How to Sell Online: The 14 Best Places and Apps

Selling your stuff online is a great way to make a quick $20 to tide you over till your next paycheck. It’s also a low-cost way to start a small business venture that brings in thousands of dollars in passive income.

And everything in between.

No matter your needs, we’ve got the right e-commerce websites for you. But first, you need to do some preparation to make sure your for-sale listing will be successful.

14 Websites to Sell Stuff Online

You’ll want to choose the appropriate website for whatever you’re selling so you understand how to sell online.

Some giant websites accept listings for most products, and some niche websites accept only certain categories of items. In most cases, the more specific you get, the better chance you’ll have to connect with the right buyers and be a success at selling online.

Where to Sell Almost Everything Online

Listing your stuff on the largest online marketplaces could be a help or a hindrance to your business.

A big website equals more users equals more profit, right? Not quite. They could, instead, equal a serious small fish, big pond scenario. This might hinder the online selling of your products.

Some sites handle shipping for you if you sell regularly. But if you’re a one-time seller, the hassle of registering with a large site and the associated listing and shipping fees might not be worth it.

Still, these well-known sites are often a go-to for online sellers and the place to be if you want to grow a business beyond the occasional closet clean-out.

1. Amazon

Amazon is a far cry from its book-peddling past. According to a 2018 NPR study, 44% of online shoppers start their search directly on Amazon.

To cash in on that action and make money as an Amazon seller, you must register for an Individual Seller Plan or a Professional Seller Plan.

• Individual seller accounts are free. They have a selling limit of 40 items per month, and Amazon deducts a 99-cent fee per sale. That means no up-front costs to list your item
• Professional sellers pay a $39.99 monthly subscription fee. Professional accounts have no selling limit and are exempt from the 99-cent fee for sales.

Both types of accounts are subject to additional Amazon selling fees, which range from 3% to 45% of the sale price depending on the category of the item.

Amazon also offers Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), which handles packaging, shipping and storing items for you, so you don’t have to run a mini warehouse yourself. FBA also covers customer service and returns.

FBA fees are per-product sold, based on product type, size and shipping weight, and include:

• Non-apparel, non-dangerous goods (most items): Small items are $2.50 to $2.63 up to one pound; large items are $3.31 to $5.42 up to three pounds. Above three pounds costs $0.38 per additional pound.

• Apparel (non-dangerous goods): Small items are $2.92 to $3.11 up to one pound; large items are $3.70 to $5.95 up to three pounds. Above three pounds costs $0.38 per additional pound.

• Apparel (dangerous goods): Small items are $3.85 to $4.12 up to one pound; large items are $4.45 to $6.39 up to three pounds. Above three pounds costs $0.38 per additional pound.
• Non-apparel dangerous goods: Small items are $3.43 to $3.64 up to one pound; large items are $4.06 to $5.86 up to three pounds. Above three pounds costs $0.38 per additional pound.

Sky Richardson took his online selling to the next level by creating an Amazon private label business, which includes buying generic products for cheap, rebranding and packaging them, then selling them on Amazon for a profit.

With this technique, Richardson is able to bring in between $1,000 and $2,000 of passive income each month. He has mastered the technique of how to sell online. “It’s important to understand this isn’t a get-rich-quick strategy,” Richardson writes in our step-by-step guide to creating a private label business. “It takes diligence, patience and a willingness to see an idea through from start to finish.”

2. Ebay

Since 1995, eBay has earned a reputation as a one-stop shop for curated goods, collectibles, unique flea-market finds and more.

“You can seriously sell anything on eBay if you know the market,” Michelle Henry told The Penny Hoarder.

Henry ran an eBay store flipping items she found at her local thrift shop and made a few hundred dollars a week on the site.

Rob Stephenson, who calls himself the Flea Market Flipper, told The Penny Hoarder he earned $30,000 in a year selling his flea-market finds online, working the side hustle about 15 to 20 hours a week. He was so successful that in 2017, Stephenson quit his job and reported on his blog that he banked more than $133,000 selling flipped finds.

