Etsy versus Ebay - Your Opinions Wanted

Depends on your stock, depends on your goal, depends on your dream, you passion...Etsy for some people, some stock, ebay for others...different ethos, different platform...

What is your goal? Who are you targeting? What type of stocks are you buying? Searching? HAve you found a gap in the market?

I think yu need to get your ideas collated, you business plan, if you are serious on paper...

If you are playing, or its a hobby or side line...the you need to do the research and make the decision accordingly.

Everyone needs to do their own leg work, we all here come from different places, experince and knowledge bases...

SO I ask you the question.... WHY?WHEN? HOW?....I think if you know all the answers to these questions your answer will present itself.

hope this helps you sort out your needs...
 
I've been on ebay for eight years. The majority as a buyer. I began selling after health issues arose.

Goals: Serious seller. Physical store within 5 years.

My knowledge of Etsy is limited. Would like more information on the advantages and disadvantages of Etsy.

I've heard one disadvantage to Etsy is you can not edit your items after posting.
 
for me there are no serious disadvantages..I have edited my listings after posting, so thats not correct...

but it is a different market obviously...very different ethos of course..and that is very refreshing after the way ebay is going in the last 3 years...as you would have noticed even as a buyer....

But unless you sell on ebay you wouldnt be able t make the judgement for and against.

It has to be your decision...which as I said has to be based on your needs, targets and what you want out of a selling experience. Money? turnover? STatus? kudos? To gain experience a shared experience?
There are no shortcuts, bar one of us TELLING you what to do....and that isnt practicable.

WHat stock do you hold, or look for? WHat are your target selling price points? DO you want a hobby or a business? Your decision based on just advantages and disadvantages is only relevant to you as a seller.

If you havent sold on ebay yet, I guess yo don't have stock? ARe you planning to resell stock you have bought on ebay for a higher price? If so what else are you offering the customer?

things to think about....
 
Vicki - I am thinking and questioning along the same lines, although I just sell during the winter to pay bills then. I have pretty much decided I will list most of my $20 and less items on Etsy and put the more collectible stuff on eBay.

This is silly - but one thing I like about eBay is that you can schedule everything to end the same day. I usually end Sunday evenings, and send everything that has been paid for out on Monday. (That's about all I like with eBay these days.)

I guess with Etsy it's a matter of constantly checking your e-mail for sales. I use Sellers Sourcebook for my lay-out on eBay, so I won't be able to do that anymore. It will be a challenge switching over, but there are quite a few active VFG members who sell on Etsy to help us newbies out.
 
FYI, you CAN edit your listings after posting! I do it all the time. If I read my listing *after* it's posted, I often find little mistakes I have to go in and correct. I actually just closed my ebay store last week, since ebay's become such a scam.

But you just have to jump in and test them out, see what works for you!
 
From a vintage clothing buyer's perspective:

The number 1 thing that keeps me from buying on etsy is that you cannot browse vintage by era.

The number 2 thing is that you cannot do an advanced boolean search on etsy to try to get the stuff by era, and compounding the problem is that sellers do not use consistent terminology for eras. For instance, I have some ebay searches that are built around something like this, in order to get clothing from 1920s - 1950s, without getting stuff from the 60s-70s:

dress (195*, 50s, 50's, fifties, 194*, 40s, 40's, forties, WW2, WWII, 193*, 30s, 30's, depression, NRA, 192*, 20s, 20's, flapper) -(196*, 60s, 60's, 197*, 70s, 70's)

There's no way to search etsy for something with that level of detail. So you end up running multiple searches, which gets very tiresome.

So searching etsy is really frustrating for me. This adds up to me not browsing etsy for vintage at all, I only go there if directed from elsewhere to look at a specific thing.

Just needed to get that off my chest :)
 
FYI if you add relevant key tags, this can be searched up to 14 key words, so if you know your stuff it is more than adequate dont you think?

ALso they can be searched by the usual google et al servers..the webcrawlers are still good for this, in terms of your description if written well with use of comma's, is still a key component.
 
if you add relevant key tags, this can be searched up to 14 key words
Click to expand...
In some ways, this complicates search, because many etsy sellers seem to run out of keywords that actually fit their item, and don't want to let any tag go empty, so get rather, creative, shall we say?
Using google to do a boolean search and adding the word etsy might be a good way to go. I'll have to give that a try.
 
For what it's worth, I no longer sell vintage on eBay. I've had it with them. I've been back on Etsy for a couple of months now and doing really well. I like that they have key-words and I make sure that I list a couple of items or more every day. I've had quite a lot of sales and find it all very straightforward.

As already mentioned, there are pros and cons to both selling sites so it's just a question of 'testing the water' and see how it goes for you. It's very simple to set up a shop on Etsy (and cheaper!) and personally, I much prefer the look of my store on Etsy to the messy layout of eBay. I actually can't stand the new eBay layout so it's goodbye to them. They have no interest in looking after their sellers although I've not yet experienced anything negative on Etsy - we'll see!

In a nutshell, I've tried both sites and much prefer Etsy. I sell more on Etsy than I do on my own website. I find being on Twitter, Facebook and having my own blog helps spread the word about new listings and new arrivals. Of course all this takes time but it's what you put in that counts and it beats working for someone else! I love it.

I wish you the very best of luck Vicki. :)
 
Wonderful holiday! Thanks for asking :) It was HOT! Very HOT! 40 degrees. We spent the whole week by the pool but it was fabulous. Not many English there (which was good!) so the prices were very low for food/drinks etc. We were on the southern coast of Spain, about 2 hours drive from Granada.

We did meet another UK family with a little girl the same age as Martha so they were little buddies all week and we ate out with them in the evening. We're keeping in touch with them so that was lovely.

Great accommodation, beautiful gardens with large exotic flowers and not a cloud in the sky. Super-hot in the evenings too. I took way too many clothes of course!! We really did have a wonderful time. Prickly heat rash though - ouch! My pale English skin just isn't used to that sort of heat. I used factor 50+ suncream and apart from going in and out of the swimming pool, spent the whole time under a large umbrella. How I managed to get a deep sun tan is beyond me. That sun was fierce!

It's good to be back! :)
 
Last year I would say Etsy was the trendier and cheaper of the two. But I know a few people who are selling high ticket items on Etsy and also people who are selling more on Etsy than on their personal sites. This is what convinced me to try Etsy. I only have one thing listed :BAGUSE:
 
I've been on ebay as a seller and a buyer for over 6 years - lately I am moving away from ebay but I have 80+ items listed on Etsy - I love the community of Etsy, I don't feel so lost in the crowd - it's not like I won't sell on ebay, I will, I'm just focusing on Etsy (8 sales in less than a month, not too bad) - I enjoy Etsy more than ebay right now- and I *always* tag my items by decade - 1960s 60s ect so when searching Etsy I search 1970s platforms or whatever.

I am a hobbie seller though If I were going for broke I would definatly use the same user name and work both sites - love the new avi btw :)
 
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