Comparison

Ebay vs Amazon

Ebay and Amazon both land on Depends.

Ebay

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Buy it as an individual selling used, rare, or collectible goods . reach is unmatched and startup cost is zero.

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Use Amazon for cheap commodity goods and fast delivery.

Ebay versus Amazon
Compare	Ebay	Amazon
Verdict	Depends	Depends
Best for	Casual sellers of used goods	Bulk commodity purchases
Who it's not for	Low-margin, high-volume new-goods sellers	Buyers needing trustworthy reviews for big purchases
Privacy	Mature platform with real breach history: 145M users notified in 2014; recent CVEs mostly hit third-party integrations.^⁹	No confirmed breach in sources, but active account-attack warnings and credential-abuse campaigns are reported.
Support quality	Users hunt for real human support	Multiple support channels exist; ConsumerAffairs lists service complaints
Public sentiment	Sellers complain about stacking fees and buyer-favoring disputes, while buyers praise reach and bargains but find support hard to reach.^¹	Opinions are polarized: many love the convenience, while a growing share complain about declining quality, review distrust, and pricing practices.¹³
Biggest gotcha	Per-sale final value fees stack; cheap items can lose margin after fees and shipping^⁶	FTC lawsuit alleges hidden ad surcharges that can inflate what you pay