3 reasons why eBay is better than Amazon

You might not realize that eBay can meet many of your online shopping needs, and often for better prices than Amazon.

I don’t love Amazon, but I don’t boycott it. I don’t pay for Amazon Prime, as I don’t have any interest in paying them to be a customer (and you may want to consider cancelling Amazon Prime too), but I still buy stuff on there.

(I use Amazon kind of like a miscellaneous purchase place; my last order included a pack of expandable file folders and a set of pipe tube cleaners.)

I do think it’s good to not rely so heavily on Amazon for your purchases. Not only are there better companies to patronize, but they can often have other benefits.

I often think people sleep on eBay, not realizing that you can use it for your more common shopping habits as well.

Can eBay replace Amazon? Probably not. But there are some definite advantages to using eBay as part of your regular online shopping routine. Here’s what I mean.

1. eBay can be cheaper

I wanted to buy a book recently.

I first started at Powell’s Books, our local book superstore. They had a new copy in stock for about $23 when shipping was factored in. I was hoping for gently used, but the one used copy they had for $18 went out of stock while I was deciding.

I then looked at Amazon. A new copy there was $12.

Now, I’m willing to spend more to support local businesses, but only up to a point. And a roughly 100% penalty for buying local felt a tiny bit hard to swallow.

So I kept looking. And then I searched eBay.

eBay had a gently used copy of the book in question for $9. And unlike either of the above options, shipping was free.

It’s a small point, but worth noting that items on eBay can often be cheaper than at other retailers.

2. Auctions are optional

Some people love auctions. I’m one of them. I love swooping in at the last second and bidding, as Henry Rollins once put it, “the GDP of Spain” to win an auction for an item that I really want.

But sometimes you don’t want or need an auction. Sometimes you just want to buy something.

eBay does that too. There’s a whole class of items for sale called “Buy It Now”. And it is exactly what you’d expect: a real-time sale.

So unless you’re looking for super rare stuff, there’s probably a Buy It Now option available for the item you want to buy. But there are also auctions if you want them.

3. No minimum for shipping

I’ve been speaking out against Amazon Prime for years now. (Here are some reasons why.) While I understand the desire for free shipping, I’m not prepared to pay $140 a year in advance in order to get something for free.

Without Amazon Prime, you need to spend $35 per order to not get charged a shipping fee. That’s not hard to do, but it often means I’m loading a few things in the cart to get over that threshold.

With eBay, there is no such minimum order. Many of the items for sale on eBay, even with the Buy It Now option, have free shipping. Even on cheap items.

It’s not always the case, but eBay can definitely be a better option for when you need a cheap item on its own.

Don’t sleep on eBay

I know eBay is often not talked about in the same way that Amazon, Target, and Walmart are as a place for your daily e-commerce needs

But eBay should definitely be a part of your shopping plans for all the reasons above. It can be cheaper, you don’t need to do auctions if you don’t want, and you can get free shipping, all without having to pay a yearly fee for the privilege.