How to Start Selling Online

Selling products online is more popular than ever. Here's how you can get on the e-commerce bandwagon.

• There are several ways to start selling products online. For example, you can use a marketplace or an e-commerce platform, or add a shopping cart to an existing website.
• For new sellers, marketplaces such as Etsy and Amazon Marketplace are accessible, affordable options.
• E-commerce platforms make it easy to set up an online store quickly with built-in tools to help you accept payments and manage inventory.
• This article is for individuals and business owners who want to sell products online.

Selling online involves more than setting up a website and uploading product images. To be successful, you need passion, expertise and marketing skills. The good news is, there are numerous tools to help you with your online shop. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about selling goods online with an e-commerce business.

How do you start selling online?

Before you can start selling online, you have to devise a plan for how you’re going to do it well. The quickest way to fizzle out is to throw random products on a website or online marketplace and hope for the best.

“A good e-commerce business is a cross section of two disciplines,” said Mike Nunez, founder of Tilde Enterprises. “You are passionate about it and are really good at it.” 

Nunez pointed to Beverages Direct, an online merchant that specializes in root beer and hard-to-find beverages, as a good example. The owner had a real love for root beer and was able to bring a level of expertise to his shop that others couldn’t. “Find the differentiator, and find the thing you love – that’s a business,” Nunez said.

Once you know what product or products you want to sell, you can get busy setting up your e-commerce business. Follow these steps to start selling online:

. Name your business and your domain.

The names of your website and domain are almost as important as the products you sell. You want it to be easy for potential customers to find you online, and you don’t want them to mess up the spelling in search queries or pronounce it incorrectly to voice assistants such as Alexa. If you already have a brick-and-mortar store, your online business should have an identical name. Ideally, the website name and domain name (URL) will match.

2. Choose your venue.

Selling a product online is easier when you use an e-commerce platform or an online marketplace. There are also stand-alone online stores you can create on your own website.

3. Decide which payments to accept.

Accepting payments through your online store can be easy or complicated, depending on how much work you’re willing to do.A processor is a third party that handles the payment transaction when a customer makes a purchase online. In seconds, the payment processor communicates between your store and the customer’s bank to ensure there are enough funds to complete the purchase. It also employs security measures to ensure a fraudulent payment method is not being used.

If you have a physical store where you already accept credit cards, your existing payment processor should be able to support your online sales. And if you signed a contract, you may be contractually obligated to use that company as your online processor.f you use an e-commerce platform such as Shopify, payments are usually built in. Some platforms allow you to work with a third-party payment processor, but they may charge an extra fee.

The more payment methods your e-commerce store accepts, the betterWhen running an online store, “you need to accept more than credit cards,” said Tory Brunker, senior director of commerce product marketing at Adobe. “We recommend PayPal and some of the other broadly used payment methods.”

4. Figure out the shipping.

Amazon has made free shipping and speedy delivery commonplace, but not every e-commerce store can afford to offer the vendor’s services. Before you advertise rates, it’s important to figure out shipping costs and the impact they’ll have on your profits. It’s a balancing act: You don’t want to lose a sale because shipping is too expensive, but you don’t want to lose money because you gave everyone free shipping.

“You have to find a way to deliver value and consistently exceed expectations,” Brunker said. “Capturing and keeping customers is absolutely critical, particularly right now as people value speed and convenience above all else.

5. Get the word out about your online store.

You can have the best e-commerce website in the world, but if nobody knows about it, it’s worthless. Social media sites are great platforms for building awareness about your store, as brand building plays a big part in successful online selling.

Which platforms are best for selling online?

Options abound for online selling. You can join an online marketplace, use an e-commerce platform, or add a shopping cart feature to your website. The right choice for you may depend on the number of years you’ve been in business and your goals for your enterprise.

“There are plenty of marketplaces to choose from when you’re not ready to become a small business,” said Meghan Stabler, senior vice president at BigCommerce. “Once you’re a small business and have a unique set of products you want to sell online, you can pick an e-commerce platform.”

Established retailers that already have websites can also set up a web store on their site using a shopping cart, but if time is of the essence, an e-commerce platform will have you up and running more quickly. Or, you could choose two or more options; for instance, sell products on your own website and use an online marketplace.

What are popular e-commerce marketplaces?

There are several e-commerce marketplaces where you can sell your products. Here are three of the most popular options.

Amazon Marketplace

Amazon runs an e-commerce marketplace that enables businesses to sell products to its 147 million U.S.-based Prime customers. In exchange for that access, Amazon charges you a monthly fee and also tacks on a per-item referral fee. Online shops can pay extra for Amazon to handle shipping.

• Amazon’s Professional selling plan costs $39.99 a month.
• The Individual selling plan is 99 cents per unit sold. 
• There’s also a per-item referral fee, which is based on the product category.

Etsy

Geared toward sellers of crafts, jewelry and other homemade items, Etsy has become a huge marketplace, providing sellers with access to more than 40 million consumers.

• Etsy charges a listing fee of 20 cents per item. Listings remain live for four months or until they sell.
• There is also a 6.5% transaction fee and, in the U.S., a payment processing fee of 3% plus 25 cents. Other countries’ payment processing fees differ.
• If you make a sale from one of Etsy’s off-site ads, they take a cut. This cut is 15% if you’ve made under $10,000 through Etsy sales in the previous 365 days. The percentage drops to 12% if your sales in the previous 365 days have exceeded $10,000.

  Walmart Marketplace

  Geared toward more established merchants, Walmart Marketplace puts your products in front of millions of potential customers. Walmart screens businesses before including them in the marketplace and, just like Amazon, offers fulfillment services.

  • Walmart Marketplace charges a referral fee per product. The fee varies based on the product category. 
  • Walmart takes a 15% cut on apparel, accessories, baby items, beauty products and books. Cell phones, cameras and consumer electronics have an 8% fee.

  What are popular e-commerce platforms?

  E-commerce platforms help business owners set up an online shop in little time. These platform operators also help merchants list and sell their products, manage inventory and accept payments. Here are two popular options:

  Shopify

  Used by more than 1 million businesses, Shopify is a top e-commerce platform that offers a full suite of services. Merchants can create an online store; sell products on social media and marketplaces; and manage product inventory, payments and shipping. Shopify charges a monthly subscription fee.

  • The Lite plan costs $9 a month, but it’s designed to be used with an existing website. For the full platform experience, you’ll need the Basic plan or higher.
  • The Basic plan costs $29 per month, followed by a midtier offering simply called Shopify, which is $79 a month.
  • The Advanced package costs $299 per month.

  BigCommerce

  BigCommerce is another leading platform for online selling; it allows you to create an appealing online store and even run your social media marketing. Its pricing is comparable to Shopify’s.

  • The entry-level Standard plan is $29.95 per month, the midlevel Plus plan costs $79.95 per month, and the high-end Pro plan is $299.95 per month.
  • All plans have unlimited storage, bandwidth and staff accounts, and there are no transaction fees.