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Perhaps you are considering starting to sell online but do not feel the need to open an online store just yet. If you’re thinking of selling products online, it’s important to know the various options and understand how online selling works.
This guide will teach you the basics of selling online and give you some tips on how to get started.
One of the benefits of selling without a website and using an existing online platform is that you can easily and quickly reach more people. You don’t have to be a tech-savvy individual to sell online. You just have to have a product to sell.
Not having to worry about hosting a website is an additional advantage. All you need is a popular online platform that customers are already using to buy products from.
You can sell your products without a website because you also don’t have to worry about inventory. The fact that you are relieved of the burden of website maintenance is the final advantage. You can sell your products without a website and still create a brand.
You might automatically assume that you need a website if you want to sell products online. But do you need a website when you are just starting out?
The use of marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and Etsy as well as social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram are a few other options, depending on what you’re selling and in what quantity.
Consider the following factors when determining whether or not you require a website or online store:
Online sales can be made in numerous ways. Even if you launch your online side hustle without a website, you can still move from social media or a marketplace to a website once you have gained some traction.
A website will assist you in building your brand over the long term. However, selling without a website will increase your sales and help you attract new customers in the short term.
But with so many different online platforms to choose from, it can be difficult to decide which one is the best. When selecting the best platform, a number of things need to be taken into account, including profitability, customer support, and success rates.
Consider looking at the list below of online marketplaces and social media sites where you can begin selling online.
You may have already considered selling on a marketplace, such as Amazon, Etsy, or eBay if you’re wondering how to sell without a website. This might make sense for two reasons:
You don’t need to spend as much time on marketing with marketplaces as you do when you sell online through your own website because they draw thousands of visitors each month. People who shop in marketplaces are already “in the buying mode” and are looking for specific products.
You must register as a seller on the platform of your choice before you can begin selling on a marketplace. Depending on the size of your side business and the equipment you’ll need for selling on the platform, Amazon and eBay both require you to select a selling plan.
Do not forget that marketplaces charge you for both your selling plan and any sales you make on their platform.
You can begin creating your product listings once you’ve established a seller’s account. However, bear in mind that some products must first receive platform approval before customers are allowed to complete the sale. This is true if you intend to sell watches, jewelry, music, or videos on Amazon.
For more information on the limitations of various product categories, read the marketplace rules. As an illustration, only works that do not infringe upon any laws, copyrights, or trademarks are permitted for sale on eBay as reproductions of artwork (such as posters or prints).
Check out the list of the most popular online selling platforms or marketplaces to choose from.
eBay is a great way to generate extra income. It has over 135 million worldwide users and facilitated $27.5 billion worth of sales in Q1 of 2021. On eBay, you can find almost anything, including clothes, electronics, and automobiles.
Even your old items can be sold. You can set a price on your listing if you want to sell a specific item. Wait for offers to come in after you have set your price. If you have multiple items to sell, list each one separately and then wait for offers.
With a similar fee structure to Amazon, eBay also allows you to sell a variety of items through auctions. Each listing you make is subject to a fee, and a separate fee is assessed for each item that is sold.
These charges fluctuate depending on the item’s price, category, and seller performance, among other things. You typically pay 30 cents in addition to 12.9% of the item’s final sale price, which includes shipping and sales tax. When you post more than 250 items in a month, eBay begins to charge you 35 cents for each additional listing.
On Amazon, you can sell just about anything, though some specialty categories necessitate Amazon approval and an upgraded selling plan. Depending on the selling plan you have, Amazon assesses various fees for the items you sell.
The first step to selling on Amazon is to choose an Amazon seller account. You can create a seller account for free, which is the best option for new sellers.
The second step is to create your listing. You can use your own photos and descriptions to sell your products, or you can use Amazon’s pre-made templates.
The third step is to set up your product in Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon program. This is the program that Amazon uses to fulfill orders for products sold on its website.
You’ll need to set up a shipping address, contact information, and preferences for what type of shipments you want. You’ll also need to create a tax ID for your business and make sure it’s in your Amazon seller account settings.
You will pay Amazon 99 cents per item sold, plus a referral fee if you choose the basic individual selling plan. The referral fee typically ranges from 8% to 15% of the item’s final sale price, which includes shipping costs but excludes taxes. You also pay a $1.80 closing fee if you’re selling media items, such as books, CDs, DVDs, and video games.
