Shopify Vs. eBay (2024 Comparison)

Shopify and eBay both allow you to sell products online but that’s about where the similarities end. Shopify is an e-commerce platform that gives you full control over your online store, from branding to design to a custom URL. You’ll manage the look and feel of your product pages and if you want, you can even set up your own checkout experience with cart abandonment emails and marketing automation.

Meanwhile, eBay is a selling platform where you list products. You don’t have very much customization over how your listing appears and you can’t create a custom URL for your shop. However, one major benefit is that your items will appear in the eBay search, meaning any of eBay’s millions of visitors can find and buy your product. It’s easier to get up and running, as you don’t have to worry about site design or extensive marketing.

Overall, Shopify is ideal for brands that want to establish their own online presence. If you want to tackle a niche industry and become a leader in a certain product, you’ll need your own website and logo and Shopify gives you the tools to accomplish that. eBay is better for sellers who don’t care about branding and want to resell products. It’s also a great place for beginner sellers to test the waters before committing to e-commerce on a full-time basis.

Shopify

Number of products

Unlimited

Monthly starting cost

$39 ($29 with annual subscription)

Payment processing fees

Starts at 2.9% plus 30 cents

Learn More

On Shopify's Website

Unlimited

$39 ($29 with annual subscription)

Starts at 2.9% plus 30 cents

Editor's Take

Shopify provides you with an online store with unlimited products at every subscription level. It helps you manage orders from start to finish with real-time inventory tracking and even gives you shipping discounts with DHL Express, UPS and USPS. You can use Shopify Payments to keep your transaction processing simple or if you want to use your own payment processor, you’ll pay an additional fee.

One interesting feature Shopify offers is the ability to sell in the real world with a point-of-sale (POS) system—great for businesses that sell at local markets or events. Finally, Shopify App Store gives you wide access to a number of marketing and automation tools to take your store to the next level. You can even install an app that lets you integrate your store on eBay for free.

Learn more: Read our Shopify review.

Pros & Cons

• Full control over your store’s design
• Inventory tracking tools
• Marketing automation and customer segmentation tools

• Plans are expensive
• Requires marketing to get customers
• Only first 50 marketplace orders from Shopify-synced listings are free

eBay

Number of products

Starts at 250 free per month

Monthly starting cost:

$7.95 ($4.95 with annual subscription)

Payment processing fees

None

Starts at 250 free per month

$7.95 ($4.95 with annual subscription)

None

Editor's Take

eBay is one of the easiest ways to get started selling online. Once you create your account, you can list products individually or use eBay’s bulk listing tools to create, relist or revise multiple listings at once. eBay also offers inventory management tools as well as the ability to integrate third-party tools using application programming interfaces (APIs). When you sell an item, you’ll get discounted shipping labels from major carriers as well as international fulfillment options.

To help your listings stand out, you can use eBay’s marketing tools. For example, you can pay extra to have your listing promoted, give it a headline or bold the item title. With a store subscription, you can even create a customizable storefront that gives you slightly more personalization options than a standard eBay profile.

Pros & Cons

• No third-party payment processing fees
• Bulk listing tools
• Connect with millions of worldwide buyers

• Fees are confusing and expensive
• Little control over your store’s design
• Advanced seller tools can be difficult to set up

Want to see how Shopify and eBay compare? Check out this in-depth comparison of what Shopify and eBay have to offer.

	Shopify	eBay
Available Third-Party Apps	Over 8,000	Over 50
Store Templates	183	Four
Maximum Number of Categories	12	300
Maximum Number of Photos per Product	250	24
Custom Email Templates	✔	✘
Customer Support	24/7 live chat, email, help center and community forum	24/7 live chat, phone, help center and community forum
Learn More	On Shopify’s Website	–
Read Reviews	Read Shopify Review	–

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Third-Party Apps

Shopify comes out on top here, as its App Store has thousands of apps to choose from. You can choose apps to help you automate marketing, manage inventory, add custom features to your site and more. On eBay, apps are mainly focused on optimizing listings, managing inventory and shipping and fulfillment.

Store Templates

Again, Shopify comes out on top here, as it has nearly 200 design templates to choose from for your store. If you don’t find an option you like, you can always design your own. Meanwhile, eBay has four basic storefront designs to choose from, all of which look pretty dated.

Categories and Product Images

eBay offers more category options than Shopify. These categories help you organize your store so customers can have an easier time finding the products they want. On both Shopify and eBay, these product categories are selected from a predefined taxonomy. As for product images, you have a lot more freedom with Shopify.

