The pain of choosing the right sales channel for your online venture is just too real. You may have heard of the best selling platforms, notably Shopify vs eBay, but are still undecided about which one will live up to your expectations.
With respect to this concern, it is advisable to weigh up them both with us in all these aspects involved before choosing the right eCommerce option for your online store:
- A quick glance at Shopify and eBay;
- Shopify vs eBay: Pros & Cons;
- and Detailed comparison of Shopify vs eBay.
Since the excitement has built up, let’s read on for a further understanding of how to tell Shopify and eBay apart.
Integrate Shopify with eBay using LitCommerce!
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What is Shopify?
Firstly, those who do business on top eCommerce platforms universally sing Shopify’s praises for being the whole package.
Developed as a cloud-based shopping cart, Shopify offers a hosted and standalone solution whose sole purpose is to start and manage an online store. Online merchants will have their stores up and running quickly while knowing next to nothing about technical skills.
What is eBay?
As a digital equivalent of a department store, eBay is one of the top marketplaces for selling products online. It accommodates thousands of different B2B and C2C vendors to put almost anything, both new and used, on the market.
When selling on eBay, eBay sellers can specify a starting price for their items and start the bidding processes between buyers thanks to auction-style listings. When the listing ends, whoever with the highest bid wins the right to buy the items.
Shopify vs eBay: Pros and Cons
Before jumping into the detailed comparison between Shopify and eBay, let’s have a look at their strengths and weaknesses.
Shopify’s pros and cons
Strengths
When it comes to Shopify reviews, there are several benefits you might get.
- Rich source of eCommerce tools: Shopify equips its users with an extensive app collection where powerful eCommerce tools and features can readily cater to every business need.
- Full ownership over store development: Because you are the creator of your own Shopify store, everything is under your control. With the support of the Shopify-powered template language – Liquid, users can create and edit specific product content and systems, namely product titles, price, tags, and filters, logically at their convenience.
- Design flexibility: Shopify has a wide collection of themes and templates for users to put on a visually attractive store display with high creative freedom. You can also use Shopify theme development services to improve your site’s visibility and functionality.
Weaknesses
- Costs accumulating: Since you take full charge of the website development, you will have to factor in all aspects to get your store up and running, which means you have to pay a considerable amount for the utmost scalability.
- Setup process handled yourself: Mostly in charge of a whole standalone website, you have to make all arrangements on your own, from website development, themes, and design, to marketing and security.
- Extra time and effort required for complete beginners: In exchange for the development flexibility, you will have a large amount of knowledge to learn to properly operate your store, which will be a real burden to fresh users.
eBay’s pros and cons
Strengths
Merchants can get several benefits of eBay store when selling on this platform:
- Access to a large existing audience: eBay uses the leading online marketplace reputation to its advantage by constantly connecting sellers with millions of global buyers.
- Seller protection: As a seller-oriented online marketplace, eBay has its own set of policies to protect sellers from any unethical purchase practices and out-of-control events. In specific, eBay will remove any unfavorable feedback and defects if they are proven to be caused by external factors and the sellers are not to blame.
- Simple to use: eBay already provides existing foundations and frameworks for users to conveniently follow their guidance and create a store of their own there.
Weaknesses
- Selling fees too high: Because they have to host millions of shoppers and sellers, eBay frequently charges the latter very high fees, around 12.5% on average. Mainly, these fees may include insertion fees, final value fees, and listings upgrade fees.
- Selling limits: eBay sets the rules on how you sell periodically, such as the listings and the categories. However, the limits can be adjusted depending on your revenue and the feedback you have received from your customers.
- Limited customization: eBay fails to provide as much development flexibility, leaving online sellers no choice but to rely on their default features and limiting the prospects of scalability.
- The extra effort required to distinguish your store: Considering the little room for customization, hard work is significantly essential. Therefore, your business can stand out from other competitors who likely have similar designs and features.
After knowing about their pros and cons…
Both Shopify and eBay have their own strengths and weaknesses. To better grow your business, the need to integrate Shopify with eBay has risen constantly. By using an utmost multichannel selling tool, you can manage and sync data across channels within a central dashboard quickly and accurately.
Shopify vs eBay: Detailed Comparison
Now is definitely a good time for the ins and outs of both Shopify vs eBay to see which one will sit well with you.
Shopify is among the top eBay alternatives for sellers. But what about other potential ones? Read our article and find out soon. It’s already live on LitCommerce Retail Blog!
#1. Shopify vs eBay fees
Shopify pricing
Basically, shopify is a subscription-based eCommerce platform solution and offers different pricing plans so users can pay the most suitable price for their business size.
