Answering the question: Should I sell on Multiple Marketplaces?
During 2014, the online marketplaces saw a lot of shifts that affected sellers, so it became standard for those of us doing marketplace reviews online to recommend selling on multiple platforms.
The advantage is, if one of the marketplaces changes its policies in a manner that affects your ability to sell successfully on that marketplace, then you still hopefully have income coming from your other stores.
Personally, I recommend you use a tool like Shopseen.com or a similar tool, that will let you manage your inventory in one online location, but cross-sell it to other platforms.
During 2015, online sales hit a big slump, though heading into 2016, sales are increasing on the major marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, Etsy.
Your sales will be affected by what you sell, your prices, competition, and the marketplace, so as experienced sellers say, "Research, Research, Research".
You want to find marketplaces to sell on that have an established history (rule of thumb, if you haven't heard of a marketplace, no one else probably has either), leaving you with Amazon, Ebay and Etsy.
Other marketplaces like Bonanza, EBlueJay.com, Ecrater, etc. have lower traffic and lowers sales. in part because they are less known. EBlueJay has just relaunched itself with a new marketplace and storefront built from the ground up, has a one time sign-up fee of $5.00 USD and no final value or listing fees.
If you want to create a custom store, you will need to have a very effective marketing plan to drive business and shoppers to your website.
Storenvy.com provides online sellers and businesses with a free custom store front that can accept Stripe and PayPal payments. They also have a connected Marketplace with a 10% Commission on marketplace attributed sales.
Other custom stores include Highwire, Shopify, Big Commerce, etc. and cost $20.00 USD or more a month.
If you are selling handmade and custom products, you certainly already know about Etsy. There are a few other lessor known marketplaces for handmade goods also, you will have to find them via a Google search. Some hand made goods sell moderately well on eBay. Some Etsy sellers also sell on Storenvy since it allows you to build a free custom store.
Wherever you decide to sell, have at least one high traffic marketplace like Amazon, Etsy or Ebay, and then experiment with other marketplaces also. This allows you to have some sales, while also testing out sales on other platforms.
Again, a service like Shopseen works well, because it reduces the work for managing listings and inventory, allows you to cross-sell the same inventory to multiple marketplaces, it offers an Instagram Store, is enabled with Square for selling at on location events, and in the near future will offer Twitter selling buttons.
Hope this helps, if you are interested in more selling online ideas, visit my youtube channel at www.randydreammaker.com
During 2014, the online marketplaces saw a lot of shifts that affected sellers, so it became standard for those of us doing marketplace reviews online to recommend selling on multiple platforms.
The advantage is, if one of the marketplaces changes its policies in a manner that affects your ability to sell successfully on that marketplace, then you still hopefully have income coming from your other stores.
Personally, I recommend you use a tool like Shopseen.com or a similar tool, that will let you manage your inventory in one online location, but cross-sell it to other platforms.
During 2015, online sales hit a big slump, though heading into 2016, sales are increasing on the major marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, Etsy.
Your sales will be affected by what you sell, your prices, competition, and the marketplace, so as experienced sellers say, "Research, Research, Research".
You want to find marketplaces to sell on that have an established history (rule of thumb, if you haven't heard of a marketplace, no one else probably has either), leaving you with Amazon, Ebay and Etsy.
Other marketplaces like Bonanza, EBlueJay.com, Ecrater, etc. have lower traffic and lowers sales. in part because they are less known. EBlueJay has just relaunched itself with a new marketplace and storefront built from the ground up, has a one time sign-up fee of $5.00 USD and no final value or listing fees.
If you want to create a custom store, you will need to have a very effective marketing plan to drive business and shoppers to your website.
Storenvy.com provides online sellers and businesses with a free custom store front that can accept Stripe and PayPal payments. They also have a connected Marketplace with a 10% Commission on marketplace attributed sales.
Other custom stores include Highwire, Shopify, Big Commerce, etc. and cost $20.00 USD or more a month.
If you are selling handmade and custom products, you certainly already know about Etsy. There are a few other lessor known marketplaces for handmade goods also, you will have to find them via a Google search. Some hand made goods sell moderately well on eBay. Some Etsy sellers also sell on Storenvy since it allows you to build a free custom store.
Wherever you decide to sell, have at least one high traffic marketplace like Amazon, Etsy or Ebay, and then experiment with other marketplaces also. This allows you to have some sales, while also testing out sales on other platforms.
Again, a service like Shopseen works well, because it reduces the work for managing listings and inventory, allows you to cross-sell the same inventory to multiple marketplaces, it offers an Instagram Store, is enabled with Square for selling at on location events, and in the near future will offer Twitter selling buttons.
Hope this helps, if you are interested in more selling online ideas, visit my youtube channel at www.randydreammaker.com