Will I Be Able to Sell More on My Own Webstore vs Amazon?

[broudie]

I sell my goods (my own design) on Amazon, Ebay and on my webstore. Right now sales volumes are:

38% - Amazon
36% - Webstore
26% - Ebay

Would it be a reasonable goal to be able to sell more goods on my own webstore vs on Amazon? Or will Amazon always win out in terms of sales volume?

[Wozcreative]

You'd have to spend a lot of time and money before you start making money from your own website. Are you prepared for that? Or is the money you're losing on ebay, amazon and webstore services easier to spend than what you'd have to spend to market your own website? Keep in mind this can take a few years of trial and error before you can become profitable on your own site.

[billbenson]

For most businesses you will have a higher profit potential with your own site. As Woz said there is a longer learning curve as well. I don't see why you have to abandon one for the other though.

[KristineS]

A lot depends on what you sell. For a lot of handmade and craft items, Amazon and Etsy and Ebay are good places to sell. They also have marketing and sales tools already established, as well as name recognition. If you move to your own site, you have to create that for yourself, and that does take time and effort and money. On the other hand, having your own site means it's all about your work, you don't have the competition displayed right next to you, and it also means that you set the rules. There are advantages to both options.

[broudie]

My webstore is already profitable. Its likely most profitable of the lot since I don't have to pay what amounts to almost 20% for Ebay and Amazon commissions.

billbenson - I'm not thinking of abandoning any of my sales venues. I am trying to figure out if it's a realistic goal (using SEO or paid ads) to get a greater percentage of my customers to buy from my webstore vs my Amazon store (to get more profits per sales $).

[Harold Mansfield]

Of course it's a good idea to have your own web store. How successful you are depends on a lot of factors, mainly how good you are at sales and marketing. Same as any other new website.

[Lisa2708]

Amazon and Ebay may win out in sales volume but will erode your gross profit. It is also much better to sell through your website even though it will take considerable time and money. You'll control the ability to reconnect and get repeat sales which will be more beneficial in the long run.

[Sohio]

I agree with harold. A lot is determined by how much you put into directing traffic to your webstore.

[jakemcguire]

Hey Broudie,
You posted awhile ago about percentage of sales that you were doing on Amazon, Ebay, and your own website. I think you had your website at 36%. I am also running an online buisness in those three platforms and I am at about 28% on my site.
Do you have an update on how your web sales are doing. I was also wondering how high i can get my web sales to go. I know i won't beat Amazon. But i was hoping to maybe get to 50%. Do you think this is realistic?
Thank you for your time
Jake Mcguire
P.S. Do you know of anyone/anywhere that discusses this? Couldn't find this topic anywhere

[Basikboy]

I have sold, sell on all the avenues mentioned and my own site unfortunately has never been able to keep up with the sales of Amazon, Etsy, Ebay and the likes. In my eyes It is VERY beneficial to have your site produce the most of your sales if you can as the other selling avenues will eventually bog you down with fees, rules and such. Good luck!

[RobertL]

At this point in history I wouldn't set up my own webstore, in general that is, there are exceptions. What are you selling?

[primallogic]

Personally I would choose my own website every single time. However that's only because I know what I am doing and I've done it many times already. Best of luck to you.

[vendoya]

For long term website is better. Period. After years of working with ebay/amazon/etsy/etc/etc I hate them all. Last years following the way of amazon, they treat sellers like a garbage, like an empty space. There are many buyers who benefits from the helpless sellers. When there is international shipping involved, the selling there converting in absolute nighmare. Sometimes you think you might be spending more on doctors than you get with profit selling there.
Despite on all above there is money on all those platforms. Big money. And its understandable why people go and go there to sell. They like to benefit with the traffic those platforms are sending to products. For some people it may work well. I know the guy who sells handmade products and he stable earns at least 30-50k monthly, most of money he receives from sales on Amazon. I got these handmade no trademark issue involved products for the ~30% of the price that appears on Amazon. But no way to benefit with this unless you do it from USA. Listing for everything you have may work for ebay or etsy, but its waste of time for amazon. Its hard to pick up new product on Amazon unless you sell a very special product, but only with amazon its easy to earn good money very fast if you list your version for the product under the existing products which are already well promoted there. Of course, for this you must have a source to be able to sell them cheaper than competitors.