Basic Everything you need to create your store, ship products, and process payments |
Shopify Level up your business with professional reporting and more staff accounts |
Advanced Get the best of Shopify with custom reporting and our lowest transaction fees |
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Monthly subscription fees per month | $29 | $79 | $299 |
Yearly subscription fees per month | $14.44 | $39.44 | $147.78 |
Credit card rates | |||
Online | 2.9% + $30¢ | 2.6% + $30¢ | 2.4% + 30¢ |
In-person | 2.7% + $0¢ | 2.5% + $0¢ | 2.4% + 0¢ |
What’s included | |||
Reports | Basic | Professional | Custom |
Staff accounts | 2 | 5 | 15 |
Inventory locations (maximum) | 4 | 5 | 8 |
Shipping discount (maximum) | 77% | 88% | 88% |
Aside from the subscription fees, sellers need to pay for the following necessities to operate and optimize an effective Shopify store:
- Transaction & Payment Processing fees: If you use Shopify payment – an in-house payment solution from Shopify, they are complementary. Other payment gateways will quote you around 0.5% to 2%, depending on your pricing plans.
- Other plugins/extensions:
– Domain name: Starting at $11/year.
– Themes and designs: from $0 to $350.
– Add-ons and integrations: from $20 to $70 (some are even more than $350).
For an in-depth comparison of feature fees across all pricing plans, please feel free to refer to this detailed Shopify Pricing guide.
eBay selling fees
Conversely, eBay charges sellers different layers of pricing, the first one of which is the monthly account subscription fee.
Store Type | Monthly subscription fee per month | Yearly subscription fee per month |
Starter | $7.95 | $4.95 |
Basic | $27.95 | $21.95 |
Premium | $74.95 | $59.95 |
Anchor | $349.95 | $299.95 |
Enterprise | Not currently available | $2,999.95 |
According to eBay seller fees, you will have to pay other 3 main types of fees when using eBay’s services:
- Insertion fee when you list a product: $0.35/listing.
- A final value fee when a purchase is made: mostly 10% with regular accounts
- The listing upgrade fees: $0.1 – $6.
Some of the optional final value fees you may or may not encounter, depending on your listings choice, are:
- Advertising fees: You have to apply this additional fee if you advertise the items within the platform and they are sold.
- Dispute fees: If you are found liable for a dispute claim, you are prone to this fee.
- International fees: The buyer’s address can decide upon this.
At the same time, you should keep in mind that you can’t receive the return fees if your items are unable to sell.
The verdict:
When comparing Shopify vs eBay fees, Shopify offers a more attractive pricing package, depending on your selling intents when it adds up to fewer types of fees than eBay.
#2. Products types
In the comparison of Shopify vs eBay, choosing the most suitable and profitable products to sell is super necessary. Correspondingly, sellers should look for the product type which is allowed to display on these selling channels.
Shopify’s product types
Shopify is quite generous with the product types they allow to sell on their platform. Despite the tough competition, you can refer to the top trending products to sell on Shopify and make the best profits from them, particularly:
- Books, print, and electronic;
- Music records, vinyl LPs, and CDs;
- Belt buckles;
- False eyelash items;
- Household cleaning supplies.
However, you must make sure that your products and services are consonant with Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) in that you steer clear of certain prohibited items. They can range across this list:
- Firearms;
- COVID-19 unless they follow the Rules of Engagement for the Sale of COVID-19 Related Products;
- Child exploitation;
- Intellectual property;
- Terrorist organizations;
- Self-harm;
- Others.
eBay’s product types
On the contrary, eBay is pretty strict about the products they allow store owners to sell there. Above all, their responsibility is to, as they always highlight, ensure the safety of their community and increase customer experience.
Feel free to check out the compilation of what sells best on eBay:
- Face masks;
- Hand sanitizer;
- Dumbbells;
- Webcam;
- Weight plates;
- Apparel and accessories
If you are looking to sell clothes, eBay can be quite an ideal place, but have you heard of Poshmark? This makes an incredible eBay alternative in terms of clothes and accessories. Check out our comparison of Poshmark vs eBay to learn more details now!
Apart from the best sellers, you need to bear in mind eBay’s selling limits and the list of prohibited and restricted items policies, for example:
- Mature audiences only (prohibited);
- Drugs and drug paraphernalia (prohibited);
- Firearms, weapons, and knives (prohibited);
- Alcohol (restricted);
- Animal products (restricted);
- Charity listings (restricted).
As a result, this may call for a great deal of patience and hard work to comply with their selling rules, or else there will be violations, and you will be under the selling restrictions.
