eBay and Amazon e-commerce APIs
Selling Like Hotcakes
Thriving online stores are rare and the result of hard work. If you are just beginning to peddle your wares, you might be better off building a custom interface to sell your goods on eBay or Amazon.
Few web shops are productive the first day. Search engine optimization does not guarantee a high click or purchase rate; your site will need some time to build a reputation. In the meantime, you will still need to pay the cost for setting up the online software, advertising your site, and supporting access to a payment processing system.
Many aspiring sellers see large, thriving e-commerce platforms as a solution. Instead of setting up your own e-commerce site, you can market your goods through eBay or Amazon. These large e-commerce companies have long since expanded beyond auctions and bookstores, and they now offer a rich collection of e-commerce features for independent dealers.
The products of cooperating traders automatically appear in the consumers' hit lists, and payment and fulfillment services are handled outside of the vendor's own shop. None of this is free, of course – both eBay and Amazon earn a share on each item sold – but building and managing your own site isn't really free either when you consider the time and money you'll spend on it.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)