Editor’s Note
This article highlights the advantages of launching your own online store over using third-party marketplaces, emphasizing greater profit retention, brand building, and operational control.
If you’re not sure where to start, selling items through an online store allows you to keep more of your profits than when selling on a marketplace. Running a store also helps you build a brand and control how you appear online.
When you run an ecommerce store, you don’t pay listing fees on each sale or have to follow another website’s rules.
eBay
eBay introduced online selling to users and continues to lead the market. eBay is one of the original destinations for people who want to sell merchandise online, having been around since 1995—and it’s still thriving. The marketplace has over two billion listings and 134 million active buyers worldwide.
You can sell anything on eBay, from everyday items like shoes and watches to weird stuff.
eBay fees
If you plan to sell on eBay, take the online selling site’s fees into consideration. Most private sellers now enjoy zero listing fees, but eBay charges a final value fee of 3% on sales up to $15,000 per item, and 0.5% on amounts above that threshold.
Bonanza
Bonanza is an online selling site that’s growing in popularity as an eBay alternative. You can sell pretty much anything on the platform, and it receives nearly 1 million monthly visits to its website.
Think of Bonanza as the middle ground between popular selling sites like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay. For example, you can sell the latest Nike Air Max model or a handmade copper necklace and find active buyers for each. Buyers can add products to their cart for a set price or negotiate an offer with you through the platform.
Bonanza fees
Bonanza charges you nothing to list your products on its site. After making a sale, you’ll be charged a 25¢ transaction fee, in addition to a final value fee of at least 11% for orders under $4000.
Since many Bonanza sellers also have their own online stores, you can integrate Bonanza with platforms like Shopify. Bonanza reimburses final value fees on sales made via your referrals.
Ruby Lane
Ruby Lane is an online marketplace for vintage goods and antiques. Selling on Ruby Lane gives you access to highly targeted buyers for categories like collectibles, art, dolls, and jewelry.
Whether you run a collectibles store or are looking for a platform to sell some of your possessions, Ruby Lane is a good place to connect with passionate buyers.
Ruby Lane fees
Fees and payments for Ruby Lane are straightforward. It’s free to set up and list your products. But you need to pay a monthly maintenance fee of $45. In addition, Ruby Lane charges a 9.9% service fee on orders up to $2,500.
Etsy
Etsy is a selling site for handcrafted and vintage items. In 2015, it began including maker-developed manufactured goods, but only for select accounts on the marketplace. Currently, there are over 96 million active buyers on Etsy, making it a potentially lucrative way to start selling online.
If you’re new to online selling sites, Etsy provides access to an active buyer network, a pop-up storefront, and tools to help market your business on the platform.
Etsy fees
You’ll be charged a $0.20 listing fee for each item you sell on Etsy. Listings expire every four months. So if your item doesn’t sell and you renew the listing, you’ll be charged an additional additional $0.20. When you make a sale, you’ll be charged a transaction fee of 6.5% of the display price, plus the amount you charge for shipping and gift wrapping.
Chairish
Chairish is an online consignment shop made for high-quality home decor and furniture. It takes minutes to list an item (for free), and depending on your seller plan, between 60% and 80% of the selling price goes back to you, depending on your seller plan.