If it’s any consolation to you, eBay will increase your selling limits when you are deemed to meet enough buyer demand.
The verdict:
Although eBay may set more limits on the product types sellers can put on display, rest assured that they can confidently run their store under eBay’s protection.
#3. eCommerce tools and features
Both Shopify and eBay have their own eCommerce selling tools to help sellers streamline sales operations and manage data effortlessly. Let’s take a deeper look at each platform to find out what both Shopify and eBay provide for their sellers.
Shopify eCommerce tools and features
Shopify itself comes with an impressive number of inbuilt eCommerce features, some of which are:
- Inventory management: It is possible to add products on the back-end interface or import CSV files with intuitive listing templates. Sellers can keep track of the inventory cycle on sale, from controlling the inventory amount via SKUs to delivering the products properly. Besides, Shopify provides some of the best inventory management apps.
- POS system: It perfects the simple process of making transactions for customers in a user-friendly way to make sure that sales can be generated from anywhere, both online and in person.
- CRM system: The system makes sure that users are in capable hands thanks to task automation, including but not limited to marketing channel and customer service process, and the analytics strengths for data-driven decisions.
- SSL certificates: This functionality, present in every Shopify pricing plan, encrypts all sensitive data, particularly credit details, for the security of transactions, thus enhancing the credibility of potential customers in your brand.
Notably, you can look for any tools, ranging from products, inventory, and payments, to shipping, to integrate with your store and expand the functionality with Shopify App Store. There are several free Shopify apps to meet your business needs, such as the best review apps for Shopify.
eBay eCommerce tools and features
Because of eBay’s competitive marketplace nature, sellers need to take every opportunity associated with eCommerce tools and features to differentiate themselves and optimize their stores. Correspondingly, there is a large selection of professional extensions that eBay offers to achieve that objective:
- Seller Hub: Provide business and management optimization
- Selling manager tool and Selling templates: Instruct sellers to manage, create, and monitor listings. You can list multiple items on eBay or utilize eBay listing tools to save countless hours and effort.
- Promotions manager: Develop promotion campaigns as part of Marketing activities for the target customers.
- Sales reports: Track and analyze business performance to understand the main sales drivers and produce sales generation techniques.
- eBay apps: Equip stores with state-of-the-art eBay tools to boost store performance.
Furthermore, consider those suitable for your location and your product characteristics.
The verdict:
In regards to eCommerce tools and features, it’s a tie between eBay and Shopify because they have their own repertoire of extensions for their intended users to grow their business.
#4. Order fulfillment and shipping
Order fulfillment
There are 2 main order fulfillment methods in Shopify and eBay for store owners to choose from.
The self-fulfillment method is reasonable if you:
- Have just opened your store;
- Plan to operate it on a small scale;
- Require an economical option;
- Plan to use personalized packaging;
- Sell custom products.
You are able to look for third-party fulfillment service providers who will handle the storage, packaging, and shipping for you. They are mostly Shopify and eBay-integrated apps that connect with your admin and update your order progresses in line with the fulfillment. This option suits you best if:
- You seek outside help for the post-payment tasks;
- Your warehousing capabilities are past the point where you can handle the job manually.
Although this method will save you time compared to manual fulfillment, it raises costs for large-scale businesses as you will be charged for the corresponding services.
Shipping
Product delivery varies among 3 main methods: local pickup, local delivery, and shipping, in that it depends on the availability and characteristics of your products. Shopify and eBay will connect your accounts with different shipping carriers so that they will do the job for you.
While local pickup and local delivery alike require direct interactions from both parties, Shopify and eBay have acquired a network of integrated shipping carriers for the purpose of product shipping. Given the buyers’ registered shipping address, those shipping providers will transport and deliver the items.
Whether domestic or international, export or import, buyers can access eBay shipping solutions and Shopify shipping services from a few prime examples, such as DHL eCommerce, FedEx, USPS, and UPS. Therefore, it’s best to learn how to ship on eBay and Shopify properly to fully control shipping fees.
The breaking news
However, Shopify owns up to eBay over dropshipping in the sense that the former proudly stands high in the list of top 10 B2B marketplaces for dropshipping. Basically, you can save plenty of money – $31/month – and time – 30 to 40 minutes – to set up and start the most basic dropshipping store with Shopify.
Indeed, the availability of over 100 Shopify dropshipping apps, a renowned name being Oberlo, is also convincing that online store owners are likely to make a profit from this niche.
