Internet Store or Ebay Store

Eircom_Sucks

which would be cheaper to start up ??

im looking at doing a web based business but not sure which would be better to do

i can design a website so thats not the issue , its web domain , hosting costs against ebay/paypal costs ???

any ideas ???

Shzm

Surely if you're wanting to start a business, you should be able to work out what each is going to cost you yourself?

Ebay: Alot of traffic/users viewing your products, but fees are high especially when you combine it with Paypal. Alot of competition.

Website: You need to drive traffic yourself, which can be expensive. But you don't have to compete with everyone else on ebay nor pay their fees.

Eircom_Sucks

Shzm wrote: »

Surely if you're wanting to start a business, you should be able to work out what each is going to cost you yourself?

Ebay: Alot of traffic/users viewing your products, but fees are high especially when you combine it with Paypal. Alot of competition.

Website: You need to drive traffic yourself, which can be expensive. But you don't have to compete with everyone else on ebay nor pay their fees.

i know the ebay costs , on average 15% which i find really high considering if u have to pay for stock , place to store it ( which cost alot as it is ) some people dont even make more than 30-40% on the product

so from the start 15% is gone , could you afford to lose 10-15% on rental of permises and stock ?? and make a profit ?

i just want peoples opinions as to which is cheaper ??

PCPhoto

personally I would be more inclined to start the store on Ebay - and if you can survive there - and put money together - then create an online presence and start selling direct from website.

Cant you do both ? online store and Ebay....ebay page linked to online store - prices same but online store you get more profit.

nellyshark

Without a bit more background about what you are selling and your projections it is difficult to tell. Just some of your options:
1) Auction listing such as ebay. Costs associated with listing and paypal fees. It is relatively easy to start with as it has high traffic but you have lots of competitors and your store may get lost in the stampede to the top. Also you are restricting your market somewhat as you will not really be able to get traffic from generic search engine searches. For example I googled Nintendo Wii which is a high selling ebay item and it was not listed on page one of google search.
2) Host your own eCommerce site. Cost associated: installation, configuration, domain, purchase, design, SEO, maintenance, security, backups, inventory control and much more. All these costs vary. For example you could use an Open Source shopping script. For example Magento would be resource intensive and you would prob need a dedicated server whereas something like Open Cart would get by on shared server.
3) A hosted solution such as shopify.com. All you need here is a domain and you pay pm for the hosted solution. The take care of maintenance etc. There are fees associated with transactions etc.

It is difficult to tell you which is the best solution tbh. Have you many products. If you are starting out your best bet IMO would prob be a mix of both an auction listing (ebay) and a hosted solution (shopify) like was suggested above

conolan

PCPhoto wrote: »

personally I would be more inclined to start the store on Ebay - and if you can survive there - and put money together - then create an online presence and start selling direct from website.

Agree. Ebay would be a great learning curve, and maybe a good way of attracting users to your own store when you have one.

byrne0f56789

CubeCart 4 is only €130 one off and a hosting would cost about $8 a month. It's easy to install. Make sure it's a Linux server though. You can drive traffic through Google Adwords at the start. I think this beats the 15% commission that Ebay charges.

Axwell

Using hosted solutions or open source ecommerce solutions is a good way to get something up on the internet but without proper SEO you are wasting your time as people arent going to find your site. If you are going to go that route you really should talk to a professional for some advice than trying to do it yourself.

Ebay does what it says on the tin and you can have your store there. If you are selling items through an ebay store then it might be worth getting your own site done but without having either at the minute you wont know if there is a market for the products you are selling. Ebay is an easy way to do some market research and test the water before going with your own store.

R3al

Eircom_Sucks wrote: »

which would be cheaper to start up ??

im looking at doing a web based business but not sure which would be better to do

i can design a website so thats not the issue , its web domain , hosting costs against ebay/paypal costs ???

any ideas ???

Many online businesses use both nowadays, their own website and selling on ebay, ebay costs are high compared to your own website however the paypal costs are comparable to other payment processing systems (especially if turnover is low which it probably will be initially) and are cheaper than most third party processors, also most ecommerce websites offer paypal as a payment option.

Nowadays domains and web hosting is relatively inexpensive, you should bear in mind that if your turnover picks up you will have to register for VAT at some point and factor VAT into your ebay sales