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