If you just want to pawn off items from your attic, you can create a free account and list up to 50 items a month. If you want to join the likes of Henry and Stephenson, sign up for an eBay Stores account. These are for more serious sellers who foresee making more than 50 sales a month.

eBay Stores selling fees depend on your subscription tier, which include:

• Starter: $7.95 per month or $59.40 per year.
• Basic: $27.95 per month or $263.30 per year.
• Premium: $74.95per month or $719.40 per year.
• Anchor: $349.95 per month or $3,599.40 per year.
• Enterprise: $35,999.40 per year.

Each tier comes with a slew of benefits and discounts, which are listed under eBay’s subscription and fees section.

What’s unique about eBay is the option to create an auction listing, where buyers bid on your item, or a fixed-price listing, where the seller specifies the exact price. Whenever the item sells, eBay charges the seller a final-value fee, which is a percentage of the selling price. This percentage ranges from 0% and 15% plus 30 cents per order depending on the category of the item.

Shipping is usually on you, though. Many sellers bake that into the price of the item.

3. Etsy

Etsy has carved out a niche for handmade and artistic goods. While the site accepts listings from a wide range of product categories, the items should cater to its craft-loving and thrifty user base.

For sellers, it’s not just about the listing, either. It takes a little love to cultivate an Etsy shop that will resonate with buyers.

“People pick up on that kind of thing,” Etsy shop owner Lena Gosik-Wolfe told The Penny Hoarder. “They can tell if you don’t care about your shop.”

She said it’s all about your brand, backstory and making a connection with customers.

“If people are really interested in your story, they’ll be more likely to look at all your items.” Gosik-Wolfe said. “Even if they’re not a buyer right away, they’re going to look through things and say ‘I connect to this,’ and they might just [come back] later when they do need something.”

Creating an online Etsy shop may take five minutes, but you’ll want to spend much more time customizing your page.

Once your shop is set up, your sales are subject to several types of fees:

• Listing fee: For each listing on Etsy’s website or the mobile app, you’ll be charged 20 cents. For multiple quantities of the same item, a 20-cent fee will be charged per sale.

• Transaction fee: Etsy charges 5% of the listing price per sale, plus any additional costs for shipping or gift wrapping.
• Subscription fee: A basic Etsy shop membership is free. Shops in good standing — meaning you meet Etsy’s standards for customer service — can upgrade to Etsy Plus for $10 a month and get access to 15 listing credits, $5 in ad credits and other perks for your shop.

For an additional $15 a month, you can build a custom website with Etsy’s Pattern to sell your Etsy store items as well as items that don’t meet its guidelines of being handmade or vintage.

Where to Sell Your Stuff Online Locally

If you’d rather not ship your item across the nation, you can list it only to sell locally. Several sites let you create a listing to advertise your product and then meet up to make the sale in person once you’ve found a buyer.

It’s important to stay safe when selling in person. Trust your gut, always meet in a well-lit public place and never give strangers your address.

Aside from your neighborhood Starbucks, several police departments have designated trading spaces that are always available and have 24/7 surveillance. Find the closest one to you on SafeTrade.

4. Craigslist

Want to feel old? Of course not. But here it is anyway: Craigslist has been around since 1995 — more than a quarter-century!

The aptly named advertising website was founded by Craig Newmark in 1995, and it started as his email list of interesting events in the San Francisco area. Over the years, it has grown to be synonymous with classified ads (sorry, newspapers) and boasts more than a billion monthly online visitors.

You can list anything from a used toaster to a high-end job to a 10-bedroom mansion.

For job, retail and service listings, there’s a fee. But it’s free to list items you want to sell on the site. So list away.

The site operates in more than 70 countries, but it’s set up to be used locally. In fact, to avoid scams, the site recommends people list locally and meet face to face. To encourage this, it actually reads your IP address and automatically funnels you to the local version of the site when you navigate to craigslist.com.

So let’s say you want to sell an antique armoire.

1. You don’t have to register; you can just create a listing on Craigslist.
2. The site prompts you to answer a few questions about the type of item you’re selling and your location.
3. Describe the item in detail: price, dimensions, color, condition, anything you think is pertinent for the buyer.
4. Post a few photos.
5. Include your contact information or opt to correspond through anonymous emails.

