Why Are Etsy and Ebay Customers so Different?

I have done fairly well with my new store on Etsy and I have also achieved the elusive status of power seller on Ebay. But It didn’t take very long before I began to realize that there was a huge difference in the clientel on the two sites. I stumbled across something that made sense. It's a little idea presented by Roy H. Williams (Wizard Academy in Austin TX) about 2 different types of customers known as Transactional and Relational. As you read the descriptions below maybe you can better understand which type of customer is most likely to buy from your shop on Ebay or Etsy.
Transactional

1. Transactional shoppers are focused only on todays transaction and give little thought to the possibility of future purchases from you.
2. Their only fear is of paying more than they had to pay. Transactional shoppers are looking for price and value.
3. They enjoy the process of comparing and negotiating and will likely shop at several stores before making their decision to purchase.
4. Transactional shoppers do their own research, so they won’t need the help of an expert. Consumer reports are primarily published for transactional shoppers.
5. Because they enjoy the process, transactional shoppers don’t consider their time spent shopping to be part of the purchase price.
6. Anxious to share the “good deal” they’ve found , transactional shoppers are excellent sources of word of mouth advertising. 

Relational

1. Relational shoppers consider today’s transaction to be one in a long series of many future purchases, they are looking less for a product than a store in which to buy it.
2. Their only fear is of making a poor choice. Relational shoppers will purchase as soon as they have confidence.
3. They don’t enjoy the process of comparative shopping and negotiating
4. Relational shoppers are looking for an expert they can trust.
5. They consider their time to be part of the purchase price.
6. Confident that they have found “The right place to buy” relational shoppers are very likely to become repeat customers

When I look at my Etsy guests it is clear that they are mostly Relational in their shopping habits, and my Ebay customers? for the most part they are about as Transactional as it gets.
Remember this! Each of us (including your customers) can be relational or transactional shoppers; we can be transactional in some product or service and relational in others. More about this in future posts