EBay Vs. Amazon.com Marketplace: Which One Is Easier And Better For Earning Extra Money Online

Chances are you've bought something on eBay, and maybe you've even been shopping at Amazon's Marketplace for years. But which one is the better choice for making money? That depends on what it is you're selling!

You probably think of eBay as a great place to turn the most obscure stuff into cash, and you'd be right. But it takes work, and sometimes, it takes a heck of a lot of work. You have to take pictures, upload them, write an enticing description, and on and on and on.

And yet... once you click on the button to make your listing go live, the work has barely started. After all, you have to be on call to answer questions... And I don't know about you, but I find myself glued to the screen to watch the progress of my items in real time.

Hours and hours of work for sometimes just a few bucks, if that. You're likely to make a lot more at McDonald's.

Compare that with Amazon's Marketplace. You find the listing for your book, you click on "Have one to sell?" and voila. You'll be guided through a few simple questions, mostly dealing with classifying your item by quality, writing a one-sentence description of its condition, deciding on a price, selecting shipping options, and you're done.

Amazon will do all the advertising for you. No need to upload photos, or even take them. No need for hypnotic copywriting fireworks. It's all done, ready to advertise your item. And you won't even have to think of your book again until someone buys it or until 60 days are up, at which time you have the option to renew it with the click of a button. And I'm even beginning to wonder if they could possibly have phased out that renewal requirement. I haven't had any books come up for renewal in a while...

So it does look like Amazon is the better deal, doesn't it? It depends, once again.

eBay charges listing fees. Amazon does not. But once the book sells, Amazon takes a hefty bite out of your profits. eBay does too, but the eBay bite is a lot smaller.

Pros for Amazon: No upfront fees. No complications during the listing process. Basically maintenance free until the item sells.

Cons for Amazon: Sometimes it can take a long time, even years, until an item sells. There are ways to cut that short, but basically, you better have some room for your books to hang out until it's time to send them to their new owners.

Pros for eBay: If your item sells, it sells within days, unless you have an eBay store, in which case your listings will work much like they do on Amazon, but without the built-in detailed product description page. Plus you can sell pretty much anything you want. Amazon limits you to things it has in its catalog, unless you're a Pro vendor.

Cons for eBay: A lot of upfront work. Listing fees. And sometimes rock bottom prices. After all, people go to eBay to find bargains.

So which one should you use? Personally, I use both! And no, that's not cop-out. There simply are things that are better suited for one or the other. Mostly, I sell my books and media stuff on Amazon, and my trinkets on eBay. What's right for you will depend on what exactly you plan on selling. If you make the right choice for each item, however, you may well be able to reduce your workload and maximize your profits.