eBay vs Amazon: Which Platform Should You Sell On?

eBay vs Amazon: Which Platform Should You Sell On?

For any online reseller, the question of where to sell your products is one of the most critical decisions you'll make. Two giants dominate the landscape: Amazon and eBay. Both are household names and the oldest online marketplaces, offering access to millions of potential buyers.

But the similarities often end there. The experience of selling on ebay vs amazon involves different fee structures, fulfillment methods, customer expectations, and platform rules. Choosing the right one can be the difference between a thriving business and a frustrating venture.

This guide will break down the essential differences between the two platforms to help you decide when it comes to ebay or amazon to sell. We’ll cover everything from consumer trust and seller fees to fulfillment logistics. We will also show you how you can master selling on either—or both—platforms to scale your business with powerful tools built for resellers.

Amazon vs. eBay: The Titans of Ecommerce

Before diving into the details, it’s important to understand the scale of these two marketplaces. Amazon, which launched in July 1994, is the undisputed #1 top-performing e-commerce site in the world.

eBay, which launched just over a year later in September 1995, holds its own as the #3 top-performing e-commerce site. Both platforms offer sellers a massive opportunity to get their products in front of a global audience.

While both are viable options for nearly any business model—from Private Label and Wholesale to Retail Arbitrage and Handmade goods—their core philosophies and operational models present different advantages and challenges for sellers.

Consumer Trust and Brand Loyalty

One of the most significant factors in the ebay vs amazon selling debate is consumer trust. In this arena, Amazon tends to have a clear edge over its competition.

A primary reason for this is Amazon’s customer-centric approach, epitomized by its A-Z Guarantee. This policy ensures that shoppers can receive a full refund if they are dissatisfied with the quality of their purchase or its delivery time. This builds immense confidence and brand loyalty among buyers.

By ensuring robust support post-purchase, Amazon has cultivated a loyal customer base that trusts the platform implicitly. As a seller on Amazon, you directly reap the benefits of this established trust.

eBay’s return policy, in contrast, can be more complicated for buyers. Sellers on eBay have the option to tick a ‘No Returns’ box on their listings. While this gives sellers more control, it can signal a lack of confidence to potential buyers and leave them with no recourse if they are unhappy with the product. Amazon sellers do not have this option, ensuring a more consistent and trustworthy experience for customers.

Fulfillment: The FBA Game-Changer

How you get your products to your customers is a cornerstone of your business. Here, Amazon offers a level of flexibility and support that sets it apart.

Amazon Fulfillment Options: FBA and FBM

Amazon sellers have two primary fulfillment options:

• Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM): You, the seller, are responsible for storing your inventory, packing orders, and shipping them to customers.
• Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA): You ship your products to an Amazon fulfillment center, and Amazon handles the rest.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is what truly distinguishes Amazon in this comparison. When you use FBA, Amazon takes over a significant portion of your operations. They store, pick, pack, and ship your products for you. Crucially, they also handle customer service, returns, and refunds related to those orders.

This service can be a massive advantage. It gives sellers back valuable time to focus on other critical areas of their business, like sourcing new inventory and marketing. While FBA fees are higher than FBM, when you calculate the costs of storing, packaging, and shipping products yourself, the cost differential often goes down significantly. For many, FBA can even save money compared to self-fulfillment.

eBay Fulfillment Options

When selling on eBay, sellers have one path for fulfillment. You must either pack and ship all orders yourself or hire a third-party fulfillment center to do it for you. There is no integrated, platform-provided solution like FBA.

While eBay requires sellers to run every aspect of their operations, Amazon gives you the choice. This flexibility allows you to decide which fulfillment method best suits your products, profit margins, and business goals.

Ready to simplify your selling process no matter which platform you choose? Our platform is designed to help resellers like you manage inventory and listings across multiple marketplaces with ease. Try Reeva for free today!

Seller Fees: A Detailed Breakdown

Understanding the fee structure is essential when deciding between ebay or amazon to sell. While eBay’s fees are generally lower at first glance, Amazon’s can be more straightforward depending on your business model.

eBay Seller Fees

eBay’s fee structure has several components:

• Insertion Fees: You get 250 zero-insertion-fee listings per month. If you list more than that, you’ll pay an insertion fee for each additional listing. Running an eBay store can grant you more free listings.
• Final Value Fees: Once an item sells, eBay takes a percentage of the final sale price. This percentage is calculated on the total amount paid by the buyer, which includes the item price and any shipping and handling charges, but not sales tax.
• Managed Payments: eBay now requires sellers to use its managed payments system. The payment processing fee is included in the final value fee, simplifying the cost structure.
• Optional Listing Upgrade Fees: If you want to enhance your listing with features like a larger photo or a subtitle, you’ll pay extra. These optional fees can add up quickly if you use them regularly.

To give a concrete example, for a fixed-price product selling at $22.95 in the Baby category on eBay, the fees would come to approximately $3.44.

Amazon Seller Fees

Amazon's fees vary depending on your seller plan, the product category, and your chosen fulfillment method (FBA or FBM).

Seller Plans

First, all Amazon sellers must choose one of two plans:

• Individual Plan: No monthly subscription fee. Instead, you pay a $0.99 fee for every unit sold. This is best for those selling fewer than 40 items per month.
• Professional Plan: A $39.99 monthly subscription fee, with no per-item fee. This is for sellers moving more than 40 items per month and provides access to advanced tools.

