eBay strikes back at Amazon

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Isn’t competition grand?

eBay once ruled the online selling roost, but has been knocked down and not really experienced any growth of note recently except in its PayPal unit.

The company has been going through a midlife crisis because of the enormous overnight success of Amazon Marketplace, which has done good job luring eBay sellers to migrate over.

Now eBay is fighting back, lowering it fees and making it easier for sellers to list items.

Occasional sellers can list 50 items a month for free with absolutely no listing fee. You only pay 10% if something sells.

If you are a big-time eBay seller, you are allowed to list 2,500 items for free and the fees will range from 4 to 9 percent — much lower than Amazon Marketplace’s 6 to 15 percent fees.

So it’s game on between these two companies. We’ll see what Amazon does next. But this is very good news for sellers or entrepreneurs who use either site as a selling platform.

Trader Joe’s

If you’ve never tried Trader Joe’s, the grocery store sells brand-name products under its own private label at half off what you’d pay at a traditional supermarket.

But the question is, exactly which brand names are being sold as store brands at Trader Joe’s? The Huffington Post thinks it has the answer.

They’ve done a taste test and side-by-side comparison of brand names and Trader Joe’s brands in a variety of products. Here’s what they found:

Cream of tomato soup: Trader Joe’s vs. Pacific

Pricing: Trader Joe’s $2.49, Pacific $4.69

Organic shells and white cheddar : Trader Joe’s vs. Annie’s Homegrown

Pricing: Trader Joe’s $1.49, Annie’s $3.29

Vegetarian chili: Trader Joe’s vs. Amy’s

Pricing: Trader Joe’s $2.29, Amy’s $4.19

Pretzel chips: Trader Joe’s vs. Snack Factory

Pricing: Trader Joe’s $2.19, Snack Factory $3.69

For more, see the entire article at HuffingtonPost.com.