Survey Independent
P
erhaps unsurprisingly, this month’s Independent Survey by Toy Shop UK on the thorny subject of online sales via eBay
and Amazon, drew a bumper bag of responses. At face value, both options for online selling seem to be an attractive proposition, but as our respondents point out, you have to be careful when dipping your toes in these murky waters.
Toy Shop UK asked its listers: “Do you use Amazon or eBay as a sales channel?” 92 people voted:
Activity Chest
Liz Royal We have had an eBay shop for over four years and it has proved successful in supporting our shop. eBay enables us to access a large active online community at reasonable cost. We list our educational and creative products and speed of delivery at reasonable prices is key. We do not use Amazon due to cost and pricing structure. Continual SEO and promotion of our own e-commerce website is really necessary but time consuming so we need a site that is promoted for us. Time is a always problem for the smaller retailer with bricks and mortar and e-commerce to look after!
Automattic Comics and Toys
Matt Booker I used to use eBay a lot more but the costs of selling have spiralled out of control and with the idiot dealers on there now making such tiny margins you can’t make a healthy profit to justify using it.
Bambolina
Cate O’Neill Every so often I attempt to use eBay but only using Buy Now. I don’t have much success with it at all so it always seems like such a lot of work for nothing. I have been approached by Amazon to join the marketplace a couple of times, but just feel that my squeezed profit margins would be even more squashed with all the fees they charge. I always believed that as an online
20 Toyworld
business I should make more effort to find customers online and both eBay and Amazon are ways of reaching a greater audience, but actually I’m having more success with traditional advertising in parenting publications. The good old multi channel approach I suppose works best!
Busy Bee Toy Shop Co-operative
Claire Waite As a small business we have found eBay to be time consuming and prefer to sell through our own website due to the commission fees.
Childhood’s Dream
Susan Whyman Amazon is no friend to independent retailers - the way that their computer system tracks prices only drives them down, in many cases to the point where it must be impossible to make a profit.
CM Gifts and Collectables
Michael Richards The problem with using these sites is lack of margin. Too many of the same products in the same place. Customers will nearly always buy the best value. We use sites like this but use them as marketing. Unless you have that ‘most wanted’ thing or are the first to have a new release item its hit or miss!
In association with
Is selling on eBay and Amazon a good thing for independent retailers?
13% = Yes, this is our primary revenue stream
28% = Yes, we make substantial use of them
25% = Yes, we use them occasionally
34% = No, we never use them
Delves Wood Bears
Phil Jones-Davies We use Amazon as an alternative way to drive people to our website, but we do make some sales. It also catches some sales from lazy people that cannot be bothered to search for the best price or those that trust a larger brand (ie.. Amazon) over smaller online retailers. Prices (including shipping) are not as competitive/cheap as our own website due to the fees levied.
Electronic Pet Shop
Rob Fulton eBay is too expensive and highly competitive but we do use Amazon. Over the Christmas period, Amazon limits the Marketplace to only professional and highly rated sellers. However, over the years, the quality of Amazon has been compromised by other sellers editing the product descriptions by putting in false details. When we create the product we make sure all the details are correct, but another seller can easily come along and change the details to something else (similar to Wiki). Currently, it is Amazon’s policy to charge a refund fee if a seller has to refund an item due to the description being wrong but when we have over 600 product descriptions which are being changed by others on a weekly basis, this is impossible. Like many online marketplaces, Amazon needs to stop compromising functionality and quality for glitchy gimmicks. Amazon’s fee structure is £25 a month and 17% of each sale which makes it difficult to compete with Amazon itself but if you have unusual products it can still be profitable.
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