If you are brand new to the world of online selling, there can be a lot of overwhelm and confusion on where to start. With all the news feeds and Facebook posts about selling here and selling there and 'how I made $10,000 in a week,' it can be so daunting that you never really start.
Let's make it simple.
Not every selling platform is for everybody. And for some it can be many, but only after a period of time that each market is clearly understood. Here is my take on how to proceed from the very beginning.
What is a Selling Platform?
A selling platform, otherwise known as an eCommerce platform, is the place, software or site that you choose to sell products. You may choose to create your own website or use another site that belongs to someone else and offers you the opportunity to sell using their structure, such as eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Walmart, Bonanza, local auction sites and others. These sites charge a small fee to use their service, but the advantage is that they are established and thousands, if not millions, of eyes will be on your products and boost the likelihood of a sale.
For purposes of this post, we will look into selling on some of the popular platforms that are already in place.
Start With Just One Platform
Regardless of which platform you choose, select only one to start. Don't try to throw caution to the wind and post products on every site if you've never sold anything. This will cost you a lot of money, time and confusion. You have to learn to walk before you can run. Selling physical products online is more of marathon than a sprint if you want steady income. Steady growth requires consistency and patience.
Which Platform is Right For Me?
There are two considerations to take into account when deciding where to start. The first is how much money you have to invest in both the platform and the inventory. The second is the type of product you are interested in selling.
If you have money to spend or invest in rapid growth, then Amazon might be the platform for you.
If you are starting with nothing and want to grow, then eBay or local selling sites like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist might be the right fit.
If you are a craftsman, artisan or creative, then Etsy will work very well and is the least expensive place to start.
If you are a collector of fine antiques or vintage pieces, then you may want to look at starting your own online auction business.
The following is a comprehensive overview of each platform and some things you need to know in advance of selecting your starting place. Let's look at each individually.
So let's dive into an overview of each of these popular platforms.
EBay
The grandfather of selling sites, eBay started in 1995 (the same year as Craigslist for all you trivia buffs). Those that embraced an online presence early catapulted eBay to being the #1 auction site in a few short years.
It has experienced some ups and downs over time as new rivals vied for their buyers, but it still remains a very strong platform. If you think you'll never be able to find a particular part or replacement item for an object that's several years old, think again! eBay is a mecca for used clothing, auto parts, retired products, computer parts, spare remotes to older TVs and inexpensive older cell phones. If you can't find it, there is a search notification function that allows you to be notified when something you're looking for shows up.
Why are older items and part so relevant? Because many people are willing to get rid of older items on the cheap, or even free. It can be quite a lucrative proposition for scavengers who know what to look for.
PROS
- Cost. While the rates have gone up a bit, the right products are still relatively low cost to sell. On the front end you will pay a minimum of 25 cents to list and if you want extras it costs more (bold highlight, extra photos, featured product, etc.). The back end fee, or Final Value Fee is a minimum of 9% and is based on the sold price.
- Number of users. Your products, if curated wisely, will be in front of many eyes.
- Store option. You can pay a monthly fee to set up your own brand and even build your own website with links to eBay.
- Feedback. Your buyers are compelled to leave feedback which raises you to the top as you collect more 5-star compliments.
CONS
- Since eBay charges the two types of fees as listed above, it is difficult to sell less expensive garage-sale type items to be profitable.
- Buyers. eBay is customer-centric which means they typically side with the buyer in most dispute cases. Excellent record keeping is a must to handle disputes. There are also some shady buyers that demand partial refunds (or try to), but they are few and far between.
- Disputes. In the case of disputes your Paypal account will be frozen for the amount disputed. If you use Paypal for other sites, either you have to have a balance to cover it or resolve the buyer's issue quickly.
- Paypal. I'm not sure this is a "con," but for some it can be. You need to open or have an already existing Paypal account to sell on eBay. I have not found it to be a problem except in the case of disputes. Paypal does charge you money for each transaction, but so do major credit cards.
WHAT TO SELL ON EBAY
The one thing I love about eBay is that you can sell just about anything. There are restrictions, but they are not unreasonable. Heck, people sell empty toilet paper rolls and pine cones!
