Marketplaces To Sell Online in 2022
For the past nine years, at the beginning of every year, Randy Dreammaker has picked the online marketplaces and stores that his research during the previous year indicated may be the next best place to make money as an online seller. He's usually right.
In 2022 it has been more challenging to pick the winners. People have lost their entire inventory and small businesses as a result of state and local government over-reach in forcing businesses, out of business in the name of a virus outbreak.
A new White House administration and congress party majority has spent trillions and trillions of dollars the country doesn't have, leading to mass inflations of food, housing and fuel.
This same White House administration and congress party majority embedded harmful law changes hidden within its American Rescue Plan targeting small business owners, sole proprietors and independent contractors in the most severe way since the founding of America.
In 2021 these federal entities and representatives passed other laws too, also targeted at online marketplaces and people who do not work in a traditional job environment.
But, Randy has managed to make his 2022 predictions.
Top Seven Marketplaces
- Amazon
- Ebay
- Mercari
- Facebook Marketplace
- eBlueJay
- DePop
- Poshmark
Why these seven marketplaces made the top 2022 list.
Amazon has the most well known name and the most active marketplace in America as well as reach into other countries. Despite having a hefty amount of fees to sell on it and category restrictions for newer and less experienced sellers, it can bring in shoppers that you will not receive on other marketplaces. On the downside, not everyone has products that will be able to be sold on Amazon ans Amazon puts shoppers over sellers when it comes to returns. In 2022, Amazon takes the number one slot on the Top Seven Marketplace for the first time since Randy Dreammaker has been making predictions. If your able to sell on Amazon, go for it!
Mercari is the third best place to sell things online in 2022. Though it has lost some of its early MoJo with sales slowing down since the pandemic, it is still in the top three marketplaces where you can make sales. When compared to Ebay, sellers on Mercari benefit from not having to pay a separate fee on shipping costs, having a single 10% selling fee, all listings on Mercari are free, and the customer support is generally much better for sellers than Ebay's phone support, Mercari also sides more with sellers than with buyers. Other benefits of Mercari over Ebay is that Mercari sales are final after three days in the customers possession, compared to Ebay where the buyer has at least 30 days to make a return, 180 days if they paid with PayPal, and even if the seller sold the items as-is with no returns, Ebay will still allow a return if the buyer asks Ebay to participate in a seller dispute. In the past few years Mercari ranked number one in Randy Dreammaker's picks of the year for all of these reasons, however in 2022 Randy was focused more on sales quantity, speed and how large the shopper population is. One downside of Mercari, is it tends to be very strict when it comes to enforcing its policies. There are a lot of bad reviews about Mercari on the BBB website. However, the BBB itself ranks Mercari with an A+ in 2022.
Facebook is the fourth best place to sell things online. Randy has been very clear that he hates Meta and Facebook and he left that platform entirely in May 2021. However, despite his adamant dislike of Facebook itself, it's marketplace puts it into the fourth top spot in 2022. Facebook has the largest population of global online users, anyone can sell on it, depending on how you utilize the Facebook Marketplace as a seller, you might be able to by-pass the 2022 1099K $600 rules created by the American Rescue Plan. However, the method most sellers on the Facebook Marketplace use, does come under the new $600 limits. (See Randy's article about the 2022 1099K laws in the Website Directory). Facebook is also part of the Marketplace Facilitator changes that occurred in 2018 to 2019, so there are benefits in some states for sellers who only sell on a marketplace facilitator community.
Ebluejay is actually Randy's personal top choice for 2022, despite not being his prediction for first place. Ebluejay is not part of the Marketplace Facilitators system and because it does not process and financial transactions or receive any fees from sales, it is not subject to the new 2022 1099K $600 laws unless the seller accepts payments through PayPal or Amazon Payments. Using Stripe as the payment processor, at least at the beginning of 2022, your sales are still under the original 1099K rules of at least 250 sales and $20,000 in sales during the same year. According to Stripe, that could change during the year if it receives a demand requiring it to do so. Other benefits of Ebluejay is the seller gets their own store, can make up their own policies and rules, no sales fees, unlimited free listings and Google Shopping placement of your products. Ebluejay is perfect if you don't want to sell in your own state, since on Ebluejay you can indicate in your shipping and store policies which states you want to sell to. You can also ship and sell internationally. On a downside however, the customer support in 2022 has been relatively non-responsive the few times Randy reached out to them while evaluating this years top marketplaces, you'll need to help bring customers to your store since it has limited shopping traffic. Even though it has been around quite a few years, it still has not managed to become well known compared to a marketplace like Mercari that invested a lot of money into advertising. Considering Ebluejay only has a single one time sign up fee of $20 and is a stable marketplace, if you can find ways to bring customers you'll do very well on it.
DEPOP is still somewhat new when it comes to marketplaces, but has become a successful alternative to Poshmark. Randy does not sell on Depop or Poshmark so he engaged the help of sellers who sell on both marketplaces in addition to researching 2021 sales statistics. In 2021 DEPOP excelled in growth, shoppers and new sellers during the pandemic. Since Randy does not have first hand experience selling on DEPOP, he has no downsides to share. If you sell clothing then give DEPOP a try.
POSHMARK comes in last of the top seven marketplaces. As already mentioned in the DEPOP information, Randy does not sell on Poshmark and depends on his interactions and the experience of other sellers when determining where this marketplace fits best into the yearly rankings. During his interactions with Poshmark sellers, many indicated they have experienced slow sales leading into 2021, despite Poshmark expanding the categories of types of products it allows to be sold. Some Poshmark sellers have lowball their store inventory to non-profitable levels just to have a few sales coming in. Compared to eBay and Mercari in particular, Poshmark ranks right under Amazon for the most expensive places to sell on when it comes to seller fees. To succeed on Poshmark requires a significant amount of involvement and time of the seller, something many people do not have to spare. If you are one of those Poshmark sellers who is feeling burned out or discouraged, try cross-listing to Depop.
Non-Ranked Alternative Marketplaces
- Shopify
- Etsy
- Ecrater
- OfferUp
- Bonanza
- Storenvy
- Ebid