There is a $39.99 monthly subscription fee for the upgraded Professional selling plan, but you are not required to pay 99 cents per item as you are with the Individual plan. The professional plan is only practical if you anticipate selling more than 40 items per month.
Popular online marketplace Etsy is where people can sell their handcrafted and vintage goods. There are many different items for sale on this website, including clothing, jewelry, and works of art.
For artists and crafters, Etsy is the ideal marketplace. Etsy is a fantastic place to sell your goods if they are unique because of its emphasis on creativity. This marketplace provides a large selection of handmade goods made by vendors.
Using Etsy, you must first create a free shop in order to sell goods online. You must pay a listing fee of 20 cents, plus a transaction fee of 6.5% of the final sale price, including shipping, in order to list an item. You will be charged an additional 3% plus 25 cents if you choose to use Etsy Payments to process your payment.
You won’t have to pay $0.20 for each variation if you intend to sell products with different color options because Etsy counts these as one listing. Etsy is a great platform to develop a devoted following, even though it works better for small businesses selling niche goods because the majority of customers buy more than once. On Etsy, there are more than 60 million buyers, and more than 40% of them are repeat buyers.
There are many ways to sell on Bonanza. You can sell your own items, consign your items to the store, or sell items that you already own.
Fees are assessed based on the item’s sale price and any shipping costs that exceed $10. Consequently, your fee would be determined by the price of $35 if you sold an item for $30 and shipped it for $15. In our example, you would pay about $1.22 because Bonanza charges you 3.5% of this amount. Each item must be purchased for a minimum of fifty cents.
You pay 3.5% on the first $1,000 and then 1.5% of the amount over $1,000 for goods that sell for $1,000 or more. In addition, Bonanza offers to promote your listing across the internet in exchange for a higher percentage charge.
Poshmark is an online marketplace where you can buy, sell, and trade used clothes, accessories, and shoes. After starting in San Francisco in 2012, the website has since grown to include Los Angeles, New York City, London, and Paris.
Poshmark is a hybrid social network and online store for selling clothing and other items. It has an easy-to-understand fee structure: You pay $2.95 for sales under $15 and 20% for purchases over $15. For expedited shipping, Poshmark charges your buyer $7.67.
Best Buy is a great place to sell your used electronics if you’re looking to make some extra money. Make sure the item is still in good condition before selling it. You can bring your device in for a free inspection if you have any concerns about its condition.
Next, make sure you are aware of the item you are selling and its current market value. Since an iPad currently sells for $300, you should state in your listing that you are willing to sell it for $200. It’s crucial to keep your listing up to date with the current market value when selling on Best Buy.
Ruby Lane is an online marketplace where you can buy and sell used and vintage goods. Ruby Lane strives to make the process of buying and selling vintage goods as simple as possible. It’s easy to find the ideal item for you on the website because it has such a large seller community. Additionally, the website offers helpful selling advice as well as a buyer’s guide for those looking for a particular item.
A $25 monthly maintenance fee must be paid in order to list items for sale on Ruby Lane. You can receive a $25 rebate if you list at least 15 things in a single month. Additionally, Ruby Lane levies a service fee of 9.9% of the total purchase price. (See a more detailed fee schedule here.)
Before getting started, you should be confident that you can recover these maintenance and service costs on Ruby Lane.
Swappa is a marketplace for used and refurbished electronics. Swappa is an excellent place to begin if you want to sell your used electronics. Swappa also has a premium marketplace where vendors can charge a higher price for their goods and customers can pay with PayPal or credit cards. The best thing about Swappa is that they give you access to a user-friendly website and all the resources you need to market your goods. Swappa allows you to sell anything, including your old iPhone, laptop, and even TV.
With Swappa, you can set your own price based on comparable listings and send the buyer your device right away. To find a better option, you can compare pricing information on this website. This website makes it simple to sell your electronics for quick cash rather than letting them collect dust in your drawer, despite the slightly different ways it operates.
Another fantastic option for quickly starting to sell products online without a website is social media. Social media is a great tool for reaching a wide audience. It also enables you to market your product in inventive ways.
You should first decide which social media platforms are most appropriate for your side hustle before you start selling on them. The next step is to determine who your target market is for each platform. You can use this information to decide how to market your products on each platform.
