Amazon FBA vs. Ecommerce: The Ultimate Comparison For Online Sellers

Selling online comes with choices. You can run your own ecommerce store or sell through Amazon’s system. Each path has trade-offs that affect profit, control, and growth.

The right choice depends on your goals and how much control you want. Some prefer the freedom of their store. Others like the ease of using Amazon’s system. 

Understanding the pros and cons will help you decide what works best. In this article, we will go over several things you should know about Amazon FBA vs. Ecommerce, so you can make your own decision. 

What is Amazon FBA?

Fulfillment by Amazon or FBA is a service that Amazon provides that manages all storage, returns, order fulfillment as well as customer service for sellers. It is one of the most popular fulfillment methods among sellers. More than 85% of the sellers use this service.

You have the option to sell private label products or resell items through wholesale or retail arbitrage, it is one of the best ways to conduct your business on Amazon.

Pros of FBA

• Convenience: Sellers send their products to the fulfillment centers and Amazon manages all the picking, packing as well as shipping.
• Returns: If any customer wants to return an item, Amazon handles the returns as well.
• Prime: When Amazon ships your products, the products get a Prime shipping badge on the listings.
• Customer service: They also take care of the customer service that Amazon has taken care of.
• Trust: Customers trust the product more when there is a Prime badge on it. This ensures the customers that they will get the product in two days.
• MCF: Sellers often use Amazon FBA to take care of orders from e-commerce sites through multi-channel fulfillment.

Cons of FBA

• Standard fees: Their fees have become costly. It depends on the weight and size of the product.
• Lost inventory: There are chances that they will misplace some of your orders during the receiving process. However, they will reimburse you for this loss.
• Storage fees: Apart from the FBA fees, sellers will have to pay monthly storage fees if it is stored for more than 365 days.
• Restock limits: They have a restock limit for every storage type, so if you think you can send as much inventory as you want then you are mistaken.

What is e-commerce?

Ecommerce is when a seller lists the products for selling online and has particular suppliers and manufacturers without purchasing any products. Ecommerce is a popular business with Shopify, Amazon, and eBay.

Pros of Ecommerce

• Low costs: the startup costs are lower than any other business models like wholesale or selling at a private level. There is no need to order in bulk or spend thousands of dollars.
• Low barriers to entry: Getting started is easy. You can get products from a supplier and list them on eBay or any ecommerce site immediately.

Cons of Ecommerce

• High competition: Because it is easy to start, the competition here is very high.
• Lack of quality control: The products are directly shipped from the manufacturer, you cannot take care of quality control in any way. 
• Slow delivery process: There are times when the delivery process is very slow depending on the manufacturer or supplier that you are working with.

Amazon FBA vs. Ecommerce: The Difference

Both options might seem similar, but there are some basic differences between Amazon FBA vs. ecommerce, that you should know. This will help you understand which one would be suitable for your business.

Understanding the Business Models

Selling online works in different ways. You can run your store and handle everything yourself, or you can sell through Amazon and let them take care of storage and shipping. Both options have benefits, but they also come with trade-offs. 

If you start an e-commerce store, you sell through your website. You decide how to get your products, how to price them, and how to handle orders. Some store owners pack and ship items themselves, while others use shipping companies. 

Services like Couriers Chicago can handle deliveries, but you stay in charge. Since you are not selling on a marketplace, you own your customer list and have full control over branding and marketing.

Amazon FBA works differently. You send your products to Amazon, and they store, pack, and ship them when someone buys them. 

This makes things easier because you don’t have to handle shipping, and your products get access to Amazon’s huge customer base. 

But Amazon controls many parts of your business. They charge fees, decide how much stock you can store, and set rules you must follow. 

Scaling and growth

Growing an online business takes effort. Whether you run your store or use Amazon FBA, your ability to scale depends on control and how the platform supports growth. 

One option gives you more freedom, while the other makes things faster but comes with limits.

If you have your e-commerce store, you decide how to expand. You can add new products, improve your website, or try different marketing strategies. Since you own the customer list, you can bring buyers back with emails, discounts, and promotions. 

Amazon FBA makes growth easier, but it comes with risks. Amazon handles storage and shipping, so you can add more products without extra work. 

Their huge customer base helps products sell quickly if they rank well. They set fees, stock limits, and rules that can change at any time.

Know the risks

Every online business has risks. When choosing Amazon FBA vs. ecommerce considering risks is also an important factor.

 Whether you run your own store or use Amazon FBA, you will face problems that can affect sales and growth. Some issues you can control, while others depend on outside factors. 

With an e-commerce store, you handle everything. You need good suppliers, a way to manage inventory and a plan for customer service. If something goes wrong with an order, you have to fix it. 

Getting visitors to your website is another challenge. Since there is no built-in traffic, you must run ads, use SEO, and build an email list. 

If you don’t bring in enough customers, sales will be slow. Growing takes time because you must improve every part of the business as you expand.