The verdict:
Although Shopify and eBay share a majority of similarities in order fulfillment and shipping options, Shopify still has a slight advantage over eBay in the dropshipping power.
#5. Design and theme
If you consider running a standalone website, you must be aware of the importance attractive visuals have over your business performance.
Shopify’s design and theme
The Shopify theme store with a stock of 120+ professional-looking and eye-catching design items is always within your reach. You can easily find the best free Shopify themes, together with 100+ paid options, from website design professionals who support customization on request.
Furthermore, the flexible and creative UI/UX elements are of great value. Vendors can attract customers’ attention to the target promotional sections and leave a lasting impression on your website visitors against other competitors.
For instance, they can display information about best-selling and recommended products via slides and image carousels, as well as customize categories, tags, and searches to boost product discovery.
Similarly, what if you wish to make bespoke changes to the chosen default theme and templates? Shopify’s editor can make it possible to add touches here and there for preference. A few rearrangements in Shopify’s layout, the fonts, and the color scheme, though not as striking as their open-source competitors, will suffice for your business growth.
eBay’s design and theme
By contrast, eBay allows you to use their default layout and change your store profile pictures, and that’s all there is to it. In fact, they do not provide themes and quite lacking in the visual department. You will have to make do with their logo and branding characteristics thereof.
Besides, you need to pay extra mind to the quality of the listing images and the suitability of the listing templates so customers will favor your store over other sellers.
The verdict:
When it comes to design flexibility, eBay cannot hold a candle to Shopify. If store appearance is high on your list of priorities, definitely go with Shopify for its customization possibilities.
#6. Help & support system
Shopify’s support system
All things considered, other sales channels can hardly overcome Shopify at this. It offers multiple support methods for online merchants to choose from, either indirectly or face-to-face.
In particular, the indirect support system includes a help center, community forums, and video tutorials. Shopify even provides support via email and social media so you can easily keep track of the exchanges.
Meanwhile, if you prefer human interaction, support via phone and live chat is available anytime to take care of your queries.
Under their advanced pricing plans, Shopify even assigns you a special agent to deliver specialist support free of charge in case of emergency.
eBay’s support system
Compared to Shopify, eBay does not provide support methods as diverse, and you mainly get access to their Help Center and Community for documentation and fellow sharing, respectively.
Although quite limited, you can count on chatbot, live chat, and phone calls if you wish to talk directly with their Customer Support team.
Nonetheless, eBay lacks email support, which is possibly a nuisance to their clients. They will find it challenging to dig deep into their requests in detailed conversations with the Customer Support agents.
The verdict:
In conclusion, Shopify beats eBay in the promptness and the variety of support methods available for online sellers.
Shopify vs eBay: FAQs
- Can I sell Shopify products on eBay?
You can by all means list and sell your Shopify products on eBay by integrating Shopify with eBay using multi-channel selling tools like litCommerce.
It is possible to make the most of each channel’s strengths and enjoy the best of both worlds with litCommerce as your reliable multichannel selling partner, which is all the more reason to connect Shopify to eBay.
- Is selling on eBay better than on Shopify?
Relevant aspects covered, you can start your own eCommerce journey with eBay as a beginner. Their ever-present online marketplace nature will get you used to the inner workings of the industry and, particularly, your investments with the lowest risks involved.
In fact, against other competitors in the market, Shopify is still the best choice for eCommerce users. They can get online stores up and running quickly with the added advantages of themes, ease of use, support system, and data security for good measure.
You can quickly secure success with your Shopify store should you come up with appropriate strategies for your business and marketing activities.
In fact, against other competitors in the market, selling on Shopify is still the best choice for eCommerce users. They can get online stores up and running quickly with the added advantages of themes, ease of use, support system, and data security for good measure.
To conclude, you can quickly secure success with your Shopify store should you come up with appropriate strategies for your business and marketing activities.
Torn between Shopify and Ebay?
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Shopify vs eBay: Final Comparison
Hopefully, you have grasped the fundamentals of Shopify vs eBay comparison until this point. The best path here is to get familiar with the eCommerce industry via eBay at the beginner stage, then integrate eBay with Shopify to leverage the eCommerce power combined and scale your business performance.
Lastly, LitCommerce gladly accompanies you along this multi-channel selling journey. With this multi-functional tool, you can bulk list products across different sales channels. Besides, it is possible to manage your orders in a centralized location with ease. Additionally, we can handle your special customization requests that are outside the default service scope it offers.
Please do not hesitate to leave us a message if you want to talk with us about your concerns. Also, you can join our Facebook community or visit our Retailer Blog to exchange sharings and experiences with other eCommerce enthusiasts.
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