7 Top Platforms for Selling in Australia

6th September 2020, 9:09am in Business by Cassie Puah

According to the 2022 Australian Online Shopping Ecommerce Industry Report, four in five households purchased something online during the previous 12 months.

The total amount spent on physical goods came to $62.3 billion, which is up year on year.

As a result, selling online presents an exciting opportunity for Australians to start their side hustle. But, with so many platforms out there, which ones are the best for you?

Of course, the best marketplace in Australia for your business will depend on what you're selling and who your target audience is. To give you a hand, we've compiled a list of the top seven ecommerce sites that are worth using.

What is an Online Marketplace?

Before we start, it's important to let you (the reader) know that we're talking about online marketplaces, not the Shopifys of the world. That's a whole other list.

So, what is an online marketplace?

An online marketplace is an ecommerce store where merchants can sell goods or services to customers. We typically deal with physical goods and products from entrepreneurs.

1. Amazon Australia

When it comes to an ecommerce website, Amazon is ruling the roost. The Pattern's Australia Shopper Report forecasts that revenue will pass A$2 billion in 2022. It also provides 90% of Australians with free two-day shipping. It boasts 100 million products and 29 separate categories.

Amazon Pros:

More sales: With more than 14 million visitors per month, the Amazon marketplace is one of the biggest shopping search engines. Amazon provides heightened visibility in a saturated market.
Positive customer trust: 41% of shoppers start their product search on Amazon and then buy off the platform. By focusing on truthful, informative online product content, brands can drive more sales on Amazon.
Product content: Your buyers want product detail. Amazon's ratings and reviews system makes it the granddaddy of rating and review sites.
Reduces shopping friction: Customers can put things into their cart while they're looking and decide later. This allows Amazon to send targeted shopping cart reminders at no expense to you.

Amazon Cons:

Branding: It's very difficult to create a unique or strong brand image selling on Amazon. This is why many sellers opt to use it as a secondary revenue stream for their website.
Competition: You could face tougher competition on Amazon because other sellers also want to cash in on the wholesale benefits. You will need to drive a long-term strategy for competing with multiple sellers.
Order management: If you're selling on several marketplaces, syncing orders is one of the things that you need to think about. You will need to ensure that you find a tool that will enable you to sync your orders to one central system automatically.

At Interparcel, we offer order management via our Shipping Manager for sellers on Shopify, Magento, eBay, WooCommerce, Etsy and Neto. You can integrate and sync orders from multiple stores into one dashboard and fulfil them all with a click of a button.

2. eBay

For many people, the first thing that comes to mind when they are thinking of making a purchase online is eBay. Founded in 1995, eBay has become a major online marketplace for buyers and sellers in many countries around the world.

eBay Pros:

Reach a vast audience: One of the biggest benefits of eBay is the sheer number of people that you have looking at your products. This year, they reached 185 million active buyers worldwide.
Featured store upgrade: You have the opportunity to upgrade your store to expose your products in a Google Ads-esque fashion. When a potential customer enters a specific keyword, your products will appear prominently on the eBay search page, increasing traffic to your store.

eBay Cons:

Seller fees: With eBay, you're required to pay $A24.95 per month for a basic store setup. If your profit margin is relatively low, you might not even benefit from selling certain products.
Competition: With millions of active users and sellers, you're more likely to face stiff competition when selling popular products. You'll need a listing and product strategy to stand out from the crowd.
Rules and policy restrictions: When you sell on eBay, you operate under predetermined rules and policies. You don't have control over important aspects of your store like returns, refunds and customer service.

3. GraysOnline.com

GraysOnline is the largest industrial and commercial online auction business in Australia and New Zealand, with a database of approximately three million customers. This makes it an ideal marketplace to sell off excess stock, featuring categories that range from engineering to home and garden appliances, fashion and more.

GraysOnline Pros:

Category experts: GraysOnline has a team of category experts who can advise on the best way to increase sales on the site. This includes valuation services, project management and marketing.

4. Etsy

Esty is an online buying and selling platform that started in 2005. Although similar to eBay or Amazon Marketplace, it's dug out a profitable niche in handmade and vintage items.

Etsy Pros:

Market to a large audience: Because Etsy is available to customers all over the world, your products are immediately available to a global market.
Risk-free advertising service: Since there are hundreds of stores out there, Etsy has made it super easy to advertise by allowing you to set a weekly budget.
Built-in analytics for search: Etsy provides sellers with great analytics, particularly for search engine optimisation. You can check keywords that people use when they find your shop.
Easy shop management: It's easy to set up an Etsy store and can be done in a matter of minutes. Once it is set up, it's simple to complete store upkeep tasks and converse with customers.

