Key takeaways
- Sellers can sell on Amazon, eBay, and other online marketplaces simultaneously, though with each additional platform you sell on, keeping track of your operations becomes more challenging.
- Amazon and eBay have pros and cons, but deciding which platform to sell on comes down to your business needs and the customers you are trying to reach.
- Different platforms have different processes, rules, and fees, all of which must be considered before selling products.
- New sellers should add new sales channels gradually and get used to one platform first before selling on multiple to avoid mistakes and becoming overwhelmed.
- Descartes Sellercloud™ reduces the workload of selling on multiple marketplaces and simplifies tasks such as tracking deliveries, managing returns, updating listings, and more.
According to data from Similarweb, Amazon.com and eBay.com are the two most visited ecommerce sites worldwide, with an average visit duration of 6:02 and 6:19 minutes, respectively. In 2025, Amazon was estimated to have between 2.5 and 2.8 billion monthly visitors and 9.7 million sellers worldwide.
Meanwhile, according to statistics from the Business of Apps, eBay had approximately 132 million active users and 17.6 million active sellers in 2024. So, it’s no wonder that first-time sellers often flock to sign up with these sites when they get started.
In this article, we explain how to sell on Amazon and eBay at the same time, the key differences between the two marketplaces, and how to manage both platforms efficiently as your business grows.
Can I sell on both Amazon and eBay?
Yes, you can sell on both Amazon and eBay, and many sellers already use both platforms (and others) to maximize their reach to buyers. The only difference is that Amazon sellers must have a registered company. Meanwhile, anyone can sign up and start selling on eBay.
In most cases, you can sell the exact same products without changing anything. You can literally copy and paste descriptions and images.
However, there are some nuances and technical details that must be addressed to sell effectively on both. For example, on eBay, you cannot include ‘active content’ and JavaScript, which means your content might not be as dynamic. eBay’s title tags are also shorter than Amazon’s, so you may need to optimize your product listings differently to attract customers.
Furthermore, the selling process on eBay is different from selling on Amazon, and there will be different requirements to fulfill.
Are eBay and Amazon connected?
No, eBay and Amazon are not directly connected. They operate as separate marketplaces with different policies, fee structures, listing requirements, and fulfillment models. However, sellers can connect both platforms through multichannel ecommerce software that syncs inventory, centralizes listings, and automates order management. If you are researching how to sell on eBay and Amazon efficiently, using a unified system is the most practical way to manage both without overselling or duplicating work.
Which is better to sell on Amazon or eBay?
Some sellers may think that ecommerce is about only listing products on Amazon, which dethroned eBay as the top marketplace many years ago. The fact, however, is that the two coexist in the ecommerce industry, though they have different approaches and goals, and some product categories also overlap.
So, it’s not so much that one is better to sell on; more so, it’s about whether one (or both) is better for your business. While it may initially appear that there are more benefits to selling on Amazon, the advantages of selling on eBay should not be overlooked.
For example, if you sell pre-owned or refurbished items or memorabilia, eBay may be a more suitable platform for your products.
However, it is also important to consider that customers can behave differently on different platforms. Some ecommerce sellers say that Amazon customers are easier to work with than eBay customers, which may be due to their different mentalities. For example, eBay is known for its cheap deals.
How easy it is to list products also matters. Some sellers find Amazon listings simpler than eBay, which makes it easier to get products live and in front of customers faster.
It’s also worth noting that, according to the Business of Apps data, the number of eBay users and sellers has been decreasing for a while now.
- eBay’s active users have stagnated for the last few years with little growth.
- eBay has also lost approximately 7.2 million sellers since its peak of 25 million in 2014.
Bearing in mind the above, and that Amazon’s audience is considerably larger, it may seem that eBay is a less attractive marketplace for ecommerce sellers.
However, selling on eBay is still worth consideration. eBay still controls a sizable portion of the ecommerce market and isn’t going away anytime soon. If anything, it means eBay is less competitive than Amazon, which could be appealing to some sellers. On top of that, for many products, Amazon is in direct competition with you, selling their own, often cheaper, and promoted products, which some sellers dislike.
Why should eBay sellers also sell on Amazon?
eBay is a strong marketplace, especially for value-driven buyers, collectibles, and niche products. But if you only sell on eBay, you may be leaving significant growth on the table. Expanding to Amazon can increase visibility, accelerate sales velocity, and strengthen your long-term business.
Here’s why it may make sense.
1. Access to a much larger buyer base
Amazon has one of the largest ecommerce audiences in the world. Millions of shoppers start their product searches there.
By listing on Amazon, you:
- Put your products in front of high-intent buyers.
- Increase brand visibility.
- Capture demand you may never see on eBay.
If customers search for products like yours on Amazon, being absent means potentially losing business to a competitor.
2. Faster sales velocity
Amazon’s marketplace is built for speed. Prime shipping, streamlined checkout, and strong buyer trust often lead to higher conversion rates.
For many sellers, that means:
- Faster inventory turnover.
- Higher daily order volume.
- Improved cash flow.
Products that move steadily on eBay can sometimes scale much faster on Amazon.
