For Newbies: eBay is 100X Better Than Amazon For Small Sellers | Selling

cyberontix · 2025-12-03T13:51:44.722000Z

The company I helped build was closing so I semi-retired in June of last year. I took my SS and looked at what I was making monthly in eBay and said to myself, "Oh, let's just go for it." I only had about $10k saved.It gets insanely scary, especially from "Black Friday" through the entire first week of December, but it always does, every year, so I'm used to it. All that "Cyber Monday" nonsense doesn't apply unless you're selling, I don't know, new iPhones and video game systems. I've done eBay for 27 years, mostly out-of-production toys and vintage magazines. I like offering cool stuff and I love finding it. I'm deathly afraid of heights, but if I'm in a barn at an estate sale and the guy says "I think there are a few boxes in the loft," and there's no real way to get to the loft except to balance myself on a sawhorse that's sitting on top of a rickety old table, yeah, I'll be there. I love every second of it. Once I found a hand-colored world atlas from 1828 in a trunk and sold it on eBay to a Michigan museum for $400. That stuff jazzes me all the way.Anyway, this time of year I'm mostly listing as much stuff on eBay as I can, so I forget that I've got 30-odd things on Etsy (someone wake me when they get rid of those stupid 20-cent listing fees, good lord) and around 700 on Amazon, mostly CDs I get for free for having written a music column in the local alternative paper since 2004. Over the years, I've come to dread it when an Amazon order comes in. Here's why: Every time it's the same: The customer buys the item for $7 or so with $4.99 shipping. After fees and shipping, I literally always end up with no more than a dollar. You read that right. It's an insult. Every time. This year I started moving the CDs over to my spare eBay account and they've been selling very steadily (I know, this too shall pass); I have about 200 of them up there. If I sell one of the lower-end ones for $7, I usually walk away with around $4 or $5. See the difference?I've only kept my Amazon account open in case of emergency but I should just dump it at this point. Amazon is for people who do massive, massive bulk with tons of turnaround, big bags going to the PO every day, guys who have a few employees and a postage meter. Other than that you're totally wasting your time.I have a friend on Twitter whose pinned tweet is a video about why Jeff Bezos should be brought to the Hague. I totally agree with that. Last I knew, Italian courts were going to stop his predatory practices against small sellers but I don't know if they ever did. The guy has helped destroy mom and pop businesses all over the country, and he always makes sure he's going to win big no matter what. I think he's criminally psychotic.tldr; Yes, eBay's fees have gotten high over the last few years, and they've never had any legitimate challengers, which is too bad for us. I hate that every CyBeR mOnDaY wEeK, eBay fiddles with the algorithm to favor brand new sellers and leaves us veterans to starve until the 2 weeks before Xmas, when buyers have no choice but to pay us. And they always do. Just stick with it, new guys. Keep piling stuff into your listings, it's all you have to do. If you love picking awesome stock, be relentless. You've got this.

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