Online Business Growth: Shopify or eBay?
E-commerce grows annually. 14.1% of global retail was e-commerce in 2009. By 2023, 22% of retail sales will be the number.
As a client, you may have heard of Shopify and eBay, but as a company owner, picking a platform is challenging. Before choosing, research these two platforms.
We'll compare Shopify and eBay's pros, cons, best features, and more.
Let's explore!
Tip: Why not pick both? You may sell on these two amazing marketplaces simultaneously without losing anything.
Shopify vs eBay: Ease of Use Comparison
Shopify Ease of Use
- Set up an online retail business in minutes without being a Shopify expert. Shopify’s simplicity:
- The platform offers an online store format.
- Instead than constructing a store piece by piece, tweak the existing elements.
Choose from templates.
- The responsive templates fit any screen size.
- Pay online. No credit card data is needed.
- Shopify modules handle product catalogues.
- Shopify modules handle product catalogues.
eBay Ease of Use
No technical skills or e-commerce dashboard experience is needed. eBay's easy. File Exchange and Selling Manager Pro are easy-to-use and well-documented.
Shopify vs eBay: Design Templates Comparison
Shopify vs eBay: Design Templates Comparison
Shopify Templates
Shopify has 100 elegant designs. You'll discover something that complements your style and online store's personality. All templates are optimised for PCs, tablets, and phones.
Choose your design without considering the demo theme's items. Your design theme sells anything. Example below. Its modern, simple design is versatile.
You may also customise a template after selecting it. Shopify's customisation interface displays choices sequentially. Scroll up and down to change every template detail.
eBay Design Templates
eBay limits design. Stores and listings are standardised. Users may edit the storefront logo, banner, descriptions, and photo. Create categories and subcategories to change the store's left-hand navigation.
Sellers may control title, variant choices like colour, size, and model, and beginning description. Add product information and photos to the primary overview area.
Shopify vs eBay: Support Comparison
Shopify Support
eBay offers several support plans. eBay Concierge gives consumers greater help than the standard plan. Live chat and email support the basic.
The Concierge package provides sales and marketing training, faster help, and access to the support team's experts. You may also get help with unfavourable reviews and eBay-incompliant listings. There is also plenty of documentation and training resources.
Shopify vs eBay: Shipping Comparison
Shopify Shipping
Shopify now provides its own shipping software to support Shopify store owners. It’s called Shopify Shipping that is free to use and built into every account.
Shopify Shipping offers store owners tools to calculate real-time shipping rates, buy and print shipping labels, and monitor shipments. Even though it is free for Shopify merchants on all pricing plans, bear in mind that it’s only eligible for orders delivered from the United States and Canada.
This shipping suite offers low shipping rates through partnerships with USPS, UPS, DHL Express, and Canada Post. 20%–90% discounts are common. These shipping companies' rates enable real-time shipping calculations on your order processing page and customers' checkout. That helps you charge correct freight amounts and avoid underestimating delivery expenses.
Shopify Shopping also has capabilities to improve order fulfilment. The admin section lets you bulk print shipping labels and manage orders. International shipping solutions can also print bespoke paperwork and offer shipment tracking data to customers.
eBay Shipping
First, you may mail eBay items yourself. Self-shipping requires more labour, but you may avoid third-party costs and dropshipping. Self-shipping allows you branding opportunities like customised packing slips. Use these slips for logos, promotions, or personal remarks.
Use a third-party logistics partner too. This business charges you but handles your shipment.
The eBay Global Shipping Programme simplifies international sales. Sellers can ship to eBay's Kentucky international shipping centre. eBay handles customs processing and ships your things worldwide.
Shopify vs eBay: Pricing & Fees
Shopify Pricing & Fees
Shopify provides five pricing packages to choose from:- hopify Starter: $5 per month
- S-hopify Basic: $39 per month
- Shopify: $105 per month
- Shopify Advanced: $399 per month
- Shopify Plus: Custom pricing, but starting at $2,000 per month.
New merchants may use all Shopify features for free during a 3-day trial. Annual Shopify plan payments provide you a 25% discount.