[mentrabi]

We've used them all in the past, each has positives. Consider creating a strategy whereby sales, trust, and awareness come to you through these rented platforms, and then these things are nursed back to your own property through marketing as a repeat purchase direct from you.

At one point we had a product move so well through Amazon, the buyers at Amazon sourced the product and undercut us. Lesson learned, Amazon is a marketplace but they will poach you if they can.

[SteveStrait]

Definitely keep both marketplace (ebay/amazon) and your web store open.
Amazon will bring the volume and its great for social proof and feedback (reviews).

I've surveyed my customers in the past and they often look a product up
on Amazon before making the purchase on the main site.

This is great if you are offering bundles on your main site and single SKUs on Amazon.
This way, you have more control on customers who have bought from your store as you can remarket (inserts, postcards, etc).

[beeline_Chris]

If you already have around 30% of your sales from your own webstore, that is great, and I strongly encourage you to continue that channel.

Since you already have traffic to your site, you should start with ONLY remarketing. That is doing marketing campaigns to people who have already been to your site. Those people will be far cheaper to reach, will be far more likely to convert, and you can test your messages with them.

If you have an ad or article that works really well with the audience you remarket to, there's a good chance it will work for people who've never heard of you, too. With good remarketing, you can definitely beat Amazon, eBay, etc.

It's much more difficult to be as flexible in how you market on a site that you do not own. If you own a site, the possibilities for how to generate sales are endless, and as others have said, figuring out how to do it takes time, but can be incredibly effective.

Good luck!

[uniqmatcha]

I would keep all stores open, whether it is in Amazon/Ebay or own store. Then go for my branding as marketing. Then I would redirect all the buyers to my main webstore through email marketing.

[brain357]

That is interesting to hear. I've avoided selling on there for that reason. They will know your most popular items.



We've used them all in the past, each has positives. Consider creating a strategy whereby sales, trust, and awareness come to you through these rented platforms, and then these things are nursed back to your own property through marketing as a repeat purchase direct from you.

At one point we had a product move so well through Amazon, the buyers at Amazon sourced the product and undercut us. Lesson learned, Amazon is a marketplace but they will poach you if they can.

[SumpinSpecial]

I don't know if the OP has already found an answer he liked and implemented it, but I thought I'd add what I did as an additional idea.

I have my own website but I accept payments through AmazonPay, ApplePay and Paypal, in addition to my platform's payment gateway. That means that my merchandise isn't visible in the Amazon marketplace so I still have to do my own marketing, but at least shoppers can buy my merchandise using their preferred/trusted system. It works pretty well. My sales so far have come about 25% through AmazonPay, 40% through Paypal and the rest through my Shopify payment gateway.

For the Amazon payments, they do take a small fee, but nothing as close to the huge fees they take when you use the marketplace. The payment gateway fee is equitable with Paypal transaction fees.

[smartkpis]

Hello!

It takes a lot more time, energy and money to invest in your own website. Not only is it difficult to built your website brand, maintaining it is very time consuming. Are you ready for that challenge? If you are, then I suggest you should gradually shift to your own web store. By doing so, you can really develop positive impacts, such as:

1. You delete any possible competition
If you are selling in Ebay and/ Amazon, sellers will see your product and a similar product from competitors. By sticking to only your web store, you really help focus your brand and your customer's wants.

2. No more listing or selling fees
With a web store, you are no longer forced to pay listing or selling fees from a third-party website. This, of course, means better revanue.

3. Better, trust-worthy and professional brand
Many users are still hesitant in buying products from Ebay and/ Amazon. By sticking to your own website, you can really show your brand and your professionalism as you please to your customers.

With that being said, I think a developing your web store is a great idea. However, just sticking to selling your products from a web store is not (my opinion). By having options on where customers can buy your products, you are spreading a bigger word of your product and service to individuals who likes to shop via Ebay or Amazon. So, in this regard, I think you should still give those options (Amazon and Ebay) to your customers.

Good luck!
Smartkpis

[chrismarklee]

I think you need Amazon to sell stuff. One of the big problems are returns.