Selling on Amazon Fees (FBM & FBA)

Regardless of your fulfillment method, you will pay "Selling on Amazon fees" on every sale. This primarily consists of:

• Referral Fee: For every product sold, Amazon takes a referral fee. This is a percentage of the total sales price and depends on the product category. On average, you can expect to pay a 15% referral fee.
• Fixed Closing Fee: For sellers on the Individual plan, there is an additional $0.99 fixed closing fee per item sold.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Fees

If you choose to use FBA, you will pay additional fees on top of the Selling on Amazon fees:

• FBA Fulfillment Fees: This is what Amazon charges to fulfill your order (pick, pack, and ship). The fee is based on your product's size and weight.
• Monthly Storage Fees: Amazon charges for the space your inventory occupies in their fulfillment centers. This is calculated based on your daily average volume in cubic feet.

As an example, if you sold a product for $36.99 on Amazon as an FBM seller, you might pay around $6.54 in fees before your own shipping costs. If you sold that same product using FBA, your fees would be a minimum of $14.59, which covers both the referral fee and the fulfillment services.

Finally, if a customer requests a refund, Amazon charges a Refund Administration Fee, which is either $5.00 or 20% of the refunded charge, whichever is less.

Customer Base & Product Types

Understanding the typical shopper on each platform can help you decide where your products will perform best.

The Amazon Prime Effect

One of the biggest advantages Amazon has over eBay is Amazon Prime. With over 168 million Prime users in the U.S. and over 200 million worldwide, sellers have immediate access to a massive audience of dedicated, repeat shoppers.

Because shoppers pay a monthly or annual fee for Prime, they are psychologically motivated to make the most of their subscription. This means they often turn to Amazon first. Loyal Prime members don't just shop on Amazon; they also spend significant money during major sales events like Black Friday and Prime Day.

Furthermore, a whopping 63% of consumers use Amazon as their primary search engine when looking for new products. If you're selling new items, being on Amazon means you're positioned exactly where most shoppers begin their search.

eBay's Niche and Versatility

eBay has historically been known as the go-to platform for used, vintage, and unique items. Its auction-style listing model lends itself perfectly to selling these types of goods competitively. People looking for second-hand items often prefer eBay over Amazon.

However, it's a misconception that eBay is only for used goods. Nearly 80% of eBay’s inventory is brand new. This makes it a viable marketplace for sellers with their own brand of new products, offering another channel to reach more buyers. One interesting exception is that for second-hand books, Amazon is generally considered the better marketplace.

Unlike Amazon, eBay doesn’t restrict what can be sold based on a product’s quality (excluding illegal items). This means you can sell virtually anything, from brand new in-box electronics to threadbare vintage clothing.

Scale Your Resale Business on eBay and Amazon with Reeva

The choice between ebay vs amazon selling doesn't have to be a choice at all. Many of the most successful resellers sell on both platforms, as well as others like Poshmark, Mercari, and Depop, to maximize their reach. The challenge then becomes managing it all.

That's where we come in. Our platform is an all-in-one tool designed specifically to help resale businesses run, grow, and scale with ease by simplifying and automating their operations.

List Everywhere with One Click

One of the biggest hurdles of multi-platform selling is the time it takes to create listings. Our platform removes that friction. We allow you to crosslist your items to multiple marketplaces, including eBay, with a single click. You can publish your products everywhere without ever switching tabs.

As Northwest Fab Finds noted, our platform presets most essential fields, "including tedious eBay fields," making the process quick and easy. For resellers like Hiview Reloved, our tools made it easy to expand to eBay and create more listings in just a few months than they could in a whole year on their own.

Proven Success for Resellers Like You

Don't just take our word for it. Resellers using our platform have seen incredible growth. TUFFNY scaled their business faster by cutting admin time by 30%, while Nuzzydeals scaled their listings 60% faster and achieved a 7x increase in sales. Vintage Vault WV saw an incredible 372% increase in sales in just three weeks.

For many, the time saved is just as valuable as the money earned. Shop Threads and Stuff found that by cutting out the majority of listing work, they had more time to spend with family while still increasing their sales and earnings.

You can read more inspiring stories from resellers who have transformed their businesses on our customers page.

Automate Your Way to Growth

Beyond listing, we help you automate the repetitive tasks that eat up your day. Our system can instantly delist sold items across all platforms to prevent overselling—a feature AlistairBP says they "couldn't live without." This automation allowed them to scale from selling 3-5 items a week to 10-15 items a day.

Are you ready to stop juggling platforms and start growing your business? Start your free trial of Reeva and see how much time and effort you can save.

Conclusion: So, eBay or Amazon to Sell?

The decision of selling on ebay vs amazon ultimately depends on your specific products, business model, and long-term goals. Both are powerful platforms that can help you build a profitable e-commerce business.

Amazon is the ideal choice if your priority is leveraging unparalleled fulfillment logistics, tapping into a massive and loyal customer base, and benefiting from high consumer trust, especially when selling new products.

eBay is an excellent option if you are selling unique, used, or collectible items, want more control over your return policies, and are looking for a platform with generally lower fees. It's also a fantastic secondary channel for sellers already on Amazon to reach a different audience.

But you don't have to choose. The smartest strategy is often to sell on both. With the right tools, managing a multi-platform business is not only possible but also the fastest path to growth. Our platform was built to do exactly that—simplify your operations so you can focus on what matters.

Whether you choose eBay, Amazon, or both, we are here to help you succeed. Start your free trial today to see how Reeva can transform your resale business.