There are Etsy and Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and dozens of other selling sites
where you can sell things to other people online.
Are these places all equal? Of course not.
Some of these ecommerce sties have not enough controls,
so they end up facilitating everything from the sale of stolen goods to human trafficking.
Ecommerce Sites with Fees:
Some, like Etsy, charge a percentage of the selling price for you to use their site to advertise things for sale.
Etsy charges a listing fee, a transaction fee, and an offsite ads fee.
These fees may not seem very big, but when you consider the volume of sales that go through the Etsy platform,
it suddenly becomes clear that Etsy is a hugely profitable business.
Many ecommerce platforms charge small fees, but in return they do not permit ads on their sites.
A lot of people like that format because they are not bombarded with ads every time they access the site.
Sites that charge fees are better for people who sell things on a regular basis – running an online store, for example.
Free Ecommerce Sites:
Some selling sites are free. These sites are usually popular with people who only sell things once in a while.
There are people who run the equivalent of an online store on sites like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, and they appreciate the fact that there are no fees.
It is important to evaluate any selling site before you use it.
Look up reviews of the site and find out how it works before trying to use it.
Selling Sites Best Practices:
When you are selling anything online, it is not a good idea to give out your address unless you are confident that no harm can come from it.
It is smarter to meet in a safe public place if at all possible to exchange the item you are selling for the money.
This makes the transaction much safer.
