The simple piece of advice which should be considered every time you source a new product.
- Choose your sales platform carefully
- Price your products accordingly
- Make a huge difference to your profits!
You’ll often hear me talking about selling on ‘multiple platforms’ and not to rely on just one sales venue. The reasons are plentiful, but the bottom line is that the more venues your products are available through, the more sales you will have the opportunity of making. Ultimately this means more profit for you. So, it’s very important that if you want to sell seriously online you always consider this.
With multiple venues though comes a small dilemma. Pricing issues. I’m often asked about pricing – should products be listed at the same price point on eBay and on Amazon or should pricing differ according to the sales platform?
There is a little known rule on Amazon (and to my knowledge, it’s one that no seller ever adheres to) and that is that if a seller lists the same product on eBay and Amazon, the selling price should be exactly the same on both sites. But, we’ve all seen it – over on Amazon, prices are often higher per item compared to eBay – even when sold by the same seller.
I was reminded of this recently when I researched and sourced a product exclusively for members of The Source Report. As I was doing my research, it quickly became clear that it would be far more profitable if the item were sold on Amazon, rather than eBay.
I always calculate the full NET profit for the product if it were to be sold on eBay or Amazon and this was the first time in a while that in my opinion, even though the product was in demand, it simply wasn’t worth listing at that time, on eBay…only Amazon. The selling price on Amazon was around £5.00 more than the same product listed on eBay!
It’s very likely that if you sell on eBay then your prices are somewhat driven by your competition. Undercutting and loss leading strategies are in evidence all the time and it’s very tempting to ‘price match’ just to get a look in.
Over on Amazon though things are a little more civilized. Of course undercutting goes on – mostly because on Amazon there aren’t the same opportunities to really sell your product within your description like you can on eBay, as the description allowance is in a different format, much less obvious and much shorter.
But I’m pretty sure that you want to make as much profit as possible from a product, so wherever you are selling, why sell cheap?
Consider alternative venues if the figures aren’t stacking up for your first choice of platform
Once you’ve found an in demand product, if you find you can only make pennies by selling it on eBay compared to pounds on Amazon, forget eBay and look at listing your product on Amazon instead for a higher price.
Of course, there are plenty of buyers out there who will always rather purchase from a website than eBay or Amazon – they just feel safer. And on the other side of the coin there are buyers out there who always think they will get the best bargain on eBay – but this isn’t always true because you also get Amazon loyal customers… who won’t stray from their site of choice – even to compare prices. Even if it means the chance to purchase for less elsewhere! Oh, and don’t think that because prices are higher people won’t buy – they will!
If you’re a dedicated eBay seller, don’t be afraid to mix and match with Amazon as well and vary your products and venues. Your products don’t have to be listed on both sites. As long as you’re utilizing multiple venues across your inventory then that’s absolutely fine.
Go where the profit is!