Is Selling In An Online Marketplace a Good Idea?

Marketing Articles | September 16, 2011

We've all heard of online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon. But is it a good idea to base a business around these sites?

Many online entrepreneurs that want to sell products on the internet are wondering whether it is better to build an e-commerce site, or to sell your products on an online marketplace such as Amazon and eBay for physical products and ClickBank for digital items.

There are quite a few advantages to use a marketplace for someone that is new to Boston Online Marketing. Here are a few advantages, as well as some drawbacks of using these sites to sell your items:

Advantages

Lower startup costs

The startup cost would be lower, as you won't have to pay a Boston Website Development company to build an e-commerce site for you, and then pay hosting fees every month for it. This will save you both time and money as it will allow you to get started right away.

Free traffic

If you have a website, there are plenty of ways to get traffic to it. You can develop and implement some strategies yourself, or you can get a Boston SEM company to build up some traffic for you. But with marketplace sites, the traffic is already there and is comprised of people that are already interested in buying things. If somebody is looking at your listing, then there is a high chance that they are interested in buying the item in question. You don't have to take much action to bring in visitors, as they are already there.

Disadvantages

Costs associated with listings and sales

One of the drawbacks of using a site such as eBay, Amazon or ClickBank is that you will need to pay a small fee to have your item listed and then you will need to pay them a percentage of each completed sale. This will, of course, reduce the profit that you make from each sale. However, if you think about it, this is not really that bad. If you were selling through your own site, you would need to pay for web hosting, as well as advertising to bring some visitors to your website, which would result in you having to spend money to get your traffic. Also, keep in mind that you only pay transaction fees for each completed sale and you will not have to pay anything for users who simply look at your listing but do not buy anything, which is a contrast to pay per click advertising methods.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that you can always have both your own e-commerce site (or even a physical retail location), as well as sell on online marketplaces. You can then make a better determination as to which method of selling will bring you the most profit for your business. For many sellers, the advantages of using online marketplaces will outweigh most of their drawbacks.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Barney wrote this article to inform people about the advantages of internet marketing. She believes that through digital marketing, email marketing, and other internet marketing techniques companies can achieve a great level of success.