3. Stronger brand credibility
Consumers often perceive Amazon as a trustworthy shopping destination. Having a presence there builds credibility and reinforces your brand’s legitimacy.
It also allows you to:
- Collect reviews at scale.
- Build brand recognition.
- Strengthen customer trust.
Over time, this credibility supports growth across all channels.
4. Diversification reduces risk
Relying solely on eBay leaves you exposed to marketplace policy changes, search algorithm shifts, or account issues.
Also, selling on Amazon helps you:
- Protect revenue streams.
- Stabilize your business.
- Create multiple paths to growth.
The most resilient ecommerce businesses are multichannel.
eBay vs. Amazon selling fees – which is cheaper?
eBay and Amazon differ significantly in seller fees (as do most ecommerce platforms), and it’s vital to understand the difference before listing products with them. You can find more about Amazon’s fees here and eBay’s fees here, though seller fees are not the only expenses that impact your bottom line when selling on these two marketplaces.
Generally speaking, eBay is the cheaper option, and sellers are less likely to incur as many additional costs as when selling on Amazon. One of the most important things to remember about selling on Amazon is that it uses a unique product identifier for its marketplace called an ‘ASIN’ (Amazon Standard Identification Number, not the same as SKU).
ASINs show that a product sold by multiple sellers is the same. For example, several merchants could sell an iPhone 17, and all listings will have the same ASIN across the marketplace. This makes selling on Amazon highly competitive, as the cheapest offered is promoted above its more expensive rivals.
Because of this, sellers are constantly at war with each other to offer the product at the lowest possible price, which can squeeze their margins and make selling on Amazon less profitable. Conversely, on eBay, you can sell whatever you want at whatever price you want; there is no such product identifier, and it won’t rank the same product in terms of price.
However, while eBay is cheaper to sell on, it doesn’t offer the same fulfillment options as Amazon, making it harder to calculate your shipping costs. That said, if you use Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA), Amazon’s fulfillment service, there are also storage fees, shipping fees, and, depending on your product, even Hazardous fees that you must account for.
Another issue is that Amazon is stricter than eBay with sellers and carefully monitors their performance metrics. Slipping up can impact your rating, which can affect your sales. Furthermore, Amazon makes it much easier for buyers to return products, which can frustrate some sellers as they may believe that the reason doesn’t warrant a return.
In some cases, when products go missing during delivery, Amazon can refund the customer without consulting the merchant, who can then lose the product and the money with no control over the outcome. Unsurprisingly, returns are expensive. Even when items are in good condition, sellers can spend 20% to 65% of the original product price to process them, according to a Shopify blog post. So, ideally, sellers would prefer to avoid returns.
Because of these factors, some sellers would only advise selling on Amazon once they’ve reached a certain threshold, suggesting that Amazon is better for larger companies than smaller ones.
How to sell on Amazon and eBay?
To sell effectively on Amazon and eBay simultaneously, sellers need a well-thought-out business plan and must understand the different rules of Amazon and eBay. On a practical level, there’s little stopping merchants from selling on both platforms besides having a registered company. Sellers just need to sign up for both, copy over their product data and listings, and they can start selling.
The most important thing to consider is how your workload could increase when you start to sell on multiple marketplaces. In the end, you may find that one of the two platforms is more suited to your products than the other, so it’s worth experimenting with both to see which one works best.
The real challenge when selling on both is keeping track of inventory and syncing across sales channels. To manage this effectively, you need eBay and Amazon inventory software that supports multichannel listing and inventory sync.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of selling on multiple platforms?
Selling products on multiple platforms increases your visibility and is one of the best ways to boost sales, grow your business, and make a profit. Moreover, selling on multiple platforms can be an effective strategy for branding your products. Some sellers take the viewpoint that Amazon and eBay should be thought of as marketing tools.
For example, if a customer purchases from you, you can add promotional materials to the packaging to direct them to your website, where you can sell for a lower price (without Amazon and eBay’s fees). On top of that, you can invite them to a mailing list where you can inform them about new products and offers. Of course, this only works if they become return customers, which means delivering top-rated products and providing top-rated service.
But selling on multiple platforms is not without its challenges. It can get more complicated when you need to manage inventory on various platforms. If you make a sale on Amazon, how do you ensure that the change is accurately accounted for on eBay? What if you sell all your stock of one product on Amazon, and then someone buys it on eBay because it’s still displayed as available?
How many platforms should I sell on?
How many platforms you should sell on depends on how large you are and how much experience you have as a seller. Experienced sellers may argue to sell on every platform possible to reach every potential buyer. Others suggest starting with one platform and building up your experience. Once you have a handle on selling online, you can consider joining a second or third platform. There’s not necessarily an optimal number.
Note that you will have more control selling on a select few platforms and, again, it may come down to the type of platform and its users, not so much the number of platforms you use.
Managing multiple marketplaces can quickly become complex. Descartes Sellercloud™ centralizes operations so you can sync inventory, update listings, and automate orders from one platform. Book a demo.
Which products perform better on eBay vs Amazon?
For certain Amazon sellers, eBay can offer considerable advantages, including more flexibility, more control over marketing content, and less competition than other platforms. But most importantly, eBay attracts a different type of buyer.
