Buying from Amazon, eBay, GearBest, Banggood? which one is better and is it even a good idea?
I purchase a lot of electronics, computer components, house goods, and yard supplies online. I am price and review sensitive so I cross-shop everything all the time and also trial and test most products and even review them on my youtube channel. My purchases tend to a split between Amazon, eBay, Gearbest or Banggood. Here are some Pros and Cons from my experience
Amazon
Amazon is the most popular according to Alexa (ranked 11th globally), but shouldn't be the only marketplace you shop.
Positives
- Amazon has great reviews. You can often find out what products are better than others by reading the reviews. If you're serious about getting the most for your money, be sure to take the time to really read the reviews and check if they're verified or not. Customer photos are particularly useful as they often show the product in a non-perfect light. I usually start at Amazon for the reviews, but 7 out of 10 times may not end up buying there.
- Amazon's Best Seller lists are a great way to find out what is popular by category. These products tend to have the most reviews and pictures, and it's a glimpse into what Amazon is actually selling the most of.
Negatives
- Amazon's prices tend to be a little higher than most. They have hefty fees for sellers (12-15%) so you can often find the same product on Gearbest or eBay for less (net total fees are as low as 8% for top eBay/PayPal sellers).
- While most things on Amazon have free shipping, most also require spending £20 or more to obtain that free shipping. Unless you actually go for Amazon Prime option then you can get even things that are less than £1 for free shipping. of course, you will end up in falling into the trap of spending more so you can get the free shipping, you can always go to eBay or Gearbest or Banggood and find the same product with free delivery. Don't fall into the “spend more to get free shipping” trap.
eBay
eBay does not have much in the way of reviews, ranked 38 Globally according to Alexa but I often end up buying here when the price is better. Although I always get the really bad feeling as dealing with eBay sellers not always as welcoming as the Amazon sellers. Not to mention the constant scamming of selling clone products which annoys the hell of out of me.
Positives
- eBay has low Amazon fees so you'll often find lower prices.
- eBay has the traditional auction bidding system still, which allows you to bid on items if you prefer. They also have “Best Offer” that allows you to make an offer for a product.
- eBay sellers tend to have more feedback accumulated since eBay pushes its seller feedback through email reminders and such (whereas Amazon pushes its product reviews). This may give you a little more confidence in the seller you're buying from.
- The item descriptions and pictures can be better on eBay since each listing has a seller that is responsible for it with complete control over it. Amazon products tend to be neglected as multiple sellers are selling under the same product page. As an Amazon 3rd party seller there is little incentive to improve product pages since you could be helping your competition just as much as yourself.
- eBay has Detailed Seller Ratings, that allow you to see just how well each seller performs in four different categories.
- If you're looking for used products eBay is the cheapest place to buy from but might not be the best.
Negatives
- eBay has very few product reviews, so you're mostly buying blind. I almost always find reviews elsewhere for products before buying them.
- Seller feedback is very limited, so you won't get much detail on customers' transaction experiences with a seller outside of the ratings.
- Lately, lots of scammers and clone product makers have been on eBay so be warned, Might want to confirm with me if you want to before purchasing. I will answer you ASAP.
Other Thoughts
eBay payment of choice is Paypal and don't like the idea of anyone using anything else. This has made a lot of brand name sellers to leave the eBay scene and left us with normal users only to sell on eBay. This also opened the door to allot of scammers which can be really bad
Final Thoughts
Since I buy So many items from these places, I tend to review and add the links of trusted sellers at the time, It is not easy to say for everyone that you are better of with one shopping area but the truth is, eBay has been the worst of my experience and Gearbest and Bangood has been my electronic goto places and Amazon has been my first place for shopping food lately only.
GearBest vs. Banggood
GearBest and Banggood are the two most popular Chinese B2C (direct customer sales) in the world, and both have a free customs clearance and warehouse in Europe. Many prefer Banggood, others prefer GearBest. Which of the two is the best?
Banggood
Banggood is an online retailer based in China, Banggood.com appears to sell a little bit of everything: electronics, clothing, accessories, and beauty products, to name just a few categories. For me, Banggood is a new online Chinese retailer but they do have warehouses around the world as well. They seem to be really cool int hat aspect and shipping is good too.
Positives
- Free Shipping or low-cost shipping
- Offers faster shipping
- Customer support via Email
- No minimum order quantities
Negatives
- Not a great customer feedback review pages on products
- Delivery takes 3 weeks on the free delivery
- They won't deliver during Chinese holidays ( not a big problem I can wait for them to reply but they do seem to have many of these)
- difficulty in selecting method of shipping and entering a delivery address
Final Thoughts
The product page indicated the item I wanted would be processed in a day – some items have longer times. I ordered it on 15 Jun and opted for EMS shipping. Banggood actually took nearly 2 days to process, but the item arrived on 25 Jun (total 9 days) within the stated timescale. I can’t fault the protective packing. The shipper (DHL) handled Customs paperwork and charged me £19 to cover the taxes and admin
Gearbest
Gearbest is more popular then Banggood and has a higher establishment than Banggood as it has been there longer. I found prices are quite reasonable and free delivery is a fantastic way to encourage me to buy. Their constant giving out of discounts to their products is also fantastic. Unlike Amazon and eBay whereby they are restricted to deliver to certain country, Gearbest has no limitation and can deliver worldwide
Positives
- Free Delivery
- Excellent prices
- WorldWide Warehouses to deliver from.
- Prices are fantastic and products get filled al the time
- Offer faster delivery via DHL or something similar
- Deliver worldwide
- Customer service is always available via web chat or email, I prefer to talk to them via web chat as its faster and they answer me very quickly.
- No minimum order quantities
Negatives
- Not a great customer feedback review pages on products
- Delivery takes 3 weeks on the free delivery
- They won't deliver during Chinese holidays ( not a big problem I can wait for them to reply but they do seem to have many of these)
Final Thoughts
Gearbest sometimes found it to be the best place for my latest gadgets as most new technologies are Chinese. With that in mind, some of the very clever companies are selling only in Gearbest such as Xiaomi and Mecool
Conclusion
When it came down to it I found Gearbest is the one to be going to more and more for my electronic goods and choosing fast or slow delivery seems to be ok with them as they ship mostly from their UK warehouse to me. Still, take 2 days processing at times but still get the devices on time. I have purchased more electronic goods lately from Gearbest lately which I found to be fantastic. The feeling of using banggood is also good for electronic but sometimes with the fast delivery, I don't like to pay DHL 19 delivery tax which is really annoying.
Buying from Amazon seems to take priority and since I have Amazon prime I seem to order everything for the next or even same day delivery but this lately been restricted to food and kids school items.
Less and less buying from eBay due to the many scams that I found there, I even had a store on eBay and I closed it down because I didn't want to be affiliated with eBay sellers that are scammers there, Ebay is still cheaper than amazon but I cant tell you if they are going to be the real products.
My Buying Rating
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