Then the replies will start rolling in. Be prepared to haggle.

5. Facebook Marketplace

What doesn’t Facebook do?

In 2016, the social media giant launched an on-site feature called Marketplace. It works a lot like other local-listing websites, except there’s the added benefit of looking through the Facebook profile of the buyer or seller — a relief for online shoppers, surely.

Anyone can browse the marketplace anonymously, but to bid or create a listing, you need to sign in to your Facebook profile, which of course, is free. (You’re probably already logged in if you’re reading this.)

Pro Tip

Pricing an item realistically is key to selling through online marketplaces. Learn more tips in our guide to selling on Facebook Marketplace.

Sellers can create a free listing for homes, vehicles or other items. The only stipulation is that all listings must comply with Facebook’s commerce policies and your local laws.

Facebook forbids creating listings for:

• Animals.
• Weapons or ammunition.
• Irrelevant content, i.e. posting news, memes or humor that “has no intention to buy or sell products or services.”

The marketplace also aggregates relevant buying and selling groups in your area. Posting in these groups is a good way to advertise your item to a target audience.

Pro Tip

Big-town universities usually have very active marketplace groups, due to the constant flux of students.

Facebook has a direct-payment system built into Messenger, which is also free to use. You can also opt to allow payments via credit card, debit card or PayPal, and cover the associated fees.

6. Nextdoor

Nextdoor is a relatively new, private social media platform with an interesting twist. It’s not for individuals, but for neighborhoods.

To join Nextdoor:

1. You have to verify your street address and use your real full name.
2. Nextdoor verifies your account by phone call or postcard.
3. Join your neighbors on a private message board, where folks share neighborhood updates, ask questions, and list items for sale or for free. “Neighbors” in this case doesn’t always refer to a neighborhood, but to the area designated as the community by at least 10 founding members and approved or adjusted by Nextdoor staff.
4. Join groups based on trending topics in your area — like local sports teams, schools and more.

Nextdoor posts aren’t indexed by search engines, and they’re not available in the app to users who can’t verify an address within the designated area. That means all posts you see are ostensibly from Nextdoor users in your “neighborhood.”

While these members may indeed be your neighbors, it’s still a good idea to adhere to the safety best practices mentioned above when selling in person.

7. OfferUp

OfferUp is a mobile-based secondhand marketplace that launched in 2011. It’s focused on local sales, but you can list items for sale nationwide, too.

It’s one of the only online marketplaces that requires sellers to upload photos of the item via its mobile app. Buyers aren’t required to use the app, though it’s a more convenient way of shopping OfferUp because of built-in messaging and payment processing.

You just have to download the app for iOS or Android, or visit the website, and log in with Facebook, Google, Apple or your email address. You can create an account name that represents you personally or your business.

To start selling:

1. Tap “post” in the app and snap three to 12 photos of your item.
2. Give the post a title that includes pertinent details, like color, size, year, etc.
3. Add optional details, including category and condition.
4. Write a brief description of the item with any additional details.
5. Set the price, and set whether you’ll sell only locally or ship nationwide.

Items prohibited for sale on OfferUp include alcohol, guns, animals, vitamins and more. The site also has in-depth guides on the best practices for posting and marketing your item, which include using multiple photos, categorizing your item correctly and writing a good product description.

It’s free to list your item and to sell it in person. You’ll pay a fee for national listings and promotions, as follows:

• National listings: Most items are automatically listed for sale in your local area. For a fee of 12.9% of the selling price (minimum $1.99), you can have the item listed nationally and shipped to the buyer.
• Promoted listings: A feature that keeps your post within the top 50 search results for a category. Cost is $4.99 for three days, $7.99 for seven days and $14.99 for 14 days.
• Bumping: This feature refreshes your item as if it were a new post, listing it higher in search results. Bumps cost between $1.99 and $3.99 per item.
• Paying through OfferUp: Transactions are typically cash-based, but for national sales or situations where you don’t want to use cash, the website offers transactions through Stripe, which charges a processing fee of 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction.

