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How to Make More Money With an Amazon Affiliate Site

Aug 30, 2021 | Affiliate Marketing

Do you feel like your site should be earning more?

Hey, you and everybody else. We can’t help everybody else, but we can help you.

In this post, we will show you how to make more money with your Amazon affiliate site. These are the same tactics that we use to boost our affiliate sales and give your site the maximum chance for success.

Read on to learn how you can earn more money with your Amazon affiliate site.

Focus On High Converting Content

Marketing is the art of showing the right product to the right people. And your product (content) might be great, but what if it’s bringing in the wrong people?

Earning more with Amazon doesn’t start by improving your content…

It starts by improving your keyword research.

In our experience, two types of articles perform are highest-converting affiliates:

Best X for Y. This is the stereotypical buying guide. Something like “best family tent for bad weather”.
X product review. This is where you review a single product. Something like “coleman weathermaster tent review”.

These types of keywords are the bread-and-butter of affiliate marketing. It’s not that we can’t earn money with other keywords, it’s that these keywords are the sweet spot where we solve someone’s need.

Have No Fear, An Affiliate Is Here

What value does an affiliate provide to the world?

I’d be willing to bet that between the Facebook ads showing lambos and the YouTube ads showing lambos, not many affiliates have given it much thought.

The value we provide to the world is simple, but profound.

We help people save time and make decisions.

Someone wants to buy a new bed and a new chew toy for her kid and for her dog. She decides that the kid will be good with any chew toy, but the dog needs a great bed.

She knows what she needs (a great dog bed), but she doesn’t know which one is right for her.

And instead of making her open up 20 tabs on Amazon, read through product descriptions, check the reviews for anything less than 4 stars, and compare pricing…

We affiliates say “Hey, I’ll do that work for you. I’ll produce an amazing write-up and you can just check that out instead of wasting hours of your time.”

This brings us back to our high-converting keywords. Because what will this lady search for online when she needs a dog bed, but isn’t sure which one is right?

She’ll search for something like “best dog bed for long-haired dogs“. And once she finds one she likes, she might search “Woofer long-haired dog bed review” (We just made the company name Woofer up).

And she’ll land on an affiliates page.

The reason these keywords convert better is because they have buyer intent. The Ahrefs blog has a great article on search intent, so I won’t go too in-depth here.

The gist is this: People search some keywords when they want to spend money. They search other keywords when they just want info.

This also explains which kind of traffic is going to be the highest-converting for us.

We’ll put it this way:

Social is sexy, but SEO pays the bills.

SEO traffic often converts at higher rates than social traffic. This is due to the reasons why people use search engines versus social media.

When someone is on Facebook, Pinterest, or name-your-platform, they’re often there to hang out. They want to see their friends, learn what’s up, know new people.

Except on TikTok, where they just want to know new people in a biblical sense…

People aren’t often on social media to buy.

But when someone searches on social media, we can filter out all the people who aren’t looking to buy. We can find those who are looking to buy and make sure that they’re the ones who land on our site.

Search engine traffic (SEO) will almost always be the highest-converting, consistent form of traffic for affiliates. It’s too easy to get our right product in front of the right people.

So we as affiliates want to target the keywords where people want to spend money. In particular, the keywords where they know what they want to buy, they just don’t know which one they want to buy…

So how do we find these keywords in droves?

Finding Magic Keywords

Think I’m exaggerating when we say “magic”?

I’m not. The difference these buyer intent keywords made in your business will be life-changing.

It all starts with a keyword research tool. Ahrefs is our preference, but any keyword research tool where you can see the SERPs at a glance will be perfect for this.

We’re going to start by putting in a seed keyword (just a basic term for your niche) or a series of seed keywords. In the Ahrefs Keyword Explorer, I typed in “camp, camping, tent, sleeping bag”.

And we hit search. Ahrefs will show us their analysis of these 4 keywords, but this isn’t what we’re interested in.

Click on “All Keyword Ideas” over to the left of the screen.

And we’re going to end up with a lot of keywords (I got 3,336,256 keywords), so we need to add some filters.

I’ll use the following filters:

KD: 0-10. I don’t trust keyword difficulty scores on any tool, but they are super useful for broad filtering.
Word Count: 3+. This makes sure we’re getting long tail keywords. Sometimes I like to go to 5+.
Include: Any of “best”, “review”. This makes sure we’re getting the buyer intent keywords that we’re looking for.