The best items to sell on eBay are clothes, toys, home decor, electronic parts or accessories (think older TV remotes or parts for a discontinued drill), vintage & antiques, auto parts, office supplies, books, ephemera, postcards, and new useful practical products.
Etsy
In June 2005, 10 years after eBay opened its doors, Etsy came on the scene. This was a new kind of selling platform for artists, hobbyists and creatives that went viral quite rapidly. If you haven't perused the variety of gifts, decor and handmade crafts yet, you should head on over and look at this platform.
Etsy provides a great sense of community and offers a limited (but not too restrictive) opportunity to show your wares in the handmade, supplies and vintage categories. They have expanded to also include products made by others that are created by the seller.
PROS
- Cost. This is the least expensive platform to sell on. Listings are only 20 cents for a 4-month run, and the back end fee upon sale is only 3.5%, less than half the price of eBay in most categories.
- Number of users. In 2016 over 28 million buyers placed an order on Etsy and it has become the gift-giving go-to place behind Amazon.
- Store option. Stores are free on Etsy. They are easy to set up and easy to maintain, and a good place to give your brand exposure.
- Sellers. Both the buyers and sellers on Etsy are incredibly friendly, nice, and supportive. Giving love to other shop owners is common practice and it doesn't seem like people are out to beat the competition -- they are very helpful.
- Fixed pricing. This is a good thing. You know exactly what you will receive for your item and you can run sales as you see fit. You do not have too many people trying to buy for less as you do on eBay - I've never had a lower offer in the past 6 years.
CONS
- If you devote your selling to Etsy, it certainly works better if you can work the site. This means participating on the message boards, favoriting other sellers' stores and items and making your presence known. I've seen upward trends when you work at it.
- Payment. You will receive payment once your buyer receives their item. When you ship through Etsy they track the shipment and know when it is delivered. This is not true, however, for international shipments - you receive payment a little quicker. This is only a "con" if you consider that Paypal is immediate payment.
WHAT TO SELL ON ETSY
Etsy is more restrictive than eBay in keeping true to their original brand. They started with only allowing handmade items and craft supplies, and now have expanded to vintage (20 years or older) clothing and collectibles, and also downloadable files.
If you are a crafter, artist, candle maker, seamstress, potter or love vintage clothing, accessories and home decor, give Etsy a look. If you look around the site you will get a feel for the products that sell well.
Amazon
Believe it or not, Amazon actually opened its doors a year before eBay in 1994. The giant didn't become the giant overnight! But nonetheless...Amazon is the giant and continues to become both larger and smarter when it comes to what consumers want.
Selling on Amazon is not for a beginner unless you have significant dollars to invest to have some of the work done for you. If you've already been selling on eBay or Etsy and you want to give it a try, I highly encourage it. The cash flow around the holidays is amazing if you have the right products in stock.
There are two ways you can sell on Amazon -- Merchant Fulfilled (MF) or Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
Merchant Fulfilled:
- Seller ships the item from their location
- Amazon restricts the amount of shipping fees that a customer is charged to a flat rate
- Shipment can be made as you see fit, but MUST be done within the timeframe specified.
- Items are not Prime, but if you can turn around your shipping within 24 hours you can apply to be a MF Prime seller.
- Cost is a flat rate of .99 per item. There are no monthly fees.
Fulfillment by Amazon:
- The seller enters the products into a Seller Dashboard to describe and process inventory.
- The seller labels and ships all items into Amazon for warehousing.
- Amazon handles all the picking, packing and shipping for each order.
- Amazon pays the seller biweekly via direct deposit.
- The cost for this service is 39.99/mo plus a percentage of the sale for each item, and picking, packing and shipping charges. There are also storage fees monthly and 2x/year for unsold inventory which is paid by the cubic foot.
One important note regarding Amazon FBA: plan on a minimum of $5.00 being taken out for each item sold. That's for one of the smaller items - it goes up from there. It's important to factor that in when you go to the trouble of shipping your items to them.
PROS
- Visibility. At the end of 2015 Amazon had 315 million users. 55% of all consumers go to Amazon before anywhere else to find products today. It's more than likely if you have something they want it will sell.