For instance, you should concentrate on Instagram if you are marketing a product that is used by young people. If you are selling a product that is used by families, you should focus on Facebook. And you should concentrate on LinkedIn if you are marketing a professional-oriented product. The size of your target audience should also be taken into account.
Similarly, social media sites where community and discussion are prioritized, such as Reddit, Quora, Twitter, and Facebook Groups, are excellent venues for social selling, particularly if your niche frequents them.
Due to its platform for reaching a large audience, Facebook has long been a useful marketing tool for companies.
You must advertise your product if you want to sell goods successfully on Facebook. On Facebook, there are numerous options for product promotion. Making a Facebook ad is one approach. This will allow you to reach a lot of people who are interested in your products.
Another option is to start a Facebook page. It is important to make sure that your product has a Facebook page and that it is content-rich. On your Facebook page, you should also post numerous pictures and engage with your followers. Additionally, make sure to frequently update your Facebook page’s status. You can increase your sales by doing any of these things.
Even better, you can open a Facebook shop. A Facebook shop is an online storefront that is located on your Facebook page. It is free to create, and all you need to get started is a business page.
A step-by-step tutorial for creating a Facebook shop is provided here.
Instagram has become one of the most popular social media platforms, with a user base of 1.4 billion and Instagram Stories reaching 500 million users. Many people are already familiar with Instagram, but on the other end of the spectrum, many people aren’t familiar with selling their products on the platform.
The same steps for setting up a shop on Facebook can be used to create an Instagram shop if you don’t have a website. You must select “checkout with messaging” when choosing a checkout method.
Customers will be instructed to message your business for payment and order completion information. Similar to selling on Facebook through messaging, these techniques demand a lot of manual labor. However, if you’re interested in trying out the platform to launch a side hustle and only expect a few sales per month, this might be sufficient.
Pinterest has invested time, effort, and energy into making using Pinterest for business purposes as efficient as possible. They have also made it very simple for businesses to understand how to use Pinterest for business.
Like the majority of the social media sites we’ve listed here, Pinterest has well over 250 million active monthly users, so chances are good that you’ve already used it for either personal or professional reasons.
But in case you haven’t, it functions exactly like a digital pinboard. You are encouraged to compile and publish all forms of visual content, including photos, infographics, GIFs, and videos. Users of Pinterest seek out visually stunning and motivating content. No matter what you’re looking for—new recipes, fitness advice, or business tips—Pinterest has it all!
To get started using Pinterest to sell online products, click here.
With up to 450 million active users each month, Twitter is a fantastic platform for microblogging. Users frequently use Twitter, as a result, to keep up with the most recent news, sports, politics, and entertainment updates. Thus, Twitter is the place to be if your brand falls under any of these categories.
If you have a website, it’s easy to start selling products using this platform since it allows you to set up a Twitter shop on your profile. You can create a storefront on your profile with Twitter Shops so that followers can make direct purchases from your business in a carefully curated environment. You can put up to 50 of your best-selling items on display or present your most recent collection in a one-stop shop that encourages your followers to make purchases.
Customers will be able to open your Twitter Shop after you enable it and browse up to 50 products by clicking the “View shop” button on your Twitter profile. After visiting a native product details page to learn more about a product, a customer clicks on it and is then seamlessly redirected from the in-app store to your website to complete their purchase.
Finding a niche that you can succeed in can be challenging given a large number of entrepreneurs and individuals looking to make money online. Yet there are numerous approaches to accomplishing that.
Finding a niche about which you are enthusiastic is one approach. If you are really into the subject, you’ll be able to talk about it with your friends, family, and customers. Another way is to find a niche that has a lot of competition.
This will give you the opportunity to stand out from the crowd. You’ll have an advantage over your rivals if you can identify a niche that is popular in your community and has a lot of competition.
One of the most important aspects of starting a business is establishing your target audience. Who are you trying to sell to? What is the demographic of your target audience? What is their age range? What are their interests? What are their levels of education? What are their life experiences? By asking these questions, you can figure out what types of products and services you need to create in order to best serve your target audience.
The truth is if you have a clear idea of who your target audience is, you’ll be able to focus on what you do best. Your target audience can be anyone, from your friends and family to other bloggers in your niche or industry. If you’re unsure of who your audience is, try using social media to see what people are talking about.
