But let's be honest here. What sellers really want are buyers.
That's why sellers list on Apple, Amazon, Ebay etc. despite the fees.
They are paying for the virtual equivalent of a shop-front in the premium mall. They get the payment handling. They get the anti-fraud technologies. And with Amazon they get the forward and reverse logistics.
Its about SO much more than how open the backend software is.
> Its about SO much more than how open the backend software is.
Wrong. I own a small shop in Vermont and I love recompiling my shop software every morning to get customers. I tweak a couple of things - - yesterday I lowered tcp_orphan_retries - - and, boom, more customers!
You're right, but sellers are realizing that they are helping Amazon, eBay, etc. more than those platforms are helping them. For example, if you use FBA to fulfill outside orders, Amazon charges a higher rate. You're locked into their pricing and their marketplace.
I would say 85% of sellers on eBay and Amazon have their own storefront now to be in more control. They also funnel these orders into an OMS.
Yes and no. What I want is buyers and reasonable fees.
I stopped putting stuff on Ebay due to ridiculous fee schedule ( listing is free, but then you get hit with tons of seemingly random invoice, which is automatically deducted without a real way to challenge it ) and I was regularly thinking of putting a store up myself, but I don't sell often enough to justify it. I once played with an idea of a weird garage sale app that basically let your address list what you have available for sale, but it seemed like a lot more work than I was willing to put forth.
This.. could work. I will admit I am tempted to try the self-hosted version.
But let's be honest here. What sellers really want are buyers.
That's why sellers list on Apple, Amazon, Ebay etc. despite the fees.
They are paying for the virtual equivalent of a shop-front in the premium mall. They get the payment handling. They get the anti-fraud technologies. And with Amazon they get the forward and reverse logistics.
Its about SO much more than how open the backend software is.