slammed you under those circumstances, and won’t tell us anything”.
Sound familiar? I think so.
It’s a sad state of affairs when a business person can’t sleep at night because you’re worried that you shop will start refunding every customer that visited over its lifetime. One guy actually told me that eBay continued to let him sell, but PayPal wouldn’t take the money for the items, or at least wouldn’t let the seller touch it. “oh yes good sir, I would like to purchase that stool”, “well my love, its packaged and all for you, just call back in six months and sure you can pay then”. Don’t think you will roll in the millions with that attitude, well maybe… But you would have to be selective about your customers.
So let’s sum up the cons of using eBay:
Ok so there are a lot of problems that a seller can run into on eBay, but if I’ve missed anything please drop me a line.
So once you dodge all of these traps and pitfalls surely you will be on the ‘pigs back’ so to speak. Well that’s the problem, when exactly do you know that’s its plain sailing from here on out? With eBay … you don’t.
Amazon.co.uk
It can’t be all bad, can it? Let’s take a look at some of the facts regarding Amazon. Amazon led online retailers with 282.2 million visitors that month out of a total Internet audience of 1.4 billion, comScore estimates. That’s a 27% jump from June 2010, when Amazon got 221.8 million visitors — which was 17.7% of all Internet users. In the new report, Amazon was followed by eBay with 223.5 million, or 16.2% of all Internet users. China’s Alibaba.com got 156.8 million (11.8%). The report also found that Amazon has an impressive global reach. Just 35.4% of its visitors came from North America in June. Europe was Amazon’s number two market with 31.8% and Asia Pacific produced 24.1%. In contrast, 83.4% of Walmart.com’s visitors came from North America.
With more coverage ethan eBay amazon seems like another good bet. However as many blogs suggest there is a shadier side to this beloived smiling A-Z giant. All to often online business trading on Amazon get slated due to random reviews, pending orders and a system which, lets face it, when things where going well it worked fine. However introduce a slight bump in the road and you cant seem to find any information for any of the departments you need to speak to. Amazon’s ‘contact us’ tab has load and loads of information however no contact details. They have a lovley little tabe where people can submit there telephone number and amazon will call them back. I personally don’t like this system, as Amazon appears to select who to call back and who not to.
One of the more startlying artlices I read, with over 14,000 comments attached was regarding the ‘seller performance and veloicty reviews’. Lets face it, every seller on amazon has to go through on of these at some point. What this artcile was getting at is the information provided by amazon to help you ‘expediate your review’. They ask for, company reg details, VAT numbers, Addresses, Directros ID and proof of address and above all…. Your suppliers information.
Head over to the wholesale forum and find a range of people having falling victim to amazon sezing a gap, or should I say taking over a gap in the market. It is reported that after suspending accounts amazons simply starts selling their products.
To be honest, I cant verify this information however I will keep digging.
So in short
Conclusion
It’s safe to say that there is no good answer on wither amazon or eBay really are any good for small business. Both have massive traffic, high competition, fees (which are taken at the drop of a hat regardless of the situation on your account), sneaky departments, faceless, hidden policies and can shut you down overnight. Never plant your eggs in the one basket. At the end of the day, when you have bills, suppliers and staff to pay you can’t let eBay or amazon hold the purse strings.
Although one might think that I am bias in my opinion of eBay and Amazon (which I’ll admit I am) I do believe that on can benefit from using their services, however what I would suggest is ‘slow growth’. Due to EU money laundering regulation, these companies have to keep a close eye on every £ or $ you make, and of course how much you have. It’s true that there is so many scams on the net, Trust is the issue of the day. A small business trading on eBay or Amazon can benefit from the trust that they have built up over the years, however as I said before on a small scale.
Build your own site. Be in control of your business however using amazon and eBay’s traffic is a great way not only to test the market and your pricing but get your brand out there. A few select items on a store there will not alarm anyone about your growth but could see people coming to you direct to see the rest of your catalogue.
Thanks for reading, as I said before I would love to hear your experiences with amazon, eBay weather good or bad, or maybe just the benefits of having your own site. Also keep up to date with our product reviews and freebees on our Facebook and twitter pages.
Cheers
Tony Robinson
p.s. amazon.co.uk phone number is: 0800 496 1081
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