Shopify sellers also pay fees. They are:
- Transaction fees: Free of charge if you use Shopify Payments, Shopify’s built-in - payment gateway. Otherwise, up to 5%, depending on your plan.
- Credit card fees: Between 2.4% and 2.9% depending on your plan
- Themes & templates: $0 to $350
- Apps & integrations: $4 to $300 per month
Shopify vs. eBay: Dropshipping
Shopify Dropshipping
Popular dropshipping applications including Printful, Teelaunch, Ali Express, and Modalyst are available on Shopify.
A Shopify dropshipping software connects your online business to a large product inventory. You may explore and choose dropship items from here. After that, add them to your store and start selling without inventory or shipping. It's automatic and simple to use.
You need a reliable supplier to source and transport products for dropshipping. ----Consider these Shopify dropshipping supplier variables.
You need a reliable supplier to source and transport products for dropshipping. ----Consider these Shopify dropshipping supplier variables.
- Product quality: Make sure your dropshipping provider delivers items that satisfy your and your customers' criteria.
- Shipping time and costs: Make sure your provider ships on time and at a fair price.
- Inventory management: Make sure the supplier has a competent inventory management system to avoid out-of-stock products.
- Customer service: Select a provider with skilled assistance.
eBay Dropshipping
eBay dropshipping is more manual than Shopify. eBay does not use dropshipping apps. Suppliers handle it.
eBay dropshipping requires certain considerations. They are:
- Wholesalers are your sole source. You must deal directly with suppliers and cannot buy items from other shops or marketplaces to sell on eBay.
- Depending on your dropshipping volume, eBay charges an insertion fee of $0.05 to $0.30.
Shopify vs eBay: Point of sale (POS)
Shopify Point of Sale (POS)
Merchants may construct a brick-and-mortar store based on their Shopify online business using Shopify's POS system. eBay lists items instead of letting merchants administer their shops.
Shopify's POS system lets you collect in-person payments with a variety of devices. The platform also sells card readers, barcode scanners, and receipt printers. Shopify POS syncs your in-store and online inventory, payments, and customer data for seamless inventory management.
Shopify's POS system lets you collect in-person payments with a variety of devices. The platform also sells card readers, barcode scanners, and receipt printers. Shopify POS syncs your in-store and online inventory, payments, and customer data for seamless inventory management.
eBay Point of Sale (POS)
eBay does not have a built-in POS system like Shopify, but you can connect third-party solutions like Square to sell in person. However, setup takes longer and may require a third-party synchronisation service like Zapier.
Shopify vs. eBay: SEO Tools
Shopify SEO Tools
Shopify lets you adjust URLs, meta descriptions, tags, and page names for SEO. Shopify includes key SEO tools:
- Title and description editing
- Optimising headings and alt text
- Yoast SEO integration
- Extensive robot.txt customization
- 301 redirects
- Mobile-optimized themes that load quickly.
eBay SEO Tools
eBay’s Cassini search engine differs from Google’s. Cassini displays search results to active buyers rather than casual viewers who visit your business with only a general concept of what they could buy.
Cassini, eBay's search engine, ranks product listings based on title, item specs, product categories, product description, customer comments, product images, listing performance, and shipping policy.
Note that other search engines like Google can scan your eBay product listings, giving you extra ranking prospects.
Shopify vs. eBay: Apps & Integrations
Shopify and eBay allow third-party applications to enhance online stores.
Shopify's app ecosystem gives it an advantage. Shopify provides over 8,000 applications to help you run your business, boost your marketing, expedite order fulfilment, and more.
eBay lacks an app store. Third-party software can improve eBay. eBay has over 60 third-party connections for listing, inventory, order fulfilment, and shipping.
Shopify and eBay allow third-party applications to enhance online stores.
Shopify's app ecosystem gives it an advantage. Shopify provides over 8,000 applications to help you run your business, boost your marketing, expedite order fulfilment, and more.
eBay lacks an app store. Third-party software can improve eBay. eBay has over 60 third-party connections for listing, inventory, order fulfilment, and shipping.
Final thoughts
Choose one. Or eBay? Your business, products, and audience determine the solution.
eBay is ideal for price-competition. A Shopify site is best for building a long-term online retail brand.
Take your time and hope you choose well.