- Rankings. Amazon uses a Best Sellers Ranking (BSR) which indicates which items are selling and which are not. You can find those rankings publicly if you scroll down to the bottom of a product page. This helps you assess whether you should be selling a particular item.
- Convenience. For FBA, having someone else do all your back end work and dealing with customer returns is hands down a treat. It costs some of your profit money, but with the right items it is well worth sparing you the time.
- Buy Box. Amazon has what is called a Buy Box. This means that when a customer searches for something you have in stock, your store will come up first before other sellers.
CONS
- Pricing. If you are doing retail arbitrage (buying from another store to sell on Amazon), chances are that other sellers are doing that, too. When there are multiple sellers of one item, they each keep lowering their price to keep the Buy Box. It becomes a "race to the bottom" and erodes profits.
- Payment. Amazon issues direct deposit funds once every other week at the same time like clockwork. It is only a con if you need your funds quicker.
- Rules. Not gonna lie on this one, some of Amazon's rules or processes are hard to figure out. Just when you think you've got it, they change. Dealing with customer service to obtain an answer can wear your patience as the majority of reps have stock answers for everything.
- Restrictions. There are restrictions you have to be careful of with certain products. Certain brands, i.e. Disney, require a letter of authorization to sell their products. If you're only selling a couple of items that you bought at Walmart, chances are you will not get that letter. So pay attention when you are buying so you don't lose money -- but hey, you can always sell them on eBay! Also there are certain things considered "hazardous" - perfumes, nail polish, some baby toys and more. This part is learn as you go.
- Gating. When you hear the term "gated category" it means that you must ask permission from Amazon (health & beauty, apparel, jewelry, etc.). You need to supply them receipts from suppliers before they allow you to sell in a particular category. However, once you become a reliable and established seller, the gates open pretty easily.
WHAT TO SELL ON AMAZON
Amazon requires mostly brand new items in packages, especially when you are first starting out. There are a few categories when you can sell used, but it's not a good idea until you build up some good reviews on new items. The only category I recommend selling used is Books. Books sell very well, both new and used, and especially rare books.
Keep in mind the brand restrictions when you are selling store products.
The ultimate goal for making money on Amazon is to invest in a few private label products. Private label means that you or your company have the items manufactured yourself and put them into stock. You can also strike a deal with a manufacturer to have them put your label on their items, but the profit may not be as great.
Local Online Shopping Sites
There are quite a few local selling shopping/selling sites, Craigslist being the most commonly known. With the advent of the phone app, you will also find some interesting choices such as Mercari, 5Miles, OfferUp and VarageSale, to name a few.
Recently, however, Facebook has made a play with their integration of Facebook Marketplace, a buying and selling area within FB where you can display your wares.
As with any local selling, please make sure that your safety is a priority. Most of these sites require someone coming to pick the item up or meet somewhere to make the exchange. Some local police and sheriff's stations off safe pickup in their parking area -- check your local law enforcement websites to see if it is an option.
PROS
- Cost. It costs little to nothing to place your items for sale on these sites.
- Number of users. It varies, but Craigslist has been around and established so it can be a great first look for a lot of local people. Facebook is fast on their heels.
- No shipping. While you can ship on Mercari, and possibly Facebook, the majority of your buyers will want to take your products off your hands pretty quick.
- Quick to list. It doesn't take much time to snap a photo and describe your item. The photo speaks louder than the words on most of these sites.
CONS
- Safety. Protect yourself as listed above. Facebook is safer than the others because you can look at the profile of those who are interested in your item. If they don't have a lot of friends or something looks shady, you do not have to sell to them (vs. eBay where you are locked into your buyer). One tip is to offer Porch Pick-up (PPU). If the item is movable and not that expensive, leave it on your porch and have the buyer slip the cash under the doormat. Otherwise, meet in a safe or crowded area.
- Larger Items. You will obviously have to allow strangers into your home to pick up furniture and large items. Again, going back to safety, have someone else there at the scheduled pick-up time.
- No-shows. Yes, this happens more often than not. OfferUp, Craigslist and VarageSale are notorious for people who want your item and never show. Don't hold items more than an hour past the time agreed upon. If you have a second offer, take it.