My final results look like this:

And this is where most keyword research stops…

Most people download their filtered list and are off to the races…

But not us. We’re find the best of the best keywords.

First we need to click that little SERP button to the right of the page:

That little button is going to show us the entire first page of Google for each of those keywords…

And it holds the secret to improving your Amazon earnings.

Go through the first page of the Keyword Explorer and open up a bunch of keywords. We’re going to be on the lookout for a few things:

We want to find keywords with at least 2 keywords under Domain Rating (DR) 25 on the first page of Google
We want to verify that these low-DR sites don’t have many backlinks or referring domains (RD). I prefer that sites have <5 RD to the page we’re looking at. I like to look at RD more than backlinks, since additional backlinks from the same site decrease in power

Once you find a keyword that’s good, it will look something like this (red are columns we look at, black are low-competition results)

These are the keywords you need to target. Several low DR sites ranking, none of whom have many referring domains linking to them.

That’s a low-competition, buyer-intent keyword. Targeting those is the first step to increasing your Amazon Associates earnings.

We include keyword research in all of our content packages, so let us know if you want us to do the keyword research for you.

Audit Your Links

The only thing sexier than an audit is the extra money in your bank account next month.

You might need to repeat that a few times to help it sink in. No one loves an audit, and I don’t suggest you do one by hand.

I don’t even suggest that you hire a poor soul as a virtual assistant to do it for you.

But site audits are powerful for a few reasons.

Your products might be missing affiliate links (or have affiliate links that aren’t yours – sometimes those writers have a little too much hustle)
You might be linking to products that are out of stock
Your pages might be missing appropriate disclaimers

All of these are devastating to any affiliate:

Missing or incorrect affiliate links robs you of the income you should be earning. In our experience, no one thinks they have missing or wrong affiliate links…

But almost every site does.

This could be caused by a simple mistake by a VA to malicious intent; it’s surprising how often site owners realize that their writers are inserting their own affiliate codes.

Or perhaps you’re linking to out of stock products. Instead of landing on the page they want, visitors hit a dead page…

And instead of buying, they bounce. They’re gone.

You lost a conversion.

But perhaps worst of all, missing disclaimers could get you banned from Amazon or even put you in trouble with the SEC.

Instead of trying to audit every page and link on your own, we recommend using SiteBuddy.

SiteBuddy will scan your site and tell you a few things:

Sign up for SiteBuddy (click here to get the free version that rocks), download the results, and hand it off to the VA to fix.

There. Audit done.

Now let’s chat about the winning-est strategy…

Win By Outproducing

Remember those low-competition keywords we found a ways up the page?

You’re about to need more of them.

A lot more of them.

Because at the end of the day, he who has the most content…

Wins.

Shameless plug: we can produce content for you. And we’re pretty good, really.

The key with content is to find the right balance between quality and quantity.

It’s great to have a bunch of posts…

And it’s great to have a single amazing post…

But the sweet spot is somewhere in between those two things. The highest ROI often doesn’t come from maxing out on quality or quantity, but on combining them.

Strive to produce amazing content for your audience. Be the best in your niche if it’s possible.

But don’t waste weeks or months on a single post. Crank it out, get it done, move on to the next one.

There are a few ways to produce quality at scale.

Remove fluff from your content. Don’t stuff word count for the sake of stuffing word count. Every word should add value
Be graphic. Show some images, slap some color on that page of yours. But don’t download these from Amazon
Explain which product is best for which person. Instead of having a top 5 list in order of 1 to 5, explain that this product is best overall, that one is best for long haired dogs, another is best for short haired dogs, and that one over there is the best budget one
Be honest with pros and cons. Readers can smell a sale from a mile away. Be honest in your explanation of cons for the product.
Add some personality. Be yourself. Don’t be robotic; show that you’re a real person with emotions. Add humor if you’re funny. If you aren’t funny, pass on the jokes. Lots of laughs can fall flat in writing

If you’re hiring out content (like with us), then it’s wise to have a “brand package”. Explain who your target audience is, what your brand’s personality is, and how to connect with your audience.

This ensures uniform content and helps keep all new content in line with your aim.

How Much Content Is Right?

Let’s get to it: how much content do you need to make big lambo bucks and be surrounded by supermodels?

We’ll tell you when we get there.