You’ll need to decide what products you’ll be selling to be successful. The best way to decide which products to sell is to first find the type of product you personally want to sell. You can then find the top-selling products in marketplaces like Amazon and take notes on what they have that you do not.
The most important thing to consider is the demand for your product. Think about what kind of products people are looking for and what the market is for that type of product. For example, if you were thinking about selling makeup, then you would want to look at the makeup trends and what kinds of products are trending in the market.
You might also want to take into consideration if there are any laws that have been passed that might affect your business.
You have a great product idea. But how do you know if your product will be successful when sold online? To find out, you need to know the existing market conditions. Whether or not you have a personal connection to the niche you’re considering, knowing your market is crucial
To ensure that your product is viable, follow these suggestions:
Pricing is a crucial part of any business, and it should be done strategically. If you price your product too low, you may lose money. If you price your product too high, you may lose customers.
A good way to figure out what your customer is willing to pay for your product is to ask them what they would pay. In addition to asking your customer, check out similar products on Amazon or eBay and see what their pricing is.
To help find out the market price, one can use Google’s shopping search and compare different products with different prices. This will help you find out what the market price for your product is and if you are selling it too low or too high.
The market is always changing, so it is important to make sure that your prices are constantly changing with it. You should also be aware of any discounts that are available for your product and use them to your advantage.
Don’t make the error of assuming that a lower price is always better when comparing competitors. People are prepared to shell out more money for superior goods. However, if your target market believes that the products offered by your rivals are overpriced, you could intervene and present them with a less expensive option.
Before you start selling online, you’ll need to have systems in place for collecting payments and shipping things out similar to an online store.
A great way to increase your sales and profits is to set up and streamline a payment processing service. This can be done by either setting up a merchant account with your bank or by using a third-party service such as PayPal.
A merchant account is an account with a bank that allows you to accept credit cards and debit cards as payment for your products. A third-party service such as PayPal allows you to take payments online.
Setting up your payment processing service will help you increase your sales and focus on other aspects of your side hustle, but it is important to make sure that you are selling the right items to the right customers at the right time.
There are a lot of ways to do this, but some of the most popular platforms you can use include:
– Paypal
– Stripe
– Square
– Amazon Payments
– Google Wallet
If you’ll be handling shipping yourself, you’ll need accurate numbers to set up your shipping options on the site. If you are based in the US, compare pricing and services from USPS, UPS, and FedEx—or look at other options in the country where you’re headquartered.
Customers love free shipping, but if you plan to offer that, those costs should be built into your product pricing.
Also, don’t forget to add in the cost of boxes and packaging materials when you set up your pricing and shipping rate structure. You will have to decide which one is most convenient for you and your customers. To find out more about shipping options, visit USPS’s site or FedEx’s site.
If you’re selling on Amazon, they offer a Prime shipping option, which is free for customers who have an Amazon Prime account. Another popular option is the expedited shipping method, which is also free for Prime members. This option will allow you to get your package delivered in 2-3 days.
Choosing the right online platform to sell on can be a daunting task. It is important that you find the platform that is best for you and your interests. Some people are better at selling on social media; others are better at selling on e-commerce platforms, and some people are better at selling on niche websites. The important thing is to figure out what works for you and what you are good at.
Every online seller has a different online platform that they prefer and use. Some prefer eBay, others prefer Amazon, and still, others use Facebook. The best platform to use depends on what you are selling and the audience you are trying to reach. Is your product targeted at people who love handmade jewelry? Then Etsy might be the right choice for you. Are you targeting local shoppers? Then consider Facebook Marketplace.
Make sure that your product listings are optimized for success when you sell products online. A successful listing depends on a few important elements, such as including a high-quality photo and an accurate or comprehensive product description.
Having a list of search terms that people use to find products similar to yours is also essential. This is a crucial component of your online store because it aids customers in discovering your product when they are looking for a comparable item.
Regardless of the route you’ve chosen for your preferred sales channel, whether through an online marketplace or a social media platform, it’s highly recommended that you follow the nine steps laid out in this post to be successful in selling online.
It costs little money and takes little time to start selling online without a website. So get started and plan your approach, identify trends, pick a strategy, register on the chosen sales channel, and start making money online for yourself.
After getting the hang of selling online, you can try to advance and turn your side hustle into a full-fledged online business by dropshipping or setting up your own E-commerce site.