Our loyal readers will remember one of our first posts, which dealt with eBay vs. Hand-me-downs. Now we have decided to pit eBay against Amazon.

This approach is more practical. Both sites offer a forum for selling products: eBay’s is an auction site, while Amazon acts as a bulletin board. eBay is very popular among private citizens, while Amazon is used by many small businesses. How do you know which is the best choice for you?

The bottom line is eBay can garner more money, but it can also generate a loss more easily. Each posted item has a time limit and will be charged, whether sold or not. However, if people start bidding there is no ceiling to potential profit. This means that the best performers will be those who have researched the market and who are able to attract the most bidders with an attractive starting price. There are no set rules (although there are many tips), but this is what economists call High involvement.

Amazon, on the other hand, is a place to post items for sale. You can see all other items available and choose your price accordingly. This price will not change, but you can leave the item on Amazon for as long as you like, and you only pay commission once it is sold. This is low involvement, with less upside potential but also less chance for loss.

In conclusion, your choice will depend on what suits you. If you have a lot of time to research the product and the market and want to make as much as possible, eBay is the best choice, while if you want to offer your items for a price and not think about them too much, Amazon is the best one to use.

There are some other points we should bring up: First of all, there are many other sites, such as Yahoo auctions, Craig’s list, Alibaba.com and others. We have not reviewed them all because we believe these guidelines can be applied to each of these (Yahoo is an auction site, Craig’s list is a classifieds section - or bulletin board - and Alibaba is a B2B contact point). The other point is that you should always take liquidity of the market into account. The website may offer the best terms, but if no other uses visit it you won’t find any buyers.

We hope this helps you save and/or make money. If you have any suggestions or feel differently please let us know.