**Has anyone successfully started again on eBay, Etsy or another platform?**
Sales have tanked since June, and I have also had so many FBA refunds that I am seriously considering leaving Amazon and starting again elsewhere.
Last Saturday, I received an email from a buyer claiming that her order had not arrived. Royal Mail tracking showed it as delivered, the GPS matched her address, and the delivery photograph showed the parcel at her front door. I even compared the door and property with Street View and sent the evidence to the buyer.
Instead of checking again, she raised an A-to-z claim.
After more than 15 years of selling on Amazon, I increasingly feel that the platform is training sellers to tolerate unreasonable buyer behaviour rather than helping us develop products, improve our business model or provide better service.
So I would genuinely appreciate advice from sellers who have moved part or all of their business to another platform.
Has anyone successfully started again on eBay, Etsy, their own website or another marketplace?
I understand that every platform has problems and that starting again will be difficult. I am not expecting instant sales. I would like to know:
* Which platform was easiest to begin with?
* How long did it take to receive regular orders?
* How do eBay and Etsy compare with Amazon regarding buyer disputes and seller protection?
* Did you move gradually, or leave Amazon completely?
* What would you do differently if you were starting again today?
I would not really be starting from zero because I already have products, suppliers, photographs, stock, a brand and years of experience. However, I would be starting from zero in terms of traffic, reviews and marketplace visibility.
Perhaps this is not only an ending. It may be another new beginning.
**Has anyone successfully started again on eBay, Etsy or another platform?**
Sales have tanked since June, and I have also had so many FBA refunds that I am seriously considering leaving Amazon and starting again elsewhere.
Last Saturday, I received an email from a buyer claiming that her order had not arrived. Royal Mail tracking showed it as delivered, the GPS matched her address, and the delivery photograph showed the parcel at her front door. I even compared the door and property with Street View and sent the evidence to the buyer.
Instead of checking again, she raised an A-to-z claim.
After more than 15 years of selling on Amazon, I increasingly feel that the platform is training sellers to tolerate unreasonable buyer behaviour rather than helping us develop products, improve our business model or provide better service.
So I would genuinely appreciate advice from sellers who have moved part or all of their business to another platform.
Has anyone successfully started again on eBay, Etsy, their own website or another marketplace?
I understand that every platform has problems and that starting again will be difficult. I am not expecting instant sales. I would like to know:
* Which platform was easiest to begin with?
* How long did it take to receive regular orders?
* How do eBay and Etsy compare with Amazon regarding buyer disputes and seller protection?
* Did you move gradually, or leave Amazon completely?
* What would you do differently if you were starting again today?
I would not really be starting from zero because I already have products, suppliers, photographs, stock, a brand and years of experience. However, I would be starting from zero in terms of traffic, reviews and marketplace visibility.
Perhaps this is not only an ending. It may be another new beginning.
0 replies
Seller_jwA9YS3yH1H6A
Hi. I have had 2 eBay stores for 14 years now and can say without question it is far easier to sell on the ebay site than on Amazon, If you upload tracking details on ebay and it shows delivered then it is up to the buyer to prove categorically they did not receive the item rather than with Amazon they just refund the customer and your out of pocket. A decent title, photos and add as many item specifics as you can and your on your way to hopefully a successful listing.
Seller_MT8rt0A2OpbCx
I would think its a mistake to rely on one fickle platform. Better to spread your eggs in multiple baskets, including your own website.
Seller_VSGPEORb4yGqN
I'm on eBay and Etsy. Sales are few and far between. Selling cost are much higher than on here. Honestly, they are all awful, money grabbing Bs. Pretty much, pay for ads or no sales at all.
Seller_tQCfsb3zoC4AP
yes I sell on multiple platforms Amazon is now my weakest link when once it was my strongest
Seller_xU4h6ZbAduf0O
I sell on many platforms and my own website.
As much as Amazon were once the crown jewel to sell on, it is fast becoming unbearable to sell on here.
The constant denied Safe-T claims, supported customer fraud, listings manipulation, seller support going round in circles for weeks to an eventual denial, spurious customer claims that put your account at risk with false allegations and Amazon denying evidence to refute, Amazon blocking brands for themselves in direct deals to cut out 3rd party sellers.
Just a few reasons, but there are many more.
The best thing to do is open up other market places and transition slowly but surely.
Once your other market places absorb the same level of Amazon sales, either leave Amazon or keep it going until you cannot bear it anymore.
Only you can decide what is best for you.
Amazon provides about 40% of my overall sales but takes 98% of my time, headaches and stress dealing with one thing after another.
Over the past 2 years we have reduced our offerings from over 3k listings to just 1k and dropping.
Seller protection on eBay for us is superb.
If a customer claims an INR and tracking shows delivered, eBay protects us and either denies customer claim or reimburses them out of their pocket.
It is the same for all other claims, if you supply evidence to refute the claim, eBay protects you, even with chargebacks.