All paid features are optional. So to keep costs down, keep it local and use cash.

Where to Sell Games and Electronics Online

While every website or app above accepts listings for electronics, it’s a good idea to list them on marketplaces that specialize in these types of products.

For example, someone on Facebook may indeed want a laptop, but your gaming laptop has 16GB of RAM, a terabyte of disk space and you just upgraded the graphics card. The Facebook buyer may only be looking for a computer that can run word processing programs. You’ll probably get a lowball offer that reflects that basic need.

To get what it’s worth, list it on a marketplace where buyers will appreciate the specs of your gaming rig.

8. Decluttr

Decluttr is an online buyer and seller for media and electronics, including:

• Video games, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs and music.
• Cell phones, tablets and consoles.
• Smart watches and laptops.
• Even textbooks and Legos.

Instead of creating listings and dealing with buyers yourself, you’ll just sell your items to Decluttr, and the company takes care of reselling.

To get a cash quote for tech such as phones, devices and consoles, enter the model of the item you want to sell into the website or app search field and select its condition (good, poor or faulty). A cash quote will appear immediately.

For CDs, Blu-rays or other discs, scan the barcode with your smartphone for an instant quote. If you accept the offer, you can send your items in at no cost with the free shipping label Decluttr sends you via email, and you can get paid via direct deposit as soon as the day after your items are accepted.

Matt Wiley got an offer for more than $50 for some old movies and a few PS3 games selling on Decluttr.

The company takes care of selling and pays for shipping. Not a bad deal. All you have to do is pack the items in a box, tack on the label and mail it off. Wiley recommends asking your local supermarket for free boxes. Cost-saving and environmentally friendly!

9. Gameflip

Selling video games and related content is one of the best ways to make money as a gamer.

With Gameflip, you can sell video games, gift cards, rare in-game items and movies all in one place.

Lifelong gamer and video game content creator Frederick Aldeco, a.k.a. DaddyGamer Fred on YouTube, used Gameflip to sell almost all of his games (except the handheld Switch and PS Vita) to help fund a move from the U.S. to Switzerland.

But Gameflip is not just a marketplace for items and products. Gamers and designers can also sell services, such as tutoring sessions; or graphic designs, such as logos and artwork.

To become a Gameflip seller, you must either register a credit or debit card (no prepaid cards allowed) or submit your ID for verification. You can sign up using an email address, Facebook or Google account.

You can list items for free, and you’ll pay an 8% commission when you sell an item, plus a 2% digital fee for selling digital items.

Frequent sellers can join the Gameflip Club to reduce or eliminate commission fees. Membership tiers include:

• Gamer Club: For $1 per month, pay no commission or digital fees, as long as you earn less than $50 per month.
• Pro Club: For $4 per month, reduce your commission to 6% and digital fees to 0%, with a sales cap of $500 per month and access to exclusive promotions and VIP support.
• Ultra Club: For $15 per month, pay no digital fees, with a sales cap of $5,000 per month  and access to exclusive promotions and VIP support.
• Bot Club: For $1 per month, reduce your commission to 4% and digital fees to 0%, with a sales cap of $5,000 per month and access to exclusive promotions, VIP support and bot trading.

All income from your sales is stored on your Gameflip profile and you can withdraw it through PayPal.

But perhaps the biggest payment of all is being able to say, “See Mom, it does pay to play video games.”

10. Gazelle

Are you one to buy the latest model iPhone or Samsung as soon as it hits the market? Then get paid for your old model by selling it to Gazelle. No sifting through bids or haggling with buyers.

Gazelle will buy your used tech. It focuses primarily on smartphones, but also buys:

•  Tablets.
•  MP3 players.
•  Laptops and desktops.
•  Various Apple products.

To see if your product is eligible, find the make and model on the website, then answer a couple of questions about the specs and condition to get a quote.

Make sure your exact model is listed, otherwise the company won’t purchase it.

After you accept a quote, Gazelle will send you packing and shipping labels for free (for orders over $30). Load up your tech and ship it back for confirmation. Gazelle will pay only after it’s received your shipment and checked the item.

