eBay store or your own website - which is better?

Which one is better - selling on an eBay store or through your own website. I'm looking to sell electronics online and have a basic level eBay store up. I know having both is ideal but If you had to choose which one would it be? Pro and cons.

How about both ;)

They both have fees, but I think a store of your own is harder to maintain? Only if you work another job....

That's my opinion .....

If you have time, both!

Hey, thanks for the input it helps me make the decision to stick with just the ebay store for now cause I have little time to do both.

Maybe I will put up my own website down the line, if I succeed with my current ebay store.

Yea, I know the feeling. I wish I had more time. I work a full-time job, and then do Ebay at night.

But if I had more time, I'd definitely start an online store. I think I could do well full-time Ebaying and the store.

But I own my own insurance agency ... along with my sister and brother, so no way I can wrap that up!! LOL

:)

Ebay has traffic. If you build your own site you will have to do SEO to rank high on search engines and get it noticed, THEN get traffic. You would also have to build your link popularity and all that fun stuff. If you have a good customer base, then a website would make sence, since they are mostly repeat customers. If you don't then Ebay store would be better to attain NEW customers. ( of course your website combined with an Ebay store that sends the traffic to your site would be the best idea.) Hope that helps ;)

Yeah thanks dreamer that helps. More traffic means more opportunity to sell.
I got a question though about something else. This may be a stupid question but I got to know. Alright, I mostly dropship, even though I haven't sold anything yet. :( :(
Should I put the real address for the item location Or should I put my address? Most of the companies I dealt with and items I have up are all on the west coast and I'm on the east coast. So Im not sure, I've just been putting United States, United States. Anyone got any advice.

Yeah thanks dreamer that helps. More traffic means more opportunity to sell.
I got a question though about something else. This may be a stupid question but I got to know. Alright, I mostly dropship, even though I haven't sold anything yet. :( :(
Should I put the real address for the item location Or should I put my address? Most of the companies I dealt with and items I have up are all on the west coast and I'm on the east coast. So Im not sure, I've just been putting United States, United States. Anyone got any advice.

Well, I don't dropship - however, I have one time before - and I really like my info to be on the invoices and on the return address ... ? But I think to, if the return address just shows an address and not a business name, that would work...? That's my thoughts.

Unfornately, Im stuck with doba.com BOOOOO!!!!!! So the invoice would have my business name on it and my real address, which is in SC. Doba is located in Utah. I'm guessing shipping from Utah to South Carolina would take about 5 business days UPS Ground. Also add 1-7 days processing for their items and someone buying from me on the east coast could be waiting a long while. So thats why I not sure. But I might as well put SC and figure out how to get buyers their items as quickly as possible. I wish I never dealt with doba in the first place.

Another thing about dropshipping, you never know what they are getting *the customer that is* - I was using DS for a while, and stuff was broken in the packages, and people would email me and chew me out, and I had no idea what they were even talking about .... and then sometimes I never knew when the company would ship, I'd start getting emails about where was their order.

It can be good and bad I guess. I just prefer to have the items here - so I can look at them first to make sure they get the best possible service *shipping* and the item is what they wanted!

:) I have tons of room though too!

So is there really ANYTHING profitable on doba? Because last time I checked EVERYTHING was overpriced.

Having your own website means having a big advertsing budget, if you don't have a big budget nobody will visit and if nobody visits that equals to zero sales.

Because you have to get listed in the major search engine 'google for example. A pay per click campaign can send you to the poor house, but thats the only way you can get a high listing.

A lot of people think build a website, and they will come and you'll make millions. Not true!

Just like they say about ebay, list on ebay and you'll become a millionaire. You watch info- commercials saying buy our program you will become rich selling on ebay. I've been there, done that and its not easy.

The key is have a big bucks budget. Advertise, Advertise, Advertise, Advertise...=sales=money.

My feedback on this subject...

John

Hey, great insight on the subject of having you own website. U do need a good budget to advertise at such places as clickbank. Having an ebay store may b better b/c of the already thousands of people searching ebay listings everyday, depending on who u ask. Just list some items up or set up a ebay store and you get immediate views. I say, it depends on you perference.

Doba, they got a lot of products that you can push but prices are high. S***, I even told the customer service rep. and they even said yeah, the prices are high. I've purchased a camera from one of their suppliers and they shipped it fast though. I ordered and paid on Sunday evening. Supplier shipped it the following Monday and I received it Friday. (UTAH to South Carolina), not bad. You could make some money there, not much, but you just got to know what you're doing. If anyone already has doba just make sure you talk to a live person about the status of you orders. I've already received the camera and the website still says that shipment is pending!

Hey, anyone who wants to add the insights about something that isn't mention in this thread, go ahead. Pro and cons whatever; feel free to do so.

yea an ebay store is better to get traffic, but who can compete with thoses low ebay prices; if you know of a supplier that can supply products for prices that are cheaper than ebay's, then you'll be very successful on ebay; if you don't it will be very hard making a decent profit
believe it or not there are people that don't use ebay and/or don't like it and feel safer buying a product from a company then buying from an individual; having your own site is a good way to go if you can't compete with ebay prices; i know it costs alot of money to advertise your site on other sites and pay them on a lead basis etc., but there are altenatives; do what i'm doing , that is to advertise on online classifieds, and join googles adwords, you'll get traffic, also join an affiliate program where you can put other peoples links on your site and get money when people click on them and sign up for a free trail
i think ebay stores is a waste of money, people can just click on that 'View sellers other items' link to view all the stuff you have for sale
all in all, i think having a website is better, and at the same time listing your items with kyozou (kyozou.com) on ebay to make your listings easier and more professional, instead of an ebay store, would be good; kyzou also gives you the ability to also list your items on other auctions, thus giving you the opportunity to drive in more traffic to your site if you had one.........thats my 2 cents.im out.

-RB!

P.S. i've also tried doba, in their 7 day free trial period, as soon as i saw the prices :shock: , i cancelled my memebership asap; i dont know how they were rated on some wholesale review list as the #1 dropshipper :? , their prices are ridiculous

With ebay, you are held captive by their rules and their price hikes every 6 months.

With your own website, you are the ruler! You get to market your site, develop your own rules/faq and are responsible for all the customer service.

It is much more rewarding to have a successful website over any ebay store. It takes much work, and frankly, lots of $ to market, but is worth it if done right.

Tiffany
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