Also, eBay does not make up it's own policies to allow customers refunds and to keep your goods without a return with the "item is deemed as non-returnable" or "item was delivered 1 day late" clauses that do not exist in consumer law.
As a customer, I used to shop on Amazon regularly, but nowadays my first port of call is not Amazon.
I have found that over the last 3 years, Amazon does not have what i want, or it is not in stock, but can be found elsewhere quite easily with the same delivery speed.
Seller_kSZCywEhJQQ8J
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread and shared your experience. Your replies helped me make my final decision.
I have decided to leave Amazon.
Ten days ago, a customer raised an A-to-z claim even though the proof of delivery showed the parcel had been delivered through her letterbox.
Eight days ago, another customer threatened to take action because she was unhappy with the wording of my listing title.
This evening, a customer claimed that some products were missing from an order delivered nine days ago. I packed that order myself, but I no longer had the energy to open another case or enter into another lengthy conversation where my evidence might simply be ignored.
I have now closed my Amazon store and sent my final customer message. I will complete any responsibilities that remain, but I will not reopen the store or continue providing ongoing product support through Amazon.
After more than 15 years, I have reached the point where the sales are no longer worth the disputes, refunds, support cases and constant stress.
I am going to try eBay and continue working on my own website. Wish me luck.
Honestly, I now feel that washing, cleaning or operating machinery would be better for my mental health than continuing to deal with Amazon’s systems and dishonest customer claims.
Thank you again to everyone who gave honest and practical advice. This thread helped me accept that leaving Amazon is not necessarily a failure. It may simply be time to start again somewhere else.
@Seller_jwA9YS3yH1H6A, @Seller_MT8rt0A2OpbCx, @Seller_VSGPEORb4yGqN, @Seller_tQCfsb3zoC4AP, @Seller_xU4h6ZbAduf0O
Seller_kh77A9MtOsq7P
We are a specialist manufacturer of sport gifts, fortunately for us our cost to retail margins are decent, but having sold on Amazon since 2002 we have seen a massive decline in the platform, the costs are high, the level of support is terrible, the policies are awful and whilst Amazon is customer centric they do not care about sellers, who also are customers right? No longer my go to, I prefer to buy from independents.
We took the strategic view a few years ago to diversify, build our own websites (not allowed to list sport giftz here) and that is flying. We also opened 4 etsy shops, which now is 40% of our business and performing well and making us far more money than amazon. We also have a B2B arm that supplies other retailers that sell on platforms such as NOTHS, and also supply a number of shops.
Back in the day Amazon was brilliant but now it is not. The over regulation is crazy, how you can classify a rugby ball as a toy and need TIC compliance every year is beyond belief, and there is absolutely no reasoning with the seller support people. I laugh when I see the mods say "open a case with seller support", I would rather go to the dentist, or have eye surgery.
One tip. if you have excess stock that you want to turn back into cash, look at Temu, easy to use and we can get rid of hundreds of units of a SKU very quickly at the right time of year, when needed.
Good luck people, work smarter not harder! I wish you all well, keep the faith!
Seller_bIVNWAWuPbk3l
I set up in 2013. First with a website, Ebay a few weeks later and Amazon a few months later.
Amazon was a slow burner - nearly packed in during first 2 years then it perked up.
I'm maybe slightly different to most because I also have trade customers recruited through my website.
But my website is responsible for 85% of my business. I use wordpress with woocommerce and work at SEO.
I haven't added a new listing to Amazon for about 8 years. It's just an awful platform but still slightly outsells Ebay for me.
I've added around 5% extra to the Amazon pricing to cover the spurious returns. So all are paying for the few careless buyers.
I seller fulfill and do not have any issues with false claims of non-delivery so far.
My main beefs are:
Automatic returns - I sell technical products and more than half of returns are unnecessary as it merely requires an exchange of 1 of the component parts like a clip.
No text on images - I used to use this to try and cut down on errors when purchasing - returns are higher since.
Shipping postcode structure - Paisley, Perth and have areas of standard delivery with couriers and premium, whether Evri with £2.75 difference of fast couriers like DPD with £10 or more difference, but no way to handle. Similar in England with Scilly Isles and Isle of Wight.
We could do with a system where we can allocate rates on PA1, PA2, PA3... etc
As things stand, I'll stick it out as I am making money off what I sell on the platform. But it does create the most issues to deal with and would be the first to go of the 3 platforms I sell on.
Seller_EkGoiphKgUnUI
Ebay is fantastic, I started there, then focussed on Amazon, and now I'm back focussing on ebay more. The support is great, and whenever anything has gone wrong they have always had my back. Returns are much lower, and instead of pay per click ads, I just put a 2% margin ad cost on all of my listings and it helps greatly. If it sells, they get a share, if it doesent, then no ad spend.
~The only downside, is that sales are much slower - but that said, if a listing tanks on Amazon, it sometimes still sells for good money on ebay. Spread your risk and divest from Amazon, onto as many platforms as possible.