For example, if you listed an item in “flawless” condition and the company finds scratches or dings, it’ll adjust the offer. You’ll have five days to accept the new offer before Gazelle returns it to you.

You can choose payment via Amazon gift card, Paypal or check.

If you need cash fast, you can instead deposit your tech at a nearby EcoATM kiosk and get paid immediately. Gazelle notes that kiosk payments are typically lower than quotes made on the website.

Where to Sell Your Clothes Online

Of all the things we have too much of, clothes are probably the biggest offender. And we probably don’t realize it. We’ll tuck a bag or two in the hallway closet, put our unused sweaters under the bed and line our doors with hanging shoe racks.

But if we were to gather that garb into one pile, it would be enormous. Seeing it all in one place puts things into perspective.

Donating is a great start to chipping away at that fabric mountain on your living room floor. But if you want a little cash for your clothes, you have plenty of sites to choose from.

11. Poshmark

Dubbing itself a “social marketplace for fashion,” Poshmark is a platform for stylish clothes for adults and kids that’s a little more involved than most buy-and-sell websites.

It’s not a list-it-and-leave-it kind of place, but the extra work you have to put into creating a pleasing profile really pays off.

When fashion blogger Alison Gary decided to rent out her house and travel the country in an RV with her husband, she realized her wardrobe was weighing her down. So she took a bunch of high-quality photos of her outfits, made them into a collage and posted them on Poshmark. Within a few months, her excess clothes earned her more than $1,000.

Gary laid out her best practices in our guide to selling on Poshmark. To name a few:

• List multiple pictures.
• Haggle for the best price, but know when to say no.
• Give fashion advice along with your clothing. (Hello, upsell!)

To become a seller, you first must download the Poshmark app and sign up with Facebook, Google or your email address. Then you can create your own listing using Gary’s advice.

For each sale, Poshmark takes a commission, depending on the sale price:

• For sales $15 and under, there’s a flat $2.95 fee.
• For everything over $15, the commission jumps to 20% of the sale price.

The good news is Poshmark handles shipping for free. It sends you a pre-labeled, postage-paid package you can use to send clothes to a buyer.

12. Swap.com

Admit it. There’s a bag of clothes in the back of your car that you’ve been meaning to take to one of the many used clothes stores, but you never got around to it. If that’s the case, Swap.com was meant for you.

It works similarly to consignment stores, where your clothes are appraised, you’re given an offer based on in-vogue fashion or seasonal trends, and you earn money when your item sells. Except with Swap.com, it’s all done online and through the mail.

Selling to Swap.com requires a little legwork upfront. First, you need to register an account and complete a “premier seller application.” You’ll provide:

• How much you want to charge for each item..
• Which brands you plan to sell.
• How frequently you plan to sell to Swap.com this year.
• Your phone number.

If your application is accepted, you’ll be prompted to send in a test box, which must meet acceptance criteria including:

• Clean, with no signs of excessive wear.
• Original retail value of at least $5.
• Includes brand and size tags.
• Not altered.

Swap.com doesn’t take homemade or vintage items because of limited appeal with its user base — so consider Etsy for your crafty digs.

After your test box passes, you’ll be invited to sell through Swap.com whenever you like.

You earn a commission based on the list price of items you sell:

• For items with a list price of $8 and under, you earn 15% cash, plus 20% Swap.com credit.
• For items over $8, you earn 70% in cash, plus 20% in Swap.com credit.

If some of your items are rejected, Swap.com charges $11.90 to ship them back to you. So make sure to follow the acceptance criteria to a T. Don’t include dirty, damaged or faded clothes, because you might end up with more fees than earnings.

13. ThredUP

For the clothes that might have gone in the donation pile, ThredUP may be just as good a home, partly because the company takes those donations off your hands. For free.

This women-and-children-centric secondhand retailer makes closet cleaning easy. To offload your items, select a “clean out kit;” there’s one for donations or one for items you want to sell. If you select standard shipping, the kits are free. Expedited shipping costs $16.

If you’re donating, stuff your kit full, mail it out and call it a day.