Many shoppers are value-driven, looking for deals, refurbished items, collectibles, or hard-to-find products. Some items that feel saturated on Amazon can perform well on eBay, giving your catalog more exposure and new revenue opportunities.
These Amazon products often perform well on eBay:
- Refurbished electronics such as laptops, smartphones, and gaming consoles that appeal to deal-focused buyers.
- Discontinued or hard-to-find products, including older tech models and replacement parts that are no longer widely available.
- Collectibles and limited-edition items like trading cards, sneakers, and pop culture merchandise.
- Open-box or overstock inventory that may struggle to win the Amazon Buy Box but still holds strong resale value.
- Niche hobby and specialty items, such as musical instrument parts, model kits, or specialty tools, with dedicated buyer communities.
These categories align well with eBay’s value-driven and collector-focused audience.
How to successfully sell on eBay and Amazon (step-by-step guide)
Expanding to both marketplaces requires more than simply copying listings. A strategic approach ensures you grow revenue without increasing operational risk.
1. Start with marketplace compliance and positioning
Begin by understanding the seller requirements, category restrictions, fulfillment expectations, and performance metrics on both platforms. Align your catalog with the products most likely to succeed on each channel, rather than listing everything by default.
2. Centralize your catalog and listing management
Before scaling, implement a multichannel listing and inventory management system. Build a master catalog that stores product data, images, pricing, and identifiers in one place. This becomes your single source of truth and eliminates duplicate work across channels.
3. Automate inventory synchronization
Real-time inventory syncing is essential to prevent overselling and protect account health. Ensure that every sale on Amazon or eBay automatically updates available stock across all channels.
4. Standardize content and bulk updates
Use templates and dynamic content tools to manage descriptions, images, and specifications at scale. When prices change or product details are updated, push those changes across both marketplaces from your centralized system.
5. Use data to guide allocation and growth
Leverage cross-channel reporting to evaluate sales velocity, margin performance, and inventory turnover by marketplace. Allocate inventory strategically based on demand, competition, and profitability.
6. Optimize fulfillment for multichannel efficiency
Support your marketplace strategy with a warehouse management system that can handle multichannel order routing, picking, packing, and shipping. Operational efficiency is what allows multichannel expansion to remain profitable.
With the right systems in place, multichannel selling becomes a scalable growth strategy rather than an operational burden. Instead of spending more time managing listings, you can focus on expanding revenue across both Amazon and eBay.
How Descartes Sellercloud helps you sell on Amazon and eBay
You can sell on both Amazon and eBay with Sellercloud, as well as other ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, Walmart, Newegg, and Etsy, to name a few. It’s important to realize that the larger your business becomes, the more critical it becomes to use a solution like Sellercloud to handle your listings on multiple platforms.
Moreover, Sellercloud can help automate fees and taxes, organize and track delivery, and manage customers and returns on multiple platforms. Selling on numerous platforms without the aid of advanced software can mean that basic tasks become much more complicated and time-consuming, holding back your company’s growth.
For example, what if you need to adjust a product listing on several platforms? It’s rather laborious to change each platform listing manually, and it increases the chance of errors. Using Sellercloud, you can make necessary changes from the convenience of one interface and implement them on all your listings, saving you significant time.
Schedule a Sellercloud demo today to discover how our ecommerce solution can help you manage your multichannel strategy better.
If you enjoyed this blog post on selling on Amazon and eBay at the same time, you may also benefit from reading the following:
- What Are Marketplace Fees? Amazon, eBay, Walmart, & Etsy
- Selling on eBay Is So Not like on Amazon
- Omnichannel vs. Multichannel Ecommerce: Which Is Right For Your Business?
- What Is the Difference between a Website, a Channel and a Marketplace?
Selling on Amazon and eBay FAQs
How do I prevent duplicate orders when the same item is listed on multiple marketplaces?
Use real-time inventory synchronization across all sales channels. When stock updates instantly after each sale, you reduce the risk of overselling and order cancellations, especially during peak demand.
Can I use different prices on Amazon and eBay without hurting performance?
Yes. Many sellers adjust pricing by marketplace to account for fees, competition, and buyer behavior. The key is maintaining consistent margins and ensuring pricing changes do not conflict with marketplace policies or fulfillment workflows.
What inventory workflow works best if I use FBA and ship my eBay orders myself?
A centralized inventory system that separates FBA stock from merchant-fulfilled inventory is critical. This ensures Amazon-allocated inventory is not accidentally sold on other channels while still giving you full visibility into total available stock.
Do I need different listings for Amazon and eBay, or can I use the same content on both?
You can often start with the same core product data, but each marketplace has different listing requirements and buyer expectations. Titles, images, item specifics, and descriptions may need to be adjusted so your listings perform well and meet each platform’s standards.
Is it better to launch on Amazon and eBay at the same time or add one marketplace later?
For most sellers, it is better to start with one marketplace, build a stable process, and then expand. Adding both at once can work, but only if you already have the systems, staffing, and inventory controls needed to manage multichannel selling without creating errors.
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