Best Online Marketplace

Looking through eCommerce website examples before you create your own with an eCommerce website builder is essential. It helps you make your first few sales and set up a recognizable brand for your business. Then, you can move on to finding the best online marketplace.

Keep in mind that your website alone isn’t the end-all-be-all. You can use eCommerce content marketing and eCommerce SEO to get your first leads and customers. But since you want to increase eCommerce sales over time, it’s useful to attract customers based on your niche market wherever you can. That, mixed with flat rate shipping can give you a leg up.

You can find new customers in a online marketplace. If you’ve never done business on one before though, you should learn what is marketplace. Also, brush up on how to sell on marketplace so you know what’s required to get started, and eCommerce marketplace management to ensure your long-term success.

Once you have the basics down, it’s good to select a marketplace app or online marketplace to sell your items that suits your audience. Keep reading for a list of the best eCommerce websites and what they’re known for.

An online marketplace is a website where buyers and sellers gather to exchange products. You will most frequently come across direct to consumer marketplaces or B2B online marketplaces both of which use a different kind of marketplace business model.

If you’ve never listed your products in a marketplace before, you may feel overwhelmed by the options. It’s easier if you start by looking at the leading types of marketplaces and breaking it down from there.

Here’s a list of the best online marketplaces:

BlueCart

We aren’t just tooting our own horn here, we truly have some of the best marketplace features to offer. Our eCommerce platform is built with web, mobile, and SEO optimization, so attracting new customers is a cinch. BlueCart offers a best-in-class digital catalog with in-house technical services so you can focus on selling. Whether you're making the offline-to-online (o2o) transition, or already have an online store, we can help. Sell to over 92,000 buyers on our fast-growing wholesale marketplace. Book a demo now to learn more.

Amazon

As the largest eCommerce marketplace and retailer in the world, Amazon is nothing to shake a stick at. It’s considered to be one of the top online marketplaces. Their site receives over five billion visits per month and caters to both buyers and sellers. Amazon can be a somewhat difficult marketplace to get started on due to the steep competition and the Amazon private label brands. If you sell an excellent product with strong reviews, it will pay off.

eBay

Though somewhat overshadowed by the rise of Amazon, Walmart, and Target, eBay is still a heavy-hitting online marketplace. The famous auction and resale site still garners 1.7 billion monthly visits for a wide range of product categories. If you’re learning how to become a wholesaler, eBay is a great place to browse wholesale items to sell.

Alibaba and AliExpress

Both Alibaba and AliExpress are owned by Alibaba Group but sell to different audiences, including Chinese consumers. Alibaba is a popular Chinese online marketplace known for B2B wholesale, and AliExpress is a consumer-facing retail site for the Chinese market.

The two Chinese online marketplaces offer similar groupings of high demand products for sale, like clothing, consumer electronics, beauty products, and pet supplies. AliExpress receives about 534 million visitors per month and Alibaba gets around 98 million visitors per month. If you’re learning how to find vendors, be sure to research Alibaba.

Alibaba and Aliexpress are known to be excellent options for dropshipping businesses. This is one of the best side hustles for people looking to make extra money.

Rakuten

Rakuten is a global eCommerce marketplace that supports the sale of electronics, media items, clothing, food delivery, and more. The company started in Japan but has since expanded into worldwide operations. Rakuten sees over 576 million visitors per month. They continue to grow by offering various products and services across different online marketplaces.

Mercado Libre

Mercado Libre is Latin America’s most popular eCommerce site, with over 175 million users and 684 million monthly visits. The company was started in Argentina but is currently incorporated in the United States. Mercado Libre offers thousands of products in dozens of categories, including baby supplies, fitness equipment, power tools, and home appliances.

Etsy

This online marketplace originally gained popularity for handmade items like jewelry, homewares, wedding goods, and clothing. Since then, Etsy sellers have expanded into food, digital downloads, toys, office equipment, and much more. Etsy garners around 392 million visits per month and is an ideal marketplace for handmade or unique products.

Walmart.com

Known first as a retail giant and now as the latest competitor among several eCommerce trends, Walmart.com is a large online marketplace. The company openly welcomes sellers and makes it simple to ship products directly to customers, especially products with Walmart private labels. Walmart.com boasts over 410 million monthly visits and this is expected to grow quickly.

Facebook Marketplace

Since the social media giant rolled out its in-house competitor to Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace has gained a respectable following. Users can both buy and sell thousands of items in an informal fashion, often locally. Facebook Marketplace sees over 30 million monthly visits and this number continues to grow.

