Ok: I did a little experiment that actually did not involve enticing people with free shipping or any other incentive - in fact what I discovered worked so well that I was surprised.
Last month (technically starting on 8/27) I was given a block of free listings by Ebay. I have sold on Ebay for many, many years. I painstakingly redid nearly all my Etsy listings so they could be listed on Ebay at the same time. I figured this was a "no harm no foul" thing since if one sold on one site or the other, I could simply deactivate the listing on the site where it was not sold.
On the first day of listings, I sold items immediately on Ebay that had been sitting in my Etsy shop for at least two months. I even inflated prices on Ebay given that the commission is higher than Etsy to cover my costs comparably. Some items I marked up anywhere between $10-$40 over what I was asking on Etsy. I sold 26 MORE items in that specific time frame on Ebay than what I would have sold on Etsy. In comparison I only sold 18 items on Etsy and they were mostly some of the least expensive items I have in my shop with the exception of two winter coats. Furthermore, the 26 items I sold on Ebay does NOT count all the sports jerseys, costumes, modern clothes, etc. that I also sold on Ebay that I CANNOT sell on Etsy.
On Ebay, buyers have the option of offering less than what the Buy It Now price is - people love this feature. Even if they are getting $5 or $10 knocked off they are more likely to buy because they feel they are getting a great deal (I mean who does not want to pay less?) You also have the opportunity to "haggle" a price back and forth.
However, I do not believe this is the sole driving force behind the large sale discrepancy between Ebay and Etsy. On Ebay, I have triple the views...TRIPLE in comparison to the views I have received on Etsy in the same amount of time. Therefore, I have concluded that since Ebay gets more exposure, the likelihood of sales are double that of Etsy at (likely) any given time regardless of price. Given that selling items via the internet is my job for the time being, it is my prerogative to push as many items out the door as possible in the least amount of time. With the results of this experiment, I believe from now on I will list on Ebay first for 30 days, and then if it does not sell it will go onto Etsy.
