Ebay vs Etsy and Shipping Rant

I would be really interested to know how people are finding sales of crafting items are doing for them on both of these two sites. I'm currently listing some spare patterns on both sites myself. What I'm currently finding is that sales are slow on both sites, but that might be due to me not having enough selection up yet. And while I can't make a comparison for Etsy sales last year (being the new kid on the block there), I know that Ebay sales have been extremely sluggish compared to how I was doing last year.

Perhaps it is because everybody is feeling the pinch these days, and not to do with my own offerings. I know that it's going to be near impossible for me to sell books on Ebay anymore, once the Canadian site puts the shipping cap on it that is currently happening on the US site. for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Ebay.com has rolled out a new policy that all books can only charge a maximum of $4 for shipping - which is really stupid when you think about it.

Not all books are created equal - some are extremely heavy, and even with US Media Mail, would be far more expensive than that to ship. Then there are the rare needlework books that I love - I don't want a seller to skimp on packaging materials just so that they can ship it cheaply to me. I know that the sellers will now have to jack up the initial cost of their books to make up the loss on shipping, but then they lose a percentage of that to Ebay in the way of fees. In my not so humble opinion, it's just a greedy way for Ebay to further rip off the sellers.

The bigger problem with this happening to Ebay Canada down the road is that we don't have a Media Mail shipping option here. A book at 3lbs weight can be stuck in a Priority Mail envelope to travel within the US for $4. That same book would cost $12 to travel within Canada and $15 to go to the US. That's why the majority of book sellers on Amazon.ca are from the US - Canadians can't compete with the cheap shipping that our American neighbours can offer, even in our own country.

Back to Ebay vs Etsy - Ebay is getting to look more and more like a giant box store, full of the same souless goods that can be found in Walmart. Not that there isn't a place for some of those goods, but if I'm going to buy those types of things, I think I would just rather buy it at the box store in my own town than one in another country. Esty is like some wonderful international craft fair. If you want to buy something truly unique, I think it is the best place to go on the internet. However, if you are a seller, I think it takes a longer time to find your target market, because there are just so many incredibly talented artisans that you are up against.

It seems to me that the best option is to put a few items on both sites, plus some other sites like it (iOffer, eBid, Craigslist & Kijiji), all with links and promotional materials to take your customers back to your own website for future sales. Again, I'd love to know from other's experiences what has worked best form them in respect to selling craft related items on the internet.