WHAT TO SELL ON LOCAL SITES
Just about anything and everything, but refer to each platform's regulations and guidelines.
It is the easiest and cheapest way to dispose of household items that you would normally offer at a garage sale. If you are doing a purge of "stuff," consider advertising your items in lots or bundles.
Furniture, baby and pet necessities are some of the biggest sellers on these sites.
Auctions
Auctions are an age-old way of getting rid of a lot of stuff in a relatively short period of time. These are not the eBay auctions you might think of, those last for days and you may only sell one item at a time.
Think of the auctioneer standing up spewing words you can't understand a slamming a gavel down once in a while yelling "SOLD." Yes, those kind of auctions. However, in the digital age it is also possible to run streamed auctions online.
This is not for beginning sellers.
This method of sales are for collectors of fine or rare items including vintage. They typically command a high hammer price and most auction houses do charge a buyers' premium ranging from 10-30% of the final sale price (not affecting your profit).
In some areas, there are also local auction houses who will consign your things for a price. In my area it ranges from 25-35%, plus they keep the buyers' premium on top of that. If you're not ready to sell at auction, there might be some auction houses near you at which you can buy some items to resell on other platforms.
There are three types of auctions:
- Standard auction house. Examples - Christie's, Heritage, and Sotheby's. They specialize in valuable collectibles including antiques, jewelry, coins and antiquities. If you have something rare and valuable, you can contact one to see if your item would make the cut and consign to them.
- Online auction houses. There are a few online auction houses that you might find locally to take your things for consignment sales, or schedule them to run a "living estate sale" in your home if you have a lot of stuff.
- You can run your own auction by setting your brand up as an auctioneer. This is where it gets a little complicated. If you are using a national site like LiveAuctioneers, Proxibid or AuctionZip they will take on internet auctioneers. The other option is to create your own auction website. Either way you will need to make sure you have all the appropriate licenses in your state.
PROS
- Cash influx. If you run a lot of vintage, antiques and collectibles through your selling inventory, it will bring you a cash infusion in a short period of time.
- The ability to reach a wider audience. High end auction houses have a discriminate list of pre-approved buyers if you choose to offer your items on consignment. If you are auctioning on a national or international platform such as LiveAuctioneers, you will have worldwide buyers viewing your wares.
- Buyers' premium. If you open your own auction company, you are in control of collecting the 15-30% buyers' premium to offset your listing costs.
CONS
- Cost. If you are consigning, the auctioneer will keep a large chunk of the final price. If you are running an online auction using an existing platform, your cost per auction is $100-$600 to use their service plus a back end fee of 3-5%. If you set up your own website it would be cheaper in the long run, but you do have the initial costs of web building and technical maintenance.
- Labor intensive. Unless you are dropping furniture items off at a consigned auctioneer, running your own is quite labor intensive. For every single listing you run on eBay, multiply that by 100-300 items which is a minimum you want to have for each timed auction. You will be responsible for cleaning your items, assigning lot numbers, taking photographs, writing descriptions and uploading all the files online. On the back end you will need to invoice each winner and either be doing the shipping or making arrangements with a local shipping house.
- Non-paying bidders. Flakes. Scammers. While most of them don't mean to be on these sites, they still exist. Collecting your money from Germany or Africa is pretty hard. The national sites have systems in place where you are protected from non-paying bidders. If you report them they will reimburse you the back end fee. The good news is that you keep the product until you are paid, so you can always relist it.
WHAT TO SELL AT AUCTIONS
Most anything goes at an auction. Be very careful about selling illegal goods like ivory. Weapons can be sold, but must be shipped by a licensed weapons dealer. You cannot ship them through regular channels.
Stick to the unique and high end collectible items in your inventory for auction. Make sure the profit you stand to make is worth the time it takes you to list and ship.
Table and boxed lots of items sell well, and it actually can be a very good way for you to add to your inventory, too.
So there you have the 30,000-foot view of the main selling sites. I know there are more Pros and Cons than I've listed here, but these will give you a good idea of whether you like it or not.
So where are you going to start?