Shopee

This Singaporean eCommerce company started in 2015 and now receives 458 monthly visits. Shopee has grown to be a leading online marketplace in Asia and Latin America. Industry experts credit the company’s social- and mobile-first platform design as one of the biggest reasons for its success. Hundreds of consumer products can be found on Shopee, from cosmetics and shoes to party supplies and linens.

Taobao

Taobao is one of the largest online shopping platforms in China, generating 330 million monthly visitors. Similar to eBay, users can sell products on Taobao via auction or fixed price. Buyers can find products in diverse categories, including adult and children’s clothing, household furniture, beauty supplies, and toys.

Trendyol

Trendyol is the largest eCommerce company in Turkey, with over 206 million visitors per month. The company is headquartered in Istanbul and has been a significant success since 2010. Shoppers will find hundreds of goods on their platform, including outdoor equipment, bathroom supplies, clothing, and food and drinks.

Pinduoduo

If you want to sell or buy products in the Chinese agriculture industry, Pinduoduo is where you need to be. One of the country’s now most successful online marketplaces was launched in 2015 and specializes in farmer-grown food. Platforms like Pinduoduo are great for custom subscription boxes due to the constant buyer demand.

Over 12 million growers sell through Pinduoduo and it’s becoming one of the most popular ways to reach new consumers in China. The company’s websites generate over 242 million monthly visits.

Pinduoduo connects farmers and distributors. These farmers supply fresh produce to consumers through this online marketplace. Their wholesale directory makes it easy for users to find the products they’re looking for, including those following produce industry trends.

Wayfair

There are few furniture and household goods eCommerce companies larger than Wayfair. Boasting $14 billion in annual revenue and 179 million monthly visitors, Wayfair rose to furniture shopping prominence over the last two decades. The company serves North American and European markets and is known for its vast selection of products. Sellers can offer rugs, bed and bath products, chairs, outdoor gear, lighting, and much more.

Target

Similar to Walmart, Target took its long-standing success as a big-box store and extended it to eCommerce. The eighth-biggest retailer in the US now has a flourishing eCommerce presence, complete with hundreds of digital goods, grocery products, and 183 million monthly visitors. Target requires businesses to complete an application process before they can sell in their online marketplace. They are also known to carry several white label vs. private label brands including their own Target private label brand, which is useful to know when researching wholesale price.

Wildberries

Wildberries, today Russia’s largest eCommerce retailer, has become a key player in the European market. It was started in 2004 by Tatyana Bakalchuk and receives over 155 million monthly visitors. Bakalchuk launched the site after discovering how challenging it was to shop for baby clothes while being responsible for a newborn at home. Today, the company sells additional kinds of clothing for women, men, children, and teens.

Flipkart

One of India’s largest online retail marketplaces, Flipkart, got its start similar to that of Amazon. The company started in 2007 by selling books online, and slowly expanded to other products like electronics, lifestyle goods, clothing, and household supplies. Flipkart enjoys revenue in excess of $6 billion from items sold and more than 177 million monthly visitors. Sellers only need two business documents and one product to get started on Flipkart.

Ruby Lane

Founded in 1998, Ruby Lane is an online marketplace that specializes in the sale of antiques, jewelry, fine arts, and collectible items. Price haggling is less popular in this marketplace despite the high-dollar items that are listed for the antique and vintage goods. Ruby Lane also has strict restrictions for sellers as far as what may and may not be sold.

Taking Products to Market

Choosing an online marketplace to sell your products is an exciting milestone. You no longer need to rely solely on your website to drive traffic and make sales. Listing goods on an online marketplace platform taps into its existing audience and lends the platform’s image to international brands.

Remember to develop an eCommerce marketing strategy or wholesale marketing plan so you can keep momentum strong. Meeting customers' needs consistently and quickly is the difference between businesses scraping by versus those thriving.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Best Online Marketplace To Sell Items

Which Online Marketplace Is Best?

The best online marketplace includes:

BlueCart
Amazon
eBay
Alibaba
AliExpress
Rakuten
Mercado Libre
Etsy
Walmart.com
Facebook Marketplace
Shopee
Taobao
Trendyol
Pinduoduo
Wayfair
Target
Wildberries
Flipkart

What Is the Largest Online Marketplace?

eBay is the largest online marketplace. eBay has a large international market share and the platform serves more than 180 million buyers around the world. The online marketplace platform operates in 190 markets worldwide.

What Is Cross Border eCommerce?

Cross border eCommerce refers to the process of selling products or services internationally through an online platform such as an eCommerce store or online marketplace. In other words, the seller and the buyer are located in different countries.

An example of a cross-border eCommerce platform is JD Worldwide. This platform allows Chinese customers to buy products from other countries. Tmall is another example and China’s largest cross-border eCommerce platform focusing on B2C sales. Read more about the B2C meaning.