If you want your items to be accepted for selling on the site, you may need to be a little more choosy. Include brands that sell well, such as Athletica, Kate Spade, Lululemon and Patagonia.

Accepted clothes will earn you between 5% and 80% of the listing price.

Listing Price	Percentage of Earnings
Less than $15	5%
$15 to $19.99	10%
$20 to $34.99	15%
$35 to $49.99	25%
$50 to $74.99	50%
$100 to $199.99	60%
$200 to $299.99	70%
$300+	80%

When loading up your kit, make sure you’re ready to part ways with whatever you send in, because ThredUP recycles the clothes it rejects for selling on its site.

14. Tradesy

Tradesy runs like most other marketplaces on this list, except it’s tailored toward high-end feminine fashion from designer brands like Balmain, Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

In addition to clothes, Tradesy accepts accessories, purses, shoes and all things wedding-related (invitations, veils, decorations and more).

To create a listing, you know the drill: photos, description, price. If you need a little help setting it up, Tradesy will pitch in with automatic photo editing and pricing suggestions.

Where Tradesy distinguishes itself is in its shipping policy. Before you publish your listing on the site, you can choose from three shipping methods:

• Tradesy-supplied shipping. Choose from an assortment of bags and packages that best fit your item. Prepaid labels are included.
• Printed, prepaid shipping label. A flat $10.50 shipping price, which the buyer pays at checkout.
• Ship it yourself. The best option to keep your listing price down, but more work for you.

All shipping costs are added to your listing price. Your selection will increase the price for the buyer — and ultimately for you too, because seller fees are based on the total item cost, including shipping.

Earnings accrue on your Tradesy account. For each sale, Tradesy takes a commision based on the listed price of the item:

• For sales under $50, the fee is a flat $7.50.
• Listings above $50 incur a 19.8% fee.

Your earnings will be stored on your account for 21 days. You can use those funds to shop on Tradesy or withdraw them into a checking account, a debit card or a PayPal account. Each withdrawal incurs a 2.9% cash transfer fee.

How an Entrepreneur Sells Stuff Online

While you can find a website that lets you create a for-sale listing for just about anything, that doesn’t mean anyone will actually buy.

Think about it from the perspective of the buyers: What will they need to make the decision to purchase your item?

Here are a few easy steps to make your listing pop.

Take Good Photos of Products

It doesn’t matter what you’re selling: People will want to see it. A well-lit photo (or five) is one of the easiest ways to set yourself apart. Good photos make your listing appear much more legitimate and trustworthy, too.

Try taking your own photos before you use stock images. Original is better.

“It’s all about perception,” Etsy seller Gosik-Wolfe said. “It’s about how people are seeing you, because they can’t have that in-person experience.”

Include Useful Keywords

If you’re trying to sell a Samsung 32-inch flat screen LED TV, you’ll want to include those details. Don’t just say “TV for sale” and call it a day. A well written description is going to help the buyer make a decision once they find your listing, and item descriptions contribute to your item’s ability to show up in a search.

Many e-commerce sites have algorithms that work like Google. So if someone is searching for a “Samsung LED,” your listing will have a much better chance of appearing in the results with those keywords in the title.

Study Successful Listings Tips from Merchant

See what top sellers are doing with their listings, especially ones in similar categories to what you plan to sell. And take note on how they sell products online.

Each website works a little differently. A good listing on one site may not be a good listing on another, so tailor your listing to each site if you plan on selling your items in multiple places.

When Coryn Enfinger co-founded her screenprinting business, Dark Cycle Clothing, she leaned on all of these tactics to ensure success. She researched for weeks on how to create the perfect listing to showcase their clothes, which her husband Adam designs and prints. She found high-quality photos are essential for online sales.

When Dark Cycle Clothing’s online store launched, buyers came flooding in. And what started as a hobby flourished into a $350,000-a-year screen printing business. Since then, Dark Cycle Clothing has ranked as a top-five seller of handmade clothes on Etsy and sells in stores and markets around the country.

“People don’t realize how much work it takes,” Enfinger said. “They just see the product, and they see it selling.”

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.