Etsy Cons:

It takes a lot of promotional work to be successful outside the platform: Because Etsy operates in a niche, you will need to spend a lot of time promoting outside of the platform on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
You can only sell handmade items: As Etsy attracts so many sellers, you'll find yourself going up against competitors selling the same type of products. This will ultimately impact the price as sellers will often be forced to cut costs to compete.
Minimal customization:There is a limit to how much customisation a seller can make to their listing and shop. As a result, all of the pages start to blur into one.

5. ASOS Marketplace

If you're setting up your own label or building a vintage clothing empire, it's worth looking at ASOS Marketplace. Launched in 2010, the Marketplace now averages over 20 million visits per month, home to 850 brands worldwide and over 130,000 products. This is a site, first and foremost, for those interested in fashion.

ASOS Marketplace Pros:

Fashion focus: The strength of ASOS is that they are solely a fashion market niche. This means all the traffic that comes to the website is already primed and ready to convert.
Customer trust: Trust brings in more sales. ASOS have spent the better part of a decade building up customer trust as a fashion brand.

ASOS Marketplace Cons:

Selling fees: ASOS charges a commission of 20% on items sold through their marketplace. This might be a hefty price, given that you're already competing heavily with other retail fashion brands.
Photography is a must: You do need to provide good-quality pictures when selling on ASOS. They insist that your clothing is worn by a model when photographed.

6. Depop

For the fashion reseller and thrifter, Depop allows you to sell your own goods or shop for more than 32 million new streetwear and vintage pieces, like Vans, Yeezy and Adidas, from around the world. Still relatively new to the Australian market, having only launched in 2019, Depop boasts 26 million users worldwide.

Depop Pros:

Low fees: Depop fees are only 10%, and money is transferred immediately to your account.
No haggling:The culture of Depop is slightly different to any auction marketplace, like eBay, in that buyers often purchase outright, with any offers made via personal message.
Mark as sold feature: If one of your items sells on a different platform, you can mark it as sold on Depop without any hassle. You don't have to waste time delisting items.

Depop Cons:

No desktop version: Since Depop is a mobile app only, cross-listing items on various platforms can be a difficult task.
Relies heavily on imagery: This is a much more visual platform. Your brand will suffer if you don't have professional photography and models wearing your clothes to sell your brand.
Expensive native shipping costs: Shipping costs are costly on the platform, with $8 for under one-kilogram packages. You're best looking for external methods to ship your parcels.

7. Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is similar to eBay, without a lot of the features. With 800 million people already browsing through items on Facebook, this social media giant makes it an easy choice to list with them. Their categories include cars, electronics, furniture, apparel, sporting goods and entertainment.

Facebook Marketplace Pros:

Unparalleled reach: With over a billion users on Facebook, their reach is unparalleled to any pre-existing marketplace. So, you have better chances that a user will stumble on your product and purchase it.
Integrated advertising system: It's easy to promote your items on Marketplace or the broader Facebook platform by using their targeted advertising system.
Easy to sell (and buy): You don't need to be a brainiac to figure out how to sell and buy on Facebook. It's a pretty intuitive process. Facebook also allows you to share your products in Groups as well.
Free to use: One of the better benefits of using Facebook is it's free. They won't charge you to use their platform, and they don't take a cut of your profits.

Facebook Marketplace Cons:

Interactions only via messaging: Other sites offer email or texting, which can suit some customers better. However, Facebook only allows you to communicate via their chat system.
No bidding-system: The auction style of eBay is helpful for sellers to increase the selling amount depending on the demand for that product. Facebook only allows fixed prices or a range for their products. Additionally, it's known for its "cheap" marketplace, so you'll have to compete on price in many cases.
Sellers aren't vetted: Anyone can list an item on Facebook Marketplace, as long as they are over the age of 18. Unlike eBay or Amazon, there is no feedback system that allows the vetting of products or sellers on the platform.
Self-storage of merchandise until sold: There is no inventory management system built into Facebook. If you're a seller, you'll have to manage your own stock depending on demand (which can fluctuate heavily).

Create your own store

Creating your own online store comes with its own challenges, but it can also be extremely fulfilling and profitable if done right.

The biggest downside is that you have to market yourself and create traffic for your site. But, selling through your own online store allows you to brand yourself in a unique way instead of becoming "someone who sells on eBay". We recommend choosing a couple of marketplaces to start with as secondary sources of sales whilst hosting your own store on Shopify or WooCommerce.

Want more tips on how to get started selling online? Check out our blog for more helpful advice on the world of ecommerce.