Is an eBay Store the Right Ecommerce Solution For You?
It may well be a good idea for you to set up an eBay store even if you already have your own business Website, but for this article I'm going to assume that you're new to Online business and you're looking for the best way of starting your enterprise on the Web. In the future, when you're established, you can think about what to do to expand your horizons, but for now you just want to establish a foothold.
So, from that perspective let's look at whether setting up an eBay store is the right option for you. What are the pros and cons?
Well, first of all, eBay is a very big, recognized brand name on the Internet now. What this means from the perspective of someone wanting to do business on the Net is that lots of traffic congregates at the eBay Website. Because of the visibility of the eBay brand, shoppers know that whatever it is they are looking to buy is probably available on eBay. They've also come to trust eBay and are aware that there is a dispute resolution system available to them should they have any problems with their purchase.
There are two advantages of setting up an eBay store right there. A ready-made source of traffic for your business and the kind of buyer confidence that you'd have no chance of instilling in your customers from the get go with your own independent Website (I'm assuming you're Mr Joe Shmoe here and not some recognized national brand).
A third advantage of setting up an eBay store as opposed to any other way of setting up your ecommerce operation is the affordability of it. It really is comparatively cheap to set up an eBay store with the small monthly subscription and listing fees when you compare it to purchasing domain names, hosting, Web design, merchant accounts and shopping carts etc. for a standalone business Website on the Internet.
Ok, so we've looked at a few of the advantages to having your own eBay store as compared to going it alone, but are there any disadvantages? Well, I'm sure you wouldn't believe me if I said there weren't, would you? And you'd be quite right. Just about everything you do in life has pluses as well as minuses attached to it and doing business on the Internet is really no different - it certainly can't buck that particular trend.
What are the negatives involved in having your own eBay store? A big one is the lack of control you have. There are several aspects to this, one of which is lack of design control. There is a limit to how creative you can get with your eBay store template. If you like having full control over the look and feel of your Website then you might find this irksome. Another area where you don't have full control comes about because of the fact that you're effectively hosting your site on eBay's Webspace. Quite obviously they're going to want to have ultimate control over what they will allow you to do and what they won't in their backyard, as it were. They also have the ability to change their fee structure as and when it pleases them - and with this comes the ability for them to render your operation uneconomic overnight.
Having said all of the above, if you can live with giving up a measure of the control you'd have with your own site, it is still a fact that putting up an eBay store is definitely the cheapest, least hassle way for most people with little or no previous Internet business experience to carve out a lucrative Web presence for themselves. It may just be the launchpad you need to start on your own Internet marketing dream.
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