Email Templates

Both software lets you send out emails to your subscribers, but Shopify gives you more control over what you send. eBay limits you to six preset email templates that only allow you to offer markdowns, coupons, volume pricing, and order discounts to your customers. Meanwhile, Shopify provides a variety of branded templates or lets you create your own.

Customer Support

Customer support seems pretty similar between these two companies. Both offer 24/7 live chat as well as robust help centers and community forums if you need more help.

Shopify and eBay both have monthly subscription costs to open a store. While Shopify lets you create unlimited products for that set amount, eBay starts to charge you for each listing after you hit a certain number. Both software also charge fees once your item sells.

Shopify’s Plan Pricing

	Basic	Shopify	Advanced
Monthly Price	$39 with monthly subscription; $29 with annual subscription	$105 with monthly subscription; $79 with annual subscription	$399 with monthly subscription; $299 with annual subscription
Credit Card Processing Fees	2.9% plus 30 cents online 2.6% plus 10 cents in person	2.7% plus 30 cents online 2.5% plus 10 cents in person	2.5% plus 30 cents online 2.4% plus 10 cents in person
Third-party Transaction Fees If Not Using Shopify Payments	2%	1%	0.6%

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eBay’s Plan Pricing

	Starter Store	Basic Store	Premium Store	Anchor Store	Enterprise Store
Monthly Price	$7.95 with monthly subscription; $4.95 with annual subscription	$27.95 with monthly subscription; $21.95 with annual subscription	$74.95 with monthly subscription; $59.95 with annual subscription	$349.95 with monthly subscription; $299.95 with annual subscription	$2,999.95 with annual subscription
Number of Free Listings Each Month	250	250 auction style; 1,000 fixed price	500 auction style; 10,000 fixed price	1,000 auction style; 25,000 fixed price	2,500 auction style; 100,000 fixed price
Insertion Fees for Additional Listings	30 cents	25 cents	15 cents auction style; 10 cents fixed price	10 cents auction style; 5 cents fixed price	10 cents auction style; 5 cents fixed price
Final Value Fees	0.5% to 15% of total amount depending on category plus 30 cents	0.5% to 14.95% of total amount depending on category plus 30 cents	0.5% to 14.95% of total amount depending on category plus 30 cents	0.5% to 14.95% of total amount depending on category plus 30 cents	0.5% to 14.95% of total amount depending on category plus 30 cents

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To know which service might be cheaper for you to use, you have to consider how many items you’ll sell each month. For this example, we’ll consider both software’s Basic plans.

Let’s say you sell 1,000 items costing $10 each in a month. That’d be a total of $10,000 in sales. Using Shopify Payments, that would equate to $320 in processing fees plus the monthly fee of $39—so $359 in total fees.

With eBay, you have to pay a final value fee that varies depending on the product category. The majority of eBay’s categories have a 12.35% final value fee plus 30 cents per listing, so that would be an additional $1,535. Adding this to the monthly subscription fee of $27.95, you’d pay a total of $1,562.95.

As you can see, for most people, Shopify is far cheaper.

On the whole, Shopify has better online reviews than eBay. Users give it 4.4 stars on G2 and 4.6 stars on Capterra. The most common praise is how user-friendly it is. They also like the ability to use integrations as well as build their own website around the store. However, they dislike its expensive pricing and how hard it can be to get started.

Meanwhile, eBay has relatively poor online reviews despite being one of the oldest online marketplaces. Users give it only 1 star on Trustpilot and 3 stars on Sitejabber. Many customers complain that the site often sides with buyers, giving fraudulent buyers refunds and banning sellers after false reports. Several users praised eBay’s customer service and how quickly they can resolve seller issues.

If you’re looking for the best e-commerce platform, there are a lot of options to choose from. Here are some of eBay’s and Shopify’s main competitors and how they stack up.

	Starting Transaction Fees	Number of Products	Free Trial	Starting Price
Wix	2.9% plus 30 cents	50,000	14 days	$17 per month
BigCommerce	2.59% plus 49 cents	Unlimited	15 days	$29 per month
Shift4Shop	2.9% plus 30 cents	Unlimited	15 days	$29 per month

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Overall, both Shopify and eBay can work for e-commerce sellers. However, we’d recommend Shopify to the business that’s looking to establish themselves as a brand. Having your own customizable store allows you to create an authoritative brand that can help you become a leading provider in your chosen niche. If your only goal is to sell products without building an empire, then eBay might work just fine.

Shopify is best for:

• Businesses that want to create a brand
• Businesses that want their own custom storefront
• Businesses that can handle marketing their products on their own

eBay is best for:

• Businesses that value simplicity over customization
• Businesses that want to rely on eBay’s built-in audience