Seriously, it’s tough to say how much content you’ll need to make $X per month. It’s different from every niche.

Some people we know make $700/month just from 10 blog posts. That’s a non-standard result, but it happens.

In general, we recommend setting small goals: Try to have 10 posts, then 25. Go for 50, 100, 1,000.

We don’t know anyone who has 3 digits worth of quality posts that isn’t seeing a pretty serious ROI.

At the end of the day, it’s hard to place an “upper limit” on how much content you should have. But it’s also hard to place a “lower limit”: what is the minimum viable product?

If you’re producing content yourself, strive for 1 post per week. More is great if you can, but 1 per week will be awesome.

Most people getting into affiliate marketing are inconsistent; they’ll publish 4 posts the first month, then 2 the next, then 1, then…

Next thing you know, they’re complaining in a Facebook group how the model doesn’t work.

The truth is that they were inconsistent. If you’re on a budget and writing yourself, try to produce 1 post per week, every week.

No exceptions.

The truth is that it isn’t hard to outproduce most websites. People are lazy. Exploit that by working hard in your free time, and trusting that the process will work.

And then once you have some cash you can invest in your site, content is a good investment. Each new piece of content is another opportunity to rank on the first page of Google.

At the end of the day, the winning-est winners win by outproducing the competition.

Hard work scales. Use it to win.

Wrapping It Up

There are a few tactics that have outsized risk vs reward profiles:

Targeting good keywords is one of them. You can do this with new content or by revamping existing content.

Site audits are another. You’ll be surprised at how much money you’re losing, so give your site a quick glance with SiteBuddy.

Content production doesn’t have this same asymmetric reward to risk, but it is the overall winning strategy. Again, we can produce content for you.

These sites might not be easy. But they are worth it.

Amazon, Affiliate Marketing, and 10 Ways to Benefit from It

Dec 2, 2020 | Affiliate Marketing

Do your products sell well on Amazon but you would like to take things one step further and build a direct relationship with your buyers? Perhaps you already have the online store and are looking for ways to drive more traffic and sales. The solution employed by 81% of brands, including Amazon – affiliate marketing – could work for you as well.

As we’ve explained in the past, brands can benefit from an affiliate program in numerous ways. However, with Amazon already running the largest and most successful affiliate program, with 200 million websites active in it, reaping those benefits is a little more difficult. Here are a few reasons for that:

While the average merchant sees conversion rates of 2.35% Amazon conversion ranges from 13% for non-prime shoppers to 74% for Prime members.
Amazon Prime has close to 100 million users in the U.S. alone. Many of those accounts are used by several persons in the same household. This makes it a challenge to convince those users and others as well to shop with other merchants.
Amazon has the largest product inventory (over 12 million) and offers excellent customer service. Their affiliate program is also very intuitive, and affiliates have access to great creatives, deep linking options, and ad resources.

Does this mean that you should give up? Under no circumstances! It just means you should play your cards carefully. We know exactly what you need to do, as we’ve already done it for numerous clients.

From Selling on Amazon to Affiliate Marketing Success:

As mentioned above, you can and should launch your own affiliate program even though you’re already selling on Amazon. Our Step-by-Step Guide to a Successful Affiliate Program Launch covers everything you need to know about that. The trick is to adapt it to your particular situation. We will explain how you can and should do that in the following lines.

Before we get there, though, keep one thing in mind: Amazon is not the enemy but your ally. Your goal is not to steal their affiliates but rather to engage as many as possible of the publishers who are not already promoting your Amazon-listed products or services. Through them, you can then introduce more people to your brand and products or services and turn them into paying customers.

In the end, it’s better to have your audience buy from Amazon than not buy at all. But, of course, as a merchant, it is best to drive traffic to and grow your own website rather than send traffic to Amazon. That is where the affiliate program comes in handy. It will also allow you more control over who, where, and how promotes your services, which is not possible with Amazon.

Here are the ten tips to guide your steps on your affiliate marketing venture:

1. Ensure Optimal Conversion and No Leakage

Traffic leaks and poor conversion can bury any affiliate program. No one will promote you if you redirect traffic to another website or untracked channels like phone numbers, chat services, etc. Also, if you’re not able to convert affiliate traffic into sales, all affiliates will end up switching their links to Amazon or promoting competitors that convert better.

Therefore, before you start worrying about your affiliate program, make sure your website is aligned with your goals.

2. Study Amazon’s Offer to Buyers and Affiliates

We advise all merchants wanting to launch an affiliate program to perform a competitive analysis. You should do the same. While at it, make sure you cover the following:

Amazon offer and benefits for Prime and non-prime customers
Buyer reviews and ratings of your products and/or services
Amazon affiliate marketing program terms and benefits
Competitors who sell on Amazon and run their own affiliate programs
The offers of other third-party websites selling your products
Terms of competitors’ affiliate programs on the affiliate network you plan on joining

You may want to include all the information in a spreadsheet, to have all numbers within sight and be able to see the big picture.

3. Come Up With a Better Offer for Buyers

Put yourself in your buyers’ shoes and ask yourself a simple question: why should they buy from you? You need to offer something that exceeds Amazon’s offer. It can be anything from free shipping to permanent discounts, extended warranties, one-on-one support, or video tutorials. Without a reason to turn their attention to you, buyers will always prefer Amazon. That’s not necessarily bad but it does prevent you from building that personal relationship you are after.

4. Beat Amazon’s Affiliate-facing Terms

You have a better offer for buyers and that is great. However, you depend on affiliates to spread the word about that offer.

What’s in it for them? Why should bloggers, influencers, and other affiliate types bother to promote you when you are already on Amazon, where excellent conversion and customer service are guaranteed?

To convince them, consider the following when conceiving your offer:

If your conversion rate is four times lower than Amazon’s, consider paying four times higher commissions to compensate. Amazon recently dropped their commissions considerably, so that should not be too difficult. You can check their commission level for your products’ category here. This guide on how to determine the affiliate commission rate covers everything else you need to know.

Amazon’s cookie life goes up to 90 days for items added to the cart within 24 hours from clicking the affiliate link. You should beat that offer, especially since it will probably not cost you anything. Most transactions take place during the first 24-48 hours from the click. However, affiliates feel better knowing that they have more time to turn their referrals into cash.

If you only offer a flat commission rate, your affiliates may set up their ads or publish their reviews and forget about them. However, if they see that they’re one step from getting a bonus or reaching a higher commission threshold, they will be more tempted to intensify their promotional efforts.

Free Products to Review (or Demo Accounts)

Many publishers, especially influencers, have a hard time recommending products and services they haven’t tried. Let them test yours. It will give them confidence and allow them to get to know your products or services better. Knowing that they receive a product or service for free and get to keep or use it after the photo or video session is over could convince them to promote you. Consistent discounts may help for high-end products that cannot be offered for free.

It is easier to sell when you give the buyer the impression that they’re getting something special, created exclusively for them, unavailable anywhere else, and affiliates know that. A discount code personalized according to their name or website, or, better yet, a co-branded landing page could work miracles for them, and, implicitly, for you as well.

As you settle the above, keep in mind that, although you want your affiliate program to be more attractive than Amazon’s, your main goal is to win over your competitors. So, remember to make your offer more attractive than your competitors’ as well. When affiliates project their earnings to decide whom to promote, the balance should tilt in your favor.

5. Manage Your Affiliate Program

Unmanaged (and under-managed) affiliate programs are vulnerable to affiliate fraud and parasitism. Good affiliates avoid them because they know their transactions could be overwritten by their more unscrupulous peers. As a merchant, the last thing you want is to find yourself with cancellations or returns and not be able to reverse the corresponding commissions. Besides, you surely do not want to entrust your brand reputation to just anyone and not keep track of their activity.

Active affiliate program management brings about numerous advantages, all the more when you work with a reputed affiliate management agency with experience in Amazon sellers’ programs. It can cover everything from competitive intelligence to affiliate program launch, promotion, recruitment, affiliate policing, and reporting, and often makes the difference between affiliate program success and failure.

6. Stay in the Spotlight

Having an affiliate program is not enough. You need to promote it, to let publishers know about it (and the better terms it offers compared to Amazon and your main competitors), and to remind existing affiliates of what they’re missing by not promoting you. You also need to draw buyer attention, and the best way to do that is by organizing regular contests and promotions.

These affiliate program promotion ideas should come in handy. One important thing to remember is to organize regular promotions and holiday campaigns for buyers, and send their details and corresponding creatives to affiliates through newsletters. Those who already promote you will have something new to share with their audience. Those who are not yet doing it will be reminded and motivated to begin.

7. Choose Your Affiliates Carefully

We’ve already covered the most important aspects in our guide on finding and recruiting quality affiliates. The important thing to remember is that not all affiliates are desirable, so it is important to review them individually and only accept those who can add value to your affiliate program.

A huge opportunity to step out of Amazon’s shadow is to work with content monetization platforms and sub-affiliate networks. Amazon turned their back on them but we’ve seen them drive significant results in many affiliate programs. Common examples include Skimlinks, Viglink (now SOVRN), rewardStyle, and FMTC.

While it is true that you will not have full control over the publishers promoting your brand through them, they will work with you to make sure that your offer reaches the right type of publishers and the latter comply with your program rules and policies. Of course, it is important to have a solid agreement in place. Our affiliate program agreement guide should come in handy.

8. Manage Complaints & Reversals Carefully

Just as you trust your affiliates with your brand, when promoting you, they put their reputation on the line. Make sure they won’t receive any complaints. Invalid discount codes, broken affiliate links, website and tracking downtimes, unsatisfied customers, etc., these are all issues that may seem small to you but could weigh heavily on your affiliates’ decision of whether to start or continue to promote you. Do your best to avoid them and, when you cannot, focus on compensating for them and minimizing the damage.

Also, when reversing commissions, look at the reason why the transaction was canceled or the product was returned. If products were returned for reasons unrelated to the affiliate’s activity, think twice before reversing their commission. Those couple of dollars that you recover could cost you a valuable affiliate and all the transactions they could drive. Moreover, such returns should represent a warning sign that something related to your product or service needs improvement.

9. Welcome Feedback and Act on It

Affiliates can bring a new, fresh perspective of your business and products or services. Encourage them to share their opinion and act on it. Show your willingness to improve and learn from your mistakes. No one expects you to be perfect but affiliates appreciate merchants who care about and respect their opinion. After all, you share a common goal: to sell as much as possible and earn as much as possible. Therefore, why not work together to achieve it?

10. Keep Learning from Amazon

Affiliate marketing is always changing, so you should never sleep on your success. On the contrary, you should continue to learn and try to improve your offer to buyers and affiliates, your internal processes, etc. There is always room for improvement, and you can learn a lot in this sense from giants like Amazon – affiliate marketing worked wonders for them and others too. One way to make it work for you is to learn from the best. You’ll find a few important lessons to learn from Amazon and Walmart here.

Do you need help with your Amazon and affiliate marketing strategy?

Starting and managing an affiliate program and implementing all the above advice can be challenging for someone with no or little experience in affiliate marketing. However, you don’t have to do it alone. At AM Navigator, we love challenges, and we love helping merchants reach success independently of giants like Amazon. Affiliate marketing is our specialty, and we will gladly use our experience and skills in your interest.

Whether you have unanswered questions about Amazon, affiliate marketing, and how to make the two work together, or need help starting your affiliate program and steering it in the right direction, we’re here for you. Contact us now, tell us more about your project and your needs, and let’s schedule a free consultation!

6 Alternatives to Amazon For E-commerce

Nov 27, 2020 | Affiliate Marketing

With a net worth of $1.7 trillion, Amazon has dominated the e-commerce sector for years, leaving many of its competitors in the shade. But are there alternatives to Amazon?

With an audience as vast as Amazon, small business start-ups and solo entrepreneurs flock to the site to sell the products, get established, and build their enterprises. Despite the audience Amazon offers, you may want to look for other online venues to list your items.

There are many good reasons to broaden your e-commerce horizons.

First, it makes little sense to put all your eggs in one basket. Second, selling on a wider range of marketplaces gets your products in front of a larger audience. And finally, looking at the other choices available could save you money on fees, or get you closer to your target buyers.

Below are some viable alternatives to Amazon. We’ll look at their advantages, their fee structures, and what makes them different.

Why You Should Use an Alternative to Amazon for Your E-commerce Business

We already touched on one of the main reasons to seek other venues: the perils of depending on one sales platform.

It’s not unheard of for sellers to have their accounts blocked. If you haven’t already established yourself on one of the alternatives to Amazon, your business could tank.

However, by setting up multiple accounts with different marketplaces, you’ve got greater flexibility if things go wrong. Plus, you can use other online platforms to test out which ones are the best for your products.

And there are other benefits in finding additional marketplaces, like:

Greater Flexibility

All e-commerce sales platforms have some measure of control over your business. They determine:

What products you can list
The terms and conditions of doing business
Your payment options
Shipping fees

These terms might not be suitable for your business. So, If you’re looking for greater flexibility, then seeking alternatives to Amazon is a good idea.

Better Customer and Vendor Support

Perhaps you feel the vendor or customer support is lacking. Amazon provides useful resources for sellers, like its university. But some sellers feel seller support is sometimes thin, especially when things go wrong.

More Shipping Options and Lower Fees With Some Amazon Alternatives

Amazon has changed its fee structure over the years, bringing frustration to some.

Amazon sets its professional selling plan at $39.99, with individual plans available free. And referral fees differ, depending on which category you’re selling in.

Shipping is a further reason to consider seeking alternatives as individual sellers on Amazon lack flexibility over their shipping costs.

If you’re looking to cut fees or branch out, then signing with some alternatives to Amazon may allow you to further scale your business while reducing costs.

Amazon Alternative Payment Choices

If you’re a seller on Amazon, you’ll know it makes payment via ACH or electronic funds transfer. Amazon distributes these payments to your bank account every two weeks, and they can take up to five days to clear.

But that doesn’t always work for everyone. If you’re a small business and cash is tight, signing up to e-commerce platforms with a broader range of payment options can improve your cash flow.

What to Look for in an Amazon Alternative

Before you search for alternatives to Amazon, you need to decide what you want from your business. You’ll need to consider the products you’re selling and your target customer, too.

For example, if you’re selling printable products, Etsy could be an excellent choice. Or, if you’re looking for consumers who understand tech, you may find Newegg works well for you.

Other areas you’ll want to think about include:

Ease of Use

Marketplaces that allow you to add items efficiently mean you can list more products in less time. But you’ll want to view any alternatives to Amazon from your customer’s perspective too.

How important is the ease of use? Well, if you note some recent research from Digital Commerce 360 and Bitrate, you’ll see this is a significant factor in the buying decision.

When researching new platforms, perhaps test them out for yourself and consider areas like:

Navigation
Ease of checkout
Payment options
Shipping choices

User Types

Think about your ideal consumer and the type of users the platform attracts. For example, eBay is huge, with 182 million active buyers. It’s great for snapping up limited-time deals, brand name products, and pre-loved items.

However, it’s not always the first place shoppers think of when looking for handmade goods or unique items. They’re more likely to head somewhere like Etsy.

Fees

Fees can take a considerable chunk of your profits if you’re not careful. Depending on the fee structure, some sites may not be suitable if you’re selling smaller, lower value items.

If you need some help in this area, fee calculators are helpful. Here’s a list of the well-known ones.

Best Alternatives to Amazon for E-commerce

What are some of the best Amazon alternatives when you’re looking to sell your products online? Let’s look at some of the top options, in no particular order.

Bonanza

Established in 2007, Bonanza has built itself a loyal following, with a vast range of categories. Sign up is free, and fees are straight forward. Final offer value fees are 3.5 percent for sales under $500. Sales over $500 attract an additional 1.5 percent fee.

Although it’s much smaller than Amazon, Bonanza has some advantages over its larger rival. They include a greater emphasis on building customer relationships and developing a sustainable business through repeat customers.

Equally appealing to sellers is the marketing tools Bonanza provides. These give you access to valuable data about product performance, allowing you to spot trends, optimize listings, and better market your items.

Other features include:

Automatic syncing with eBay, Amazon, and Shopify
Customized marketing tools
Image editing tools
Google integration
High level of customer support.

But what makes Bonanza stand out is its focus on unique items. It’s not trying to be another Amazon. As Bonanza puts it, it’s a site where you’ll find “everything but the ordinary”.

eBay

One of the most prominent alternatives to Amazon is eBay. Like Amazon, eBay has made considerable changes since its launch back in 1995. Over the years, eBay’s focus has moved away from the collectibles market it used to cater to, and it’s now more product-based.

Many famous brands like Rolex, Hasbro, and Microsoft make their goods available via ebay.com brand outlet site, enabling consumers to bag a bargain. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a place for more unusual or collectible items.

On eBay, listing fees and final value fees vary, but it sets many of its final value fees at 10 percent or less. If you need to calculate fees before listing, use an eBay fee calculator.

Some advantages of selling on eBay are:

A more comprehensive range of categories
More payment options for shoppers, like a credit/debit card, PayPal, and local collection. Sellers can also accept Apple Pay, Google Pay, and gift cards through managed payments.
Improved branding through eBay stores and marketing materials

What makes eBay stand out, though, is its auctions. Auctions may not be ideal for every business. However, sellers who specialize in collectible or rare items may find the bidding pushes their final sales price up higher than they could’ve imagined.

Etsy

If your business primarily sells printable products or art and craft items, then Etsy might be for you. Of the many alternatives to Amazon, Etsy has perhaps one of the most affordable and straightforward pricing approaches.

Each listing costs just 20 cents, and the listing is good for four months. Then there’s a five percent transaction fee for goods that sell. Payment processing fees are variable and depend on location. If you want to grow your business further, Etsy Plus is available at $10 a month.

Re-listing is simple, too. Just select the auto-renew option, and there shouldn’t be anything else to do on your part.

Advantages of selling on Etsy are:

Greater customization over how your store looks
Ideal for beginners
Lower fees
Sellers can list collectibles and vintage items on Etsy

That’s the advantages, but there are a couple of possible disadvantages worth mentioning. First, Etsy is much smaller than Amazon, which means there’s intense competition, so your products need to stand out.

Second, although fees are cheaper, you may make more sales on Amazon Handmade because of its larger audience share.

Walmart Marketplace

Amazon dominates e-commerce, but Walmart is gaining ground. Recent sales figures show Walmart’s e-commerce sales have soared by 74 percent. This stat means if you’re looking for alternatives to Amazon, Walmart could be promising.

Like Amazon, Walmart now offers a fulfillment service. Although storage and fulfillment fees apply, Walmart’s fee structure is less complicated than Fulfillment by Amazon, and referral fees are competitive.

In addition, with Walmart’s marketplace, there’s no start-up or ongoing monthly fees. However, you’ll want to factor in other costs, like unique product codes (UPCs).

Advantages of selling on the Walmart marketplace include:

Lower costs
Less competition due to buyer/seller ratio
Price control over inventory

What makes the platform different? Unlike Amazon, Walmart’s marketplace is only open to invited brands. You can’t just register and start selling. But you can sign up.

To register your interest in selling, Walmart asks businesses to fill out the interest form.

Newegg

Newegg has gained a reputation as the top global tech marketplace online. But it also sells apparel, home and lifestyle products, sports/health-related items, TVs, and plenty more.

As for fees, non-elite membership is free. Elite membership has two tiers ranging from $29.95-$99.95 a month. Commissions vary, with the highest being 12 percent.

Advantages of selling on Newegg include:

Can be cheaper for tech products
Attracts tech buyers who are knowledgeable about products
The Newegg search engine makes finding electronics and components quicker
Customized marketing for businesses
Various payment choices for sellers including weekly ACH payments, PayPal, Wire Transfer, PingPong, Payoneer, and World First
A wide range of payments for buyers, including PayPal and BitPay

But it’s the multi-channel fulfillment option that may interest sellers the most. If you’re selling from various platforms, Newegg provides a central point to manage all your orders.

Shopify

When you sell on a third-party platform, you have limited control. Many online sellers favor setting up their stores the Shopify platform.

The site offers new sellers a 14-day free trial to get them started. After that, a basic Shopify store will cost you $29 a month. Online credit card rates are 2.9 percent + 30 cents. And you should find it easy enough to start selling.

Once you’ve signed up for the free trial, the next steps are to:

Add products
Selecting images
Set shipping details
Customize pages for search engines using keywords
Create main pages
Customize store

The benefits of Shopify include:

Highly-rated customer support and selling features
Greater customization
Large range of e-commerce tools and apps
Access to the e-commerce university
You can accept a large range of currencies

Conclusion

There are a variety of reasons you might be looking for alternatives to Amazon. Maybe you want a platform that provides a wider range of payment options, a site that’s more niche, or you just want a more extensive selection of online marketplaces to sell your wares.

As you can see, there are many venues available, and they all have their advantages. Sites like Bonanza have established a loyal audience, and Walmart’s e-commerce presence is growing strong.

Niche sites such as Etsy and Newegg are ideal for specialist items, and eBay offers greater customization and various selling methods, including auctions.

If you want to go it alone, there’s always Shopify, where you can set up and market your own e-commerce business.

Are you an online seller? Tell